Universal #1900
Legacy number: 1900
| Number | 1895 |
| Original | A lexical item that is of the "grammatical" type (which type includes at least conjunctions and adpositions) cannot be included in the set of properties borrowed from a language unless the rule that determines its linear order with respect to its head is also included. |
| Standardized | When function words are borrowed (especially adpositions and conjunctions), their ordering relative to their co-constituents will be the same as in the donor language. |
| Keywords | language contact, borrowing, order, adposition, conjunction |
| Domain | syntax |
| Type | unconditional |
| Status | diachronic |
| Quality | absolute |
| Basis | languages mentions in Moravcsik 1978e |
| Source | Moravcsik 1978e: 112 |
Discussion
Counterexamples
A possible counterexample may be found in Amharic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic). Its preposition kä ‘from, than’ was probably borrowed from some Cushitic language where, according to the Cushitic pattern, it must have been a suffix. (Hetzron 1980: 256)
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