Universal #152
Legacy number: 152
| Number | 152 |
| Original | The syntactic behaviour of simple cardinal numerals will always fall between that of adjectives and nouns. If the simple cardinal numerals of a given language vary in their syntactic behaviour, the numerals showing nounier behaviour will denote higher numerals than those with less nouny behaviour. |
| Standardized | IF lower simple cardinal numerals have noun-like inflection and syntax, THEN so do higher numerals. IF higher simple cardinal numerals have adjectival inflection and syntax, THEN so do lower numerals. |
| Formula | noun-like inflection and syntax (lower numerals) ⇒ noun-like inflection and syntax (higher numerals); adjectival inflection and syntax (higher numerals) ⇒ adjectival inflection and syntax (lower numerals) |
| Keywords | word class, numeral, noun, adjective |
| Domain | inflection, syntax |
| Type | implication |
| Status | achronic |
| Quality | absolute |
| Basis | 60 languages in Corbett 1978 |
| Source | Corbett 1978: 69, Corbett 1991 |
Discussion
Counterexamples
Notes
1. Corbett 1978: 70: The crucial case would be a language with simple cardinals, the lower of which showed a clear feature of noun-like behavior and the higher a feature of adjectival behavior. 2. Corbett 1978: 73: “Greenberg states (1972: 6): 'It is particularly common for classifiers not to occur with higher units of the numerical system and their multiples, e.g. 10, 20, 60, 100, 300.' This is precisely what we would predict: the higher the numeral, the more noun-like it will be and therefore the less need it will have of a noun-like prop to maintain the parallelism with other quantified expressions.”3. Cf. also #1365.4. If higher numerals are noun-like, this may of course be due to their being, or deriving from, nouns. Which gives the universal a diachronic dimension.
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2. Corbett 1978: 73: "Greenberg states ( Grennberg 1972: 6): 'It is particularly common for classifiers not to occur with higher units of the numerical system and their multiples, e.g. 10, 20, 60, 100, 300.' This is precisely what we would predict: the higher the numeral, the more noun-like it will be and therefore the less need it will have of a noun-like prop to maintain the parallelism with other quantified expressions."
3. Cf. also <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1365"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">.
4. If higher numerals are noun-like, this may of course be due to their being, or deriving from, nouns. Which gives the universal a diachronic dimension.