Universal #100

Legacy number: 100

 Number  100
 Original  Mobility Principle:
(Adj/Dem/Num) ≥(Rel/Gen).

This principle claims that Adj, Dem, and Num are more mobile than Gen and Rel and can move around their heads more easily, producing a serialization which is opposite to that of the adposition to its modifiers (e. g. A N & Prep + NP, N A & NP + Postp etc.)
 Standardized  Within noun phrases, adjectives, demonstratives, and numerals are more mobile than genitives and relative clauses insofar as they can appear on that side of a noun which is opposite to the adposition.
 Formula  (Adj/Dem/Num) ≥ (Rel/Gen)
 Keywords  order, adjective, demonstrative, numeral, relative clause, attributive, genitive, preposition, postposition
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  sample of 350 languages in Hawkins 1983
 Source  Hawkins 1983: 93

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Discussion
Notes
1. Mobility Principle: “” means “greater or equal mobility, where mobility refers to likelihood of deviance from Adposition + NP serialization.”2. Since the 1990s, Hawkins proposes alternative explanations of his universals (see e.g. Hawkins 1993: 234).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Mobility Principle: "≥" means "greater or equal mobility, where mobility refers to likelihood of deviance from Adposition + NP serialization."

2. Since the 1990s, Hawkins proposes alternative explanations of his universals (see e.g. Hawkins 1993: 234).