Universal #1498

Legacy number: 1498

 Number  1494
 Original  Non-configurational languages are agglutinative, but not vice versa.
 Standardized  IF syntax is non-configurational, THEN morphology is agglutinative, but not vice versa.
 Formula  non-configurational ⇒ agglutinative
 Keywords  non-configurational, agglutination
 Domain  morphology, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  Warlpiri (Pama-Nyungan, Australian), Lummi, Clallam (both Salishan), Papago, Cupeño (both Uto-Aztecan), Basque (isolate)
 Source  Jelinek 1984: 74

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Discussion
Notes
The properties supposedly common to non-configurational languages include the following: (1) free word order; (2) syntactically discontinuous expressions; and (3) null anaphora (see Hale 1983). By “null anaphora” Hale refers to “the situation in which an argument (e.g., subject, object) is not represented by an overt nominal expression in phrase structure”.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
The properties supposedly common to non-configurational languages include the following: (1) free word order; (2) syntactically discontinuous expressions; and (3) null anaphora (see Hale 1983). By "null anaphora" Hale refers to "the situation in which an argument (e.g., subject, object) is not represented by an overt nominal expression in phrase structure".