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Universal 122:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 122:

Original
If in a language the same verbal meaning is expressible either through a construction where a complement of the verb is in the Accusative or through a construction where the same complement is in an adverbial case and there is a meaning difference between two constructions, this semantic contrast will be either a contrast between a definite and an indefinite object, or a contrast between an object that is fully involved in the event and one that is partially involved, or a contrast between affected and non-affected participant.
Standardized
IF the same verbal meaning is expressible either through a construction where a complement of the verb is in the Accusative or through a construction where the same complement is in an adverbial case and there is a meaning difference between two constructions, THEN this semantic contrast will be either a contrast between a definite and an indefinite object, or a contrast between an object that is fully involved in the event and one that is partially involved, or a contrast between affected and non-affected participant.
Keywords
object, case, accusative, adverbial, definite, indefinite, involvement, affectedness
Domain
inflection, syntax, semantics
Type
no genuine implication; rather: provided that
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute?
Basis
English (W. Germanic, Indo-European), Hungarian (Ugric, Uralic), Kabardian (Circassian, Caucasian), Eskimo (Eskimo-Aleut), Warlpiri (Pama-Nyungan, Australian), Amharic (W. Semitic, Afro-Asiatic)
Source
inferred from Moravcsik 1978a: 255, see also Anderson 1970, Jespersen 1954: 238
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    In other words:Marking alternations on (direct) objects, with an accusative alternating with an adverbial case, can only reflect three kinds of semantic contrasts: definite vs. indefinite, wholly vs. partially involved, or affected vs. non-affected.Individually or in combination, these three parameters have often been shown to govern object marking; the claim here is that there are no others. Have Anderson and Jespersen made THIS claim?

    1. May 2020

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