Universal #201

Legacy number: 201

 Number  201
 Original  No set of case marking elements are both independent morphemes and inseparable from the head noun.
 Standardized  IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is an independent morpheme, THEN it will not be inseparable from the head noun.
IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is inseparable from the head noun, THEN it is an independent morpheme.
 Keywords  case, adposition, head noun
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  Russian (Slavic, Indo-European), Evenki (Tungus), Japanese (Japanese-Ryukyuan), Tagalog (W. Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian), Amharic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Estonian, Karelian, Vepsian (all Finnic, Uralic)
 Source  Kilby 1981: 15 (E)

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Discussion
Notes
What is the difference between “independent morpheme” and “inseparability”? Do Kilby’s own reflections draw any clear boundaries?Kilby 1981: 116-117: “The major criterion for defining a morpheme as independent is that it may occur on its own, as an utterance (albeit an elliptical one). If it can occur on its own, it follows that it is separable from other elements, including the head noun of the noun phrase with which it may be associated. On the other hand, these two features are not coextensive, because it is possible for an element to be separable from the head noun, but not to be an independent morpheme; prepositions in Amharic and’s in English are examples of this.”
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
What is the difference between "independent morpheme" and "inseparability"? Do Kilby's own reflections draw any clear boundaries?
Kilby 1981: 116-117: "The major criterion for defining a morpheme as independent is that it may occur on its own, as an utterance (albeit an elliptical one). If it can occur on its own, it follows that it is separable from other elements, including the head noun of the noun phrase with which it may be associated. On the other hand, these two features are not coextensive, because it is possible for an element to be separable from the head noun, but not to be an independent morpheme; prepositions in Amharic and 's in English are examples of this."