Universal #485
Legacy number: 485
| Number | 483 |
| Original | 80 % of the languages in Sedlak’s sample which indicate the direct or indirect object by word order also indicate them by morphological marker. Thus, even in those languages with a fixed word order, either direct object or the indirect object may be indicated by, say, the presence of a preposition, suffix, etc. |
| Standardized | IF direct and indirect objects are distinguished by word order, THEN they are also likely to be distinguished by morphosyntactic marking (affix, adposition). |
| Formula | DO & IO are indicated by fixed word order ⇒ DO & IO are indicated by morphosyntactic marking |
| Keywords | direct object, indirect object, order |
| Domain | inflection, syntax |
| Type | implication |
| Status | achronic |
| Quality | statistical |
| Basis | 44 languages in Sedlak 1975 |
| Source | Sedlak 1975: 147 |
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