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Universal 115:
- Original
- It is common for certain case distinctions to be neutralized for a given number, while the opposite phenomenon perhaps never occurs.
- Standardized
- Cases can be neutralized for a given Number, but not Numbers for a given Case.
- Keywords
- number, case
- Domain
- inflection
- Type
- unconditional
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- almost absolute?
- Basis
- 30 languages of Greenberg 1963 sample
- Source
- inferred by Uspensky 1965: 210 from Greenberg 1963: 103
- Counterexamples
- Finnish (Finnic, Uralic)
See also Louis Hjelmslev (1935). La catégorie des cas. Etude de grammaire générale. Première partie. Aarhus: Universitetsforlaget (Acta Jutlandica VII, 1). Hjelmslev argues that Number may be dominant over Case (being conducive to case syncretism for given numbers), but also Case over Number (being conducive to number syncretism for a given case; e.g. in Finno-Ugric).