Universal 539:
- Original
- A link for addition is never initial in a numeral.
- Standardized
- A link for addition is never initial in a numeral.
- Keywords
- numeral
- Domain
- word formation
- Type
- unconditional
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- absolute
- Basis
- 56 languages mentioned in Greenberg 1978a
- Source
- Greenberg 1978a: 276 (#30)
- Counterexamples
1. Cf. other statements about coordinators: If a link for addition occurs medially, it always goes with the following numeral in a prepositional language and with the preceding numeral in a postpositional language (#543); If a link for addition is final, the language is postpositional (#553).2. Greenberg assumes that although probably all languages have overtly expressed markers of coordination, many languages simply juxtapose numerals without overt coordination, e.g. Turkish (Turkic, Altaic). Where coordinators are found, their order properties are clearly related to whether the language is prepositional or postpositional.