Universal #2006
Legacy number: 2006
| Number | 2000 |
| Original | If a particular target type can mark agreement in gender then in many languages it must. ... This may be called "enforced" gender agreement. ... In a nutshell, if an agreement target can agree then typically it must agree, even if the agreement controller lacks the appropriate features. |
| Standardized | IF an agreement target can agree [in gender, number, or whatever], THEN typically it must agree, even if the agreement controller lacks the appropriate features. |
| Keywords | agreement, gender, number |
| Domain | inflection, syntax |
| Type | implication |
| Status | achronic |
| Quality | statistical |
| Basis | "over 200 languages" from all over the place |
| Source | Corbett 1991: 203-204 |
Discussion
Notes
1. Enforced gender agreement creates a problem if the controller is not specified for a gender (e.g., when it is an infinitive or a clause rather than a prototypical NP – see #2007) or if greater specificity is forced on the speaker than is possible/desirable. Different strategies: neutral/default agreement form, unique neutral agreement form, evasive form, special form.2. Claim repeated in slightly different form: "If a language has targets which distinguish gender, then typically they must distinguish gender." (Corbett 1991: 218).3. What about the suspension of agreement in different constructions of the same target words? E.g. German: Adjectives can agree in gender, but they don't when predicative, nor when attributive but postnominal (pur-er Whisky, Whisky pur). Is this "neutral/default" agreement, taking the shape of the bare stem, or simply "non-agreement"? I'd find it hard arguing against the latter – despite its being at odds with yet another universal, #26/63, claiming an agreement preference for postnominal vis-a-vis prenominal adjectives.
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2. Claim repeated in slightly different form: "If a language has targets which distinguish gender, then typically they must distinguish gender." (Corbett 1991: 218).
3. What about the suspension of agreement in different constructions of the same target words? E.g. German: Adjectives can agree in gender, but they don't when predicative, nor when attributive but postnominal (pur-er Whisky, Whisky pur). Is this "neutral/default" agreement, taking the shape of the bare stem, or simply "non-agreement"? I'd find it hard arguing against the latter – despite its being at odds with yet another universal, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=26"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">/<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=63"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, claiming an agreement preference for postnominal vis-a-vis prenominal adjectives.