Author: FP

Universal 1632: polysynthesis ⇒ Wh-movement Original In polysynthetic languages, interrogative phrases are constrained to appear in clause-initial position. Standardized IF there is polysynthesis, THEN interrogative…

Universal 1633: verb-final ⇒ ¬ Wh-movement Original There is a definite negative correlation between Question-word Movement and verb-final ordering. Standardized IF basic order is verb-final,…

Universal 1634: polysynthesis ⇒ ¬ nonfinite verb forms Original IF there is polysynthesis (essentially, noun incorporation and bound agreement/cross-reference markers for subject and object(s) on…

Universal 1635: productive noun-incorporation ⇒ head-marking Original Languages with productive noun incorporation must be of the head-marking type. Standardized IF there is productive noun incorporation,…

Universal 1636: preposition incorporation ⇒ verb-final Original Relational preverbs are primarily (though not exclusively) favoured in verb-final languages. Standardized IF there are relational preverbs owing…

Universal 1637: head-final ⇒ serial verb constructions Original For serial verb constructions, the languages where heads precede complements are far more prone to verb serialization…

Universal 1638: Original It is characteristic for reflexive markers to develop into decausative markers cross-linguistically, and there is no evidence of the reverse process. Standardized…

Universal 1639: Original Evolution of semantic functions of subjective reflexive markers: semantic reflexivity > ‘partitive object’ and/or autocausative > absolute and/or reciprocal. (a) RMs with…

Universal 1640: Original The principal functions within the objective recessive diathesis develop in the following succession:decausative > passive > impersonal. Languages with the reflexive impersonal…

Universal 1641: transitive > objective > subjective Original Syntactic functions of reflexive markers fall into an implicational hierarchy: transitive > objective > subjective function. If…