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Universal 161:
- Original
- No language suspends overt marking of dative or spatial functions because the referent is non-specific or indefinite.
- Standardized
- Overt marking of dative or spatial functions cannot be suspended when a referent is non-specific or indefinite.
- Keywords
- indirect object, spatial complement, indefinite, specific reference
- Domain
- inflection, syntax
- Type
- unconditional
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- absolute
- Basis
- languages surveyed in Blansitt 1988
- Source
- inferred from Blansitt 1988: 181
- Counterexamples
Presumably the idea is that indefiniteness or non-specificity may condition the suspension of overt marking only for direct objects.