Universal #1909

Legacy number: 1909

 Number  1904
 Original  Cumulative languages prefer fusional morphology or rigid word order.
 Standardized  IF a language is of the cumulative mixed type, THEN there will be fusional morphology or rigid word order.
 Keywords  semantic role, information flow, deixis, fusional, rigid word order, NP encoding
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  languages mentioned in Kibrik 1997, including NE Caucasian, e.g. Archi, Tsakhur (both Lezgic), Chamalal (Andic), Dargwa (Dargwa-Lakic); Western Malayo-Polynesian, e.g. Acehnese, Riau Indonesian, Tagalog, Kapampangan; Navajo (Athabaskan), Lisu (Tibeto-Burman), Yimas (Sepik, Papuan), Yukaghir (isolate), Dyirbal (Pama-Nyungan), Jacaltec (Mayan), Lakhota (Siouan), Enga (Trans-New Guinea), Russian (Slavic, IE) and others
 Source  Kibrik 1997: 335

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Discussion
Notes
1. Kibrik argues that syntactic relations, especially those of subject and object are not universal, but are only one of several possibilities of organizing relational clause structure. The three main dimensions of relational structuring – called grammatical PIVOTS by Kibrik (see comment 2) – are those of semantic roles, information flow, and deictic anchoring. There are three major language types depending on the extent to which these dimensions are grammaticalized: PIVOTLESS languages, with no or little grammaticalization of any of these dimensions; PURE languages strongly grammaticalizing only one of them, especially that of roles; MIXED languages strongly grammaticalizing more than one. According to this classification, A PIVOTLESS language is one that neglects role, flow, and deictic concepts in expressing the argument structure of the proposition, giving a maximally straightforward representation of the event. Riau Indonesian is a possible example. (Kibrik 1997:297). With the threefold classification of the main semantic dimensions, within the MIXED languages, four combinations are theoretically possible, although not equally probable: role-flow, role-deixis, flow-deixis, and role-flow-deixis. Moreover, these various multiple orientations can be expressed by SEPARATIST or CUMULATIVE coding techniques, that is, with separate coding devices for the respective dimensions, as in separatist mixed languages, or as in cumulative mixed languages, with the dimensions amalgamated at an intermediate formal level, that of syntactic relations.2. It should be emphasised that the term PIVOT here refers to semantic dimensions (whose concepts are prominent and grammaticalised in a language under consideration), and so this term is different from Dixon’s (1979) and Foley & Van Valin’s (1984) pivots. In their frameworks the pivot is an NP that can be called central due to its syntactic properties. (Kibrik 1997: 339, fn. 23)
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Kibrik argues that syntactic relations, especially those of subject and object are not universal, but are only one of several possibilities of organizing relational clause structure. The three main dimensions of relational structuring – called grammatical PIVOTS by Kibrik (see comment 2) – are those of semantic roles, information flow, and deictic anchoring. There are three major language types depending on the extent to which these dimensions are grammaticalized:
PIVOTLESS languages, with no or little grammaticalization of any of these dimensions;
PURE languages strongly grammaticalizing only one of them, especially that of roles;
MIXED languages strongly grammaticalizing more than one.
According to this classification, A PIVOTLESS language is one that neglects role, flow, and deictic concepts in expressing the argument structure of the proposition, giving a maximally straightforward representation of the event. Riau Indonesian is a possible example. (Kibrik 1997:297).
With the threefold classification of the main semantic dimensions, within the MIXED languages, four combinations are theoretically possible, although not equally probable: role-flow, role-deixis, flow-deixis, and role-flow-deixis. Moreover, these various multiple orientations can be expressed by SEPARATIST or CUMULATIVE coding techniques, that is, with separate coding devices for the respective dimensions, as in separatist mixed languages, or as in cumulative mixed languages, with the dimensions amalgamated at an intermediate formal level, that of syntactic relations.

2. It should be emphasised that the term PIVOT here refers to semantic dimensions (whose concepts are prominent and grammaticalised in a language under consideration), and so this term is different from Dixon's 1979 and Foley & Van Valin's 1984 pivots. In their frameworks the pivot is an NP that can be called central due to its syntactic properties. (Kibrik 1997: 339, fn. 23)