Universal #2019
Legacy number: 2019
| Number | 2013 |
| Original | It is probably the case that a classifier set always includes a contrast human/nonhuman or animate/inanimate ... A gender/noun class system almost always includes a contrast human/nonhuman or animate/inanimate, and even if it does not there will be a distinction of this type elsewhere in the grammar. |
| Standardized | (i) IF there are classifiers for other contrasts, THEN there are ones for the contrast human/nonhuman or animate/inanimate;(ii) IF there are genders or noun classes for other contrasts, THEN there are ones for the contrast human/nonhuman or animate/inanimate.(iii) There is a contrast human/nonhuman or animate/inanimate recognized by some grammatical forms (such as interrogative pronouns) or rules. |
| Keywords | classifier, gender, animacy |
| Domain | inflection, syntax |
| Type | implication |
| Status | achronic |
| Quality | absolute? |
| Basis | "more than 500 languages in all" (?) |
| Source | Aikhenvald & Dixon 1998: 58-59 |
Discussion
Counterexamples
to (iii): Ewe (Kwa, Niger-Congo)(authors).
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