Universal #266

Legacy number: 266

 Number  265
 Original  Active languages are characterized by dividing nouns into active (“animate”) and inactive (“inanimate”) classes and by the corresponding principle of dividing verbs into active (verbs of action) and stative (verbs of state) groups. Both of these groups form “covert” categories. Corresponding syntactic correlates are the opposition between active and inactive constructions and the distinction between near and distant objects.
 Standardized  IF alignment is predominantly active, THEN both nouns and verbs are subdivided into active and inactive classes (animate vs. inanimate, action vs. state), and there is a corresponding distinction of active vs. inactive syntactic constructions, showing a distinction of objects into "near" and "distant" rather than direct and indirect/oblique.
 Keywords  alignment, active, noun, noun classification, animacy, verb, verb classification, action, state, object, direct, indirect, oblique
 Domain  inflection, syntax, lexicon
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic but presumably diachronically motivated
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  languages of North and South America, some ancient languages of the New East (esp. Elamite)
 Source  Klimov 1977: 83

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Discussion
Notes
Klimov being a "stadialist", these implications are to be seen as characterizing developmental stages, with the ergative stage developing from the active stage and developing into the accusative stage.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Klimov being a "stadialist", these implications are to be seen as characterizing developmental stages, with the ergative stage developing from the active stage and developing into the accusative stage.