Universal #1387

Legacy number: 1387

 Number  1383
 Original  No language with a traditional auxiliary verb which has subject agreement will not include it in the auxiliary.
 Standardized  IF the finite verb agrees with a subject, THEN the auxiliary agrees with a subject.

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 Keywords  agreement, auxiliary, verb
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  20 languages in Steele 1978, see Steele 1978: 18
 Source  Steele 1978: 42

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Discussion
Counterexamples
In Amharic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), compound past tenses are formed with an inflected and tense-marked main verb, but the auxiliary is an invariable abbreviated 3SG.M form näbbär. Thus, subject-marking is not attached to AUX (but see Comments). In Hungarian, neither subject nor tense-marking is attached to AUX in the conditional past (Hetzron 1980: 270).English modals.
Notes
Hetzron (1980: 270, fn.16) mentions that cases of fully conjugated auxiliary are also attested in Amharic, but they are barely used today. Actually this demonstrates that the trend is to get rid of auxiliary subject-marking, quite contrary to Steele’s preference.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Hetzron 1980: 270, fn.16 mentions that cases of fully conjugated auxiliary are also attested in Amharic, but they are barely used today. Actually this demonstrates that the trend is to get rid of auxiliary subject-marking, quite contrary to Steele's preference.