Universal #251

Legacy number: 251

 Number  251
 Original  All rigid languages for which the class of manner adverbs is irrelevant or a small and closed one do not allow the predicative use of possessive predicates, nor has the predicative use of bare nominal predicates been attested.
 Standardized  IF parts-of-speech classification is rigid and there is no or a small and closed class of manner adverbs, THEN nominal and possessive predicates can not be used predicatively.
 Formula  rigid language & ¬manner adverb ⇒ ¬predicative use (nominal & possessive)
 Keywords  word class, rigid, manner adverb, predicate, nominal, possessive
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  37 languages of Hengeveld’s sample
 Source  Hengeveld 1992: 135

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Discussion
Notes
Hengeveld 1992: 65: “... non-specialized parts-of-speech systems can be subclassified into two major groups: those in which a single part of speech may be used in different functions, and those in which for certain functions a part of speech is lacking. The former may be called flexible languages, the latter rigid languages.”
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Hengeveld 1992: 65: "... non-specialized parts-of-speech systems can be subclassified into two major groups: those in which a single part of speech may be used in different functions, and those in which for certain functions a part of speech is lacking. The former may be called flexible languages, the latter rigid languages."