Universal #1278

Legacy number: 1278

 Number  1274
 Original  The same nuclear tagmeme which occurs initially in the unitransitive dominant order will occur initially in the bitransitive order.
 Standardized  IF an NP in a given nuclear grammatical relation occurs initially in the dominant order of bitransitive clauses, THEN NPs in this relation will also occur initially in the dominant order of unitransitive clauses.
 Keywords  order, bitransitive, unitransitive
 Domain  syntax
 Type  no genuine implication; rather: provided that
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  sample of 107 languages in Blansitt 1973
 Source  Blansitt 1973: 19

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Discussion
Notes
The universal rules out the possibility of a dominant bitransitive order with initial indirect object, which does not occur in an unitransitive clause, or with the initial direct object, if the direct object does not occur initially in any of the dominant unitransitive orders (Blansitt 1973: 19-20).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
The universal rules out the possibility of a dominant bitransitive order with initial indirect object, which does not occur in an unitransitive clause, or with the initial direct object, if the direct object does not occur initially in any of the dominant unitransitive orders (Blansitt 1973: 19-20).