Universal 504: only suffixes ⇒ postposition;
only prefixes ⇒ preposition

Universal 504: only suffixes ⇒ postposition;
only prefixes ⇒ preposition

Original

If a language is exclusively suffixing, it is postpositional; if it is exclusively prefixing, it is prepositional.

Standardized

IF there are only suffixes, THEN there will be postpositions;
IF there are only prefixes, THEN there will be prepositions.

Keywords

prefix, suffix, postposition, preposition

Domain

morphology, syntax

Type

implication

Status

achronic

Quality

absolute

Basis

30 languages of Greenberg 1963 sample

Source

Greenberg 1963: 93, #27

Counterexamples

possibly: Athabaskan languages (A. A. Kibrik, p. c.)