Universal #1653

Legacy number: 1653

 Number  1648
 Original  The great majority of pronominalization strategies, regardless of language type, favour dependent-marking pattern.
 Standardized  IF relative clause formation involves pronominalization, THEN it will be of dependent-marking type.
 Keywords  head-marking, dependent-marking, relative clause, pronoun
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  Abkhaz, Adyghe (both NW Caucasian), Arabic (Semitic), Bantu family, Basque, Burushaski (both isolate), Chechen (N. Caucasian), Dyirbal (Pama-Nyungan), Hopi (Uto-Aztecan), Hurrian (isolate), Japanese (Japanese-Ryukyuan), Kaititj (Arandic), Lakhota (Siouan), Mayan family, Navajo (Athabaskan), NE Caucasian, Quechuan family, Tewa (Tanoan), Tonkawa (Coahuiltecan), Tungusic family, Turkic family, Uralic (eastern & western), Uto-Aztecan, Washo (Hokan), Yuman family
 Source  Nichols 1984: 533

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Tanoan family uses head-marked relativization by pronominalization. A number of older Indo-European languages exhibit occasional instances of head-marking pronominalization (Nichols 1984: 533).