Universal #310

Legacy number: 310

 Number  309
 Original  In the overwhelming majority of languages the citation form belongs to the syntactical form of the nominative*.
 Standardized  The citation form of the noun tends to be the nominative case form.
 Keywords  noun, case, nominative, markedness
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  languages surveyed in Kozinsky 1981
 Source  Kozinsky 1981

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Discussion
Counterexamples
In systems with “marked nominative”, it is the unmarked accusative case that is used in citation forms; see #6.
Notes
1. Cf. #1109. 2. A sequence of a stem and all related synsemantic and semisynsemantic morphemes can function in a clause as follows: subject of transitive verb (S), subject of intransitive verb of state (SIntrS), or action (SIntrA), direct object (O). The sequence is determined as a syntactic form (SF) in a matrix of the 4 above mentioned constituents, where “+” means that it is possible, and “-” that it is impossible to express a certain part of a sentence with this sequence.SF indefinitive: +S+SIntrA+SIntrS+O ex. Russian: stol (table), kenguru (kangaroo);SF subjective: +S+SIntrA+SIntrS-O ex. Russian: reka (river), otec (father);SF accusative: -S-SIntrA-SIntrS+O ex. Russian: rek-u, otc-a;SF absolutive: -S+SIntrA+SIntrS+OSF transitive: +S-SIntrA-SIntrS+OSF intransitive: -S+SIntrA+SIntrS-OSF active: +S+SIntrA-SIntrS-OSF stative: -S-SIntrA+SIntrS+O.Moreover, while SF of indefinitive, subjective, absolutive, intransitive, and stative have some features in common, it is nice to have a common term for all of them: SF nominative ±S±SIntrA +SIntrS±O.
Comment
EF · 20 Jul 2007
1. Cf. <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1109"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">


2. A sequence of a stem and all related synsemantic and semisynsemantic morphemes can function in a clause as follows: subject of transitive verb (S), subject of intransitive verb of state (SIntrS), or action (SIntrA), direct object (O). The sequence is determined as a syntactic form (SF) in a matrix of the 4 above mentioned constituents, where "+" means that it is possible, and "-" that it is impossible to express a certain part of a sentence with this sequence.
<table class="textTable">
<tr>
<td>SF indefinitive:</td> <td>+S+SIntrA+SIntrS+O</td>
<td>ex. Russian: stol (table), kenguru (kangaroo);</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SF subjective:</td> <td>+S+SIntrA+SIntrS-O</td>
<td>ex. Russian: reka (river), otec (father);</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SF accusative:</td>
<td>-S-SIntrA-SIntrS+O</td>
<td>ex. Russian: rek-u, otc-a;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SF absolutive:</td>
<td>-S+SIntrA+SIntrS+O</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SF transitive:</td>
<td>+S-SIntrA-SIntrS+O</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SF intransitive:</td>
<td>-S+SIntrA+SIntrS-O</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SF active:</td>
<td>+S+SIntrA-SIntrS-O</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>SF stative:</td>
<td>-S-SIntrA+SIntrS+O.</td>
</tr>
</table>
Moreover, while SF of indefinitive, subjective, absolutive, intransitive, and stative have some features in common, it is nice to have a common term for all of them:
SF nominative ±S±SIntrA +SIntrS±O.