Universal #1611

Legacy number: 1611

 Number  1607
 Original  If the modals/auxiliaries of a language do not inflect for person, then it does not have an infinitive.
 Standardized  IF the modals/auxiliaries do not inflect for person, THEN there will be no infinitive.
 Formula  modals/auxiliaries do not inflect for person ⇒ ¬ infinitive
 Keywords  modal, auxiliary, person, infinitive
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  Bulgarian (Slavonic), Germanic, Romance languages, Greek (all IE), Bété (Kru, Niger-Congo), Indonesian (W. Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian), Korean (Altaic), Mandarin (Sinitic, Sino-Tibetan), Mangarayi (Gunwingguan, Australian), Mayan languages (esp. Yucatec), Tamil (Dravidian), Vietnamese (Mon-Khmer, Austro-Asiatic)
 Source  C. Lehmann 1992: 316

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Discussion
Notes
The antecedent of this implication is not intended to cover languages with some modals/auxiliaries which do and others which do not inflect for person, such as Russian. And naturally, the implication does not invert. There are quite a few languages, like the Balkan languages, that lack an infinitive even though their modals and auxiliaries are personal (Lehmann 1992: 316).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
The antecedent of this implication is not intended to cover languages with some modals/auxiliaries which do and others which do not inflect for person, such as Russian. And naturally, the implication does not invert. There are quite a few languages, like the Balkan languages, that lack an infinitive even though their modals and auxiliaries are personal (Lehmann 1992: 316).