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1. May 2020
FP
One Comment

Universal 1607: modals/auxiliaries do not inflect for person ⇒ ¬ infinitive

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1607: modals/auxiliaries do not inflect for person ⇒ ¬ infinitive

Original
If the modals/auxiliaries of a language do not inflect for person, then it does not have an infinitive.
Standardized
IF the modals/auxiliaries do not inflect for person, THEN there will be no infinitive.
Keywords
modal, auxiliary, person, infinitive
Domain
inflection, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
Bulgarian (Slavonic), Germanic, Romance languages, Greek (all IE), Bété (Kru, Niger-Congo), Indonesian (W. Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian), Korean (Altaic), Mandarin (Sinitic, Sino-Tibetan), Mangarayi (Gunwingguan, Australian), Mayan languages (esp. Yucatec), Tamil (Dravidian), Vietnamese (Mon-Khmer, Austro-Asiatic)
Source
C. Lehmann 1992: 316
Counterexamples
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One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    The antecedent of this implication is not intended to cover languages with some modals/auxiliaries which do and others which do not inflect for person, such as Russian. And naturally, the implication does not invert. There are quite a few languages, like the Balkan languages, that lack an infinitive even though their modals and auxiliaries are personal (Lehmann 1992: 316).

    1. May 2020

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