Universal #1536

Legacy number: 1536

 Number  1532
 Original  Verb-initial languages may be agglutinative and polysynthetic.
 Standardized  IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN the morphology may be agglutinative or polysynthetic .
 Formula  verb-initial ⇒ agglutination V polysynthesis
 Keywords  order, verb-initial, agglutination, poysynthesis
 Domain  morphology, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  unknown
 Source  unpublished statements of Keenan’s, reproduced in D.Payne 1990: 11

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Notes
Note wording: MAY be agglutinative or polysynthetic. Is that supposed to mean: Verb-initiality licenses agglutination or polysynthesis, but doesn’t really imply it.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Note wording: MAY be agglutinative or polysynthetic. Is that supposed to mean: Verb-initiality licenses agglutination or polysynthesis, but doesn't really imply it.