Universal #80

Legacy number: 80

 Number  80
 Original  There is no language in which the subject must be first demoted (via passivization) before it can be relativized.
 Standardized  Relativization is never limited to NPs demoted from subjecthood by passivization.
 Keywords  diathesis, passivization, relativization, subject
 Domain  syntax
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  languages in Givón 1975
 Source  Givón 1975: 121

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Discussion
Notes
Rendered as an implication and generalized:IF ex-subjects can be relativized, THEN subjects can be relativized.But then, since subjects can presumably be relativized universally, we have here a paradox of material implication — a truth with any implicans whatsoever.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Rendered as an implication and generalized:
IF ex-subjects can be relativized, THEN subjects can be relativized.

But then, since subjects can presumably be relativized universally, we have here a paradox of material implication – a truth with any implicans whatsoever.