Universal #1976

Legacy number: 1976

 Number  1970
 Original  There are severe limitations on the kinds of synchronic patterns and diachronic restructurings which may occur in existential-copulative-auxiliary systems, and such patterns and changes are related to syntactic characteristics of a very general typological nature. In other words, a particular pattern of constructions of 'being' tends to reflect the general syntactic character of the language, and changes in the pattern tend to form part of general typological shifts.
 Standardized  There are severe limitations on the kinds of synchronic patterns and diachronic restructurings which may occur in existential-copulative-auxiliary systems, and such patterns and changes are related to syntactic characteristics of a very general typological nature. In other words, a particular pattern of constructions of 'being' tends to reflect the general syntactic character of the language, and changes in the pattern tend to form part of general typological shifts.
 Keywords  verb, existence, copula, auxiliary
 Domain  inflection, syntax, semantics
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic, diachronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  Bengali, Amharic, impressionistic
 Source  Ferguson 1972: 78

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Discussion
Notes
See #1975; spelled out by ##1978ff.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
See <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1975"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">; spelled out by <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1978"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">ff.