Universal 2011:
- Original
- … if a system does show functional markedness it is generally the case that (i) when the number of choices in the system is reduced, in a particular context, the unmarked term will always be retained, and will have its semantic scope extended; and (ii) if the choices in system X depend on that made in system Y, we will always expect more choices in X to be associated with the unmarked than with the marked terms from Y.
Markedness distributions:
Polarity: positive is functionally and almost always formally unmarked, and negative marked;
Number: singular is almost always functionally and often also formally unmarked;
Person: if any person, then 3rd;
Tense, Aspect: often no unmarked term, or crosslinguistically variable;
Case: generally case that covers intransitive subject function is unmarked, but sometimes also accusative;
Reference classification: often masculine unmarked, sometimes feminine. - Standardized
- When a system does show functional markedness it is generally the case that (i) when the number of choices in the system is reduced, in a particular context, the unmarked term will always be retained, and will have its semantic scope extended; and (ii) if the choices in system X depend on that made in system Y, we will always expect more choices in X to be associated with the unmarked than with the marked terms from Y.Markedness distributions:Polarity: positive is functionally and almost always formally unmarked, and negative marked;Number: singular is almost always functionally and often also formally unmarked;Person: if any person, then 3rd;Tense, Aspect: often no unmarked term, or crosslinguistically variable;Case: generally case that covers intransitive subject function is unmarked, but sometimes also accusative;Reference classification: often masculine unmarked, sometimes feminine.
- Keywords
- markedness, polarity, tense, aspect, evidentiality, person, gender, number, case
- Domain
- inflection
- Type
- no genuine implication; rather: provided that
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- absolute
- Basis
- “more than 500 languages in all” (?)
- Source
- Aikhenvald & Dixon 1998: 61
- Counterexamples
