Universal #205

Legacy number: 205

 Number  205
 Original  No set of case marking elements express neither subject-object nor concrete relations.
 Standardized  IF a relational marker (case, adposition) does not express subject-object relations, THEN it will express local relations.
IF it does not express local relations, THEN it will express subject-object relations.
 Keywords  case, adposition, grammatical relations, local relations
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  mutual 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: 116 (I)

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Discussion
Notes
Kilby 1981: 120-121: “Given that bound morphemes fit naturally into the expression of subject-object relations, while independent morphemes naturally express concrete relations, this does not appear to leave much room for a system which expresses neither. Isolated individual forms, such as the English possessive postposition ’s, are the only case marking elements which can be expected to fill this gap.”
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Kilby 1981: 120-121: "Given that bound morphemes fit naturally into the expression of subject-object relations, while independent morphemes naturally express concrete relations, this does not appear to leave much room for a system which expresses neither. Isolated individual forms, such as the English possessive postposition 's, are the only case marking elements which can be expected to fill this gap."