Universal 1057:

Universal 1057:

Original

If verbs agree in Person, they are likelier not to agree than to agree in Gender.

Standardized

IF verbs agree in person, THEN they are likelier not to agree than to agree in gender.

Keywords

agreement, verb, person, gender

Domain

inflection, syntax

Type

implication

Status

achronic

Quality

statistical

Basis

sample of 50 languages in Plank 1994a

Source

Plank 1994a: 53 ()

Counterexamples

31.5% of languages in Plank’s sample (which is a lot!): Abkhaz, Tabasaran (both N. Caucasian), Arabic, Israeli Hebrew, Tamazight, Hausa, Beja (all Afro-Asiatic), Kannada (Dravidian), Nama (Khoisan), Swahili (Bantu, Niger-Congo), Ho (Munda, Austroasiatic), Mohawk (Iroquoian), Yimas (Sepik, Papuan), Basque, Burushaski, Ket (all isolates).