Universal #244

Legacy number: 244

 Number  244
 Original  Inflectional systems either have all three of the following properties or none of them: (i) inflectional exponents are intimately joined to the units inflected; (ii) inflectional exponents vary with classes of units to be inflected (i.e. there are coexisting inflection classes); (iii) inflections express several categories cumulatively; (iv) inflectional exponents neutralize some paradigmatic distinctions.
 Standardized  Inflectional systems either have all three of the following properties or none of them: (i) inflectional exponents are intimately joined to the units inflected; (ii) inflectional exponents vary with classes of units to be inflected (i.e. there are coexisting inflection classes); (iii) inflections express several categories cumulatively; (iv) inflectional exponents neutralize some paradigmatic distinctions.
 Keywords  inflection class, cumulation, syncretism, fusion
 Domain  inflection
 Type  mutual implication
 Status  diachronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  Ancient and Modern Greek (both Greek), French, Italian, Latin (all Italic), English, "Gothic" (both Germanic), Classical Armenian (Armenian), Hebrew (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic)
 Source  Smith 1761 [1983] (i-iii), Anonymous 1771(iv), as interpreted in Plank 1992: 46

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Languages such as Turkish (Turkic, Altaic), where the declensions and conjugations are more or less uniform. There is no inflectional cumulation, and inflections are far less thouroughly mixed and blended with stems (Plank 1992: 46).
Notes
Diachronic insofar as these property combinations are conceived of as products of the development of inflectional systems.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Diachronic insofar as these property combinations are conceived of as products of the development of inflectional systems.