Universal #61
Legacy number: 61
| Number | 61 |
| Original | If in comparisons of superiority the only order, or one of the alternative orders, is standard - marker - adjective, then the language is postpositional. With overwhelmingly more than chance frequency if the only order is adjective - marker - standard, the language is prepositional. |
| Standardized | IF in comparisons of superiority the only order, or one of the alternative orders, is Standard - Marker - Adjective, THEN there are postpositions; IF the only order is Adjective - Marker - Standard, THEN there are prepositions. |
| Formula | Standard-marker-adjective ⇒ postpositions; Adjective-marker-standard ⇒ prepositions |
| Keywords | order, adjective, comparison, postposition, preposition |
| Domain | syntax |
| Type | implication |
| Status | achronic |
| Quality | one part absolute, the other statistical |
| Basis | 30 languages of Greenberg 1963 sample |
| Source | Greenberg 1963: 89, #22 |
Discussion
Counterexamples
Standard - Marker - A, but prepositions: Tepehua (Uto-Aztecan) (Pickett 1983: 542).St-M-A & Prepositions: Nkonya, Ewe (Kwa); Koyraboro Senni Songhay (Songhay, Nilo-Saharan); Hungarian (Ugric, Uralic); Sema, Lakher (Kuki-Chin-Naga, Tibeto-Burman); Ungarinjin (Wororan, Australian); Cree (Algonquian); Cherokee (Iroquoian); Northern Tepehuan (Tepiman, Uto-Aztecan) (Dryer 2000)
Notes
1. To illustrate from English: old-er than Methuselah [Adj-Marker-Standard].Actually, English has a couple of what arguably are POSTpositions: ’s (“genitive”), ago.2. See also #1348, which has the ordering of A, Marker, Standard as an implicatum of VO/VO. ##55 and 491 have prepositions/postpositions also as implicata of VO/OV, which by transitiviy allows a direct linking.
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old-er than Methuselah [Adj-Marker-Standard].
Actually, English has a couple of what arguably are POSTpositions: 's ("genitive"), ago.
2. See also <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1348"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, which has the ordering of A, Marker, Standard as an implicatum of VO/VO. <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=55"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0"> and <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=491"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0"> have prepositions/postpositions also as implicata of VO/OV, which by transitiviy allows a direct linking.