Universal 80:
- Original
- There is no language in which the subject must be first demoted (via passivization) before it can be relativized.
- Standardized
- Relativization is never limited to NPs demoted from subjecthood by passivization.
- Keywords
- diathesis, passivization, relativization, subject
- Domain
- syntax
- Type
- unconditional
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- absolute
- Basis
- languages in Givón 1975
- Source
- Givón 1975: 121
- Counterexamples
Rendered as an implication and generalized:IF ex-subjects can be relativized, THEN subjects can be relativized.But then, since subjects can presumably be relativized universally, we have here a paradox of material implication — a truth with any implicans whatsoever.