Universal #1921

Legacy number: 1921

 Number  1915
 Original  The lack of semantically significant determiners seems to be a property of the polysynthetic languages as a class.
 Standardized  IF there is polysynthesis, THEN there are no semantically significant determiners.
 Formula  polysynthesis ⇒ ¬ semantically significant determiners
 Keywords  polysynthesis, determiner
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  Polysynthetic languages like Mohawk (Iroquoian), Nahuatl (Uto-Aztecan), Kiowa (Kiowa- Tanoan), Gunwinjguan (Gunwingguan, Australian), Wichita (Caddoan), Chukchi (Chukchi-Kamchatkan), Ainu (isolate). Non-polysynthetic languages like Greenlandic (Eskimo-Aleut), Lakhota (Siouan), Slave (Athabaskan), Alamblak (Sepik-Ramu), Chichewa (Bantoid, Niger-Congo), Choctaw (Muskogean)
 Source  Baker 1996: 253

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Bininj Gun-wok (Australian) where demonstratives clearly function as determiners (Evans 2002: 29)
Notes
POLYSYNTHESIS: roughly, noun incorporation and bound agreement/cross-reference markers for subject and object(s) on the verb.What is "semantically significant"?
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
POLYSYNTHESIS: roughly, noun incorporation and bound agreement/cross-reference markers for subject and object(s) on the verb.

What is "semantically significant"?