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Universal 1494: non-configurational ⇒ agglutinative

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1494: non-configurational ⇒ agglutinative

Original
Non-configurational languages are agglutinative, but not vice versa.
Standardized
IF syntax is non-configurational, THEN morphology is agglutinative, but not vice versa.
Keywords
non-configurational, agglutination
Domain
morphology, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
Warlpiri (Pama-Nyungan, Australian), Lummi, Clallam (both Salishan), Papago, Cupeño (both Uto-Aztecan), Basque (isolate)
Source
Jelinek 1984: 74
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    The properties supposedly common to non-configurational languages include the following: (1) free word order; (2) syntactically discontinuous expressions; and (3) null anaphora (see Hale 1983). By “null anaphora” Hale refers to “the situation in which an argument (e.g., subject, object) is not represented by an overt nominal expression in phrase structure”.

    1. May 2020

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