Universal #1508

Legacy number: 1508

 Number  1504
 Original  The endpoint configuration prediction:
Any language which has a lexeme denoting motion out of or motion through some configuration will also have a lexeme denoting either motion “into” that configuration or static location in it.
 Standardized  IF there is a lexeme denoting motion out of or motion through some configuration, THEN there is a lexeme denoting either motion “into” that configuration or static location in it.
 Keywords  motion, adposition
 Domain  lexicon, semantics
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  English, German (both W. Germanic, Indo-European), Russian (Slavic, Indo-European), Bengali (Indo-Iranian, Indo-European), Mixtec (Mixtecan, Oto-Manguean)
 Source  Regier 1993: 480

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Notes
For example, English has the lexeme “through” which denotes motion through a configuration of inclusion. This leads us to predict, by the posited universal, that English will have a lexeme denoting either motion into a configuration of inclusion (“into”), or static location in the configuration of inclusion (“in”).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
For example, English has the lexeme "through" which denotes motion through a configuration of inclusion. This leads us to predict, by the posited universal, that English will have a lexeme denoting either motion into a configuration of inclusion ("into"), or static location in the configuration of inclusion ("in").