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Universal 201:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 201:

Original
No set of case marking elements are both independent morphemes and inseparable from the head noun.
Standardized
IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is an independent morpheme, THEN it will not be inseparable from the head noun.
IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is inseparable from the head noun, THEN it is an independent morpheme.
Keywords
case, adposition, head noun
Domain
inflection, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
Russian (Slavic, Indo-European), Evenki (Tungus), Japanese (Japanese-Ryukyuan), Tagalog (W. Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian), Amharic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Estonian, Karelian, Vepsian (all Finnic, Uralic)
Source
Kilby 1981: 15 (E)
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    What is the difference between “independent morpheme” and “inseparability”? Do Kilby’s own reflections draw any clear boundaries?Kilby 1981: 116-117: “The major criterion for defining a morpheme as independent is that it may occur on its own, as an utterance (albeit an elliptical one). If it can occur on its own, it follows that it is separable from other elements, including the head noun of the noun phrase with which it may be associated. On the other hand, these two features are not coextensive, because it is possible for an element to be separable from the head noun, but not to be an independent morpheme; prepositions in Amharic and’s in English are examples of this.”

    1. May 2020

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