Universal #1657

Legacy number: 1657

 Number  1652
 Original  If in a language finite and non-finite (attributive and/or argument) functions of converbs are equally marked or equally unmarked, then the language is non-tensed (in Stassen’s sense).
 Standardized  IF finite and non-finite (attributive and/or nominal) functions of converbs are equally marked or equally unmarked, THEN there is non-tensedness.
 Keywords  finiteness, complexity, converb, non-tensed
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  40 languages surveyed by Kalinina
 Source  Kalinina 1998

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Diyari (Pama-Nyungan), possibly Sinhalese (Indo-Aryan) (but the data is insufficient) (Kalinina 1998).
Notes
1. Kalinina uses the term "markedness" in the sense of Croft (1991: 67), meaning the relative structural complexity of two constructions. If one and the same form gets either nominal (case) or verbal (person) inflectional morphemes depending on its either argument/attributive or predicative functions, these functions are EQUALLY MARKED. If both functions receive no morphological marking, they are EQUALLY UNMARKED. Obviously, the functions of a form can be equally marked only in languages with inflectional morphology, and the functions of a form are equally unmarked in languages without inflectional morphology. 2. Stassen defines a language as tensed, if predicates in main sentences are obligatorily marked for a Past-NonPast distinction by means of bound morphology (see ##1031, 1032).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Kalinina uses the term "markedness" in the sense of Croft 1991: 67, meaning the relative structural complexity of two constructions. If one and the same form gets either nominal (case) or verbal (person) inflectional morphemes depending on its either argument/attributive or predicative functions, these functions are EQUALLY MARKED. If both functions receive no morphological marking, they are EQUALLY UNMARKED. Obviously, the functions of a form can be equally marked only in languages with inflectional morphology, and the functions of a form are equally unmarked in languages without inflectional morphology.

2. Stassen defines a language as tensed, if predicates in main sentences are obligatorily marked for a Past-NonPast distinction by means of bound morphology (see <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1031"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1032"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">).