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Universal 1736:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1736:

Original
If a less peripherally ordered noun phrase constituent marks gender, number, and/or case redundantly, so can all more peripherally ordered constituents.
Standardized
IF a less peripherally ordered noun phrase constituent marks gender, number, and/or case redundantly, THEN all more peripherally ordered constituents can mark these categories redundantly.
Keywords
NP, order, case, number, gender, agreement
Domain
inflection, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
languages surveyed in Moravcsik 1994b, including Hungarian, Mari (both Finno-Ugric), Albanian (Albanian, IE), Classical and Modern Greek (Greek, IE), English, German, Swedish, Dutch, Frisian, Old Icelandic (all Germanic, IE), Welsh, Breton, Manx (all Celtic, IE), Spanish, Rumanian, Romantsch, Latin, Sardinian, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Italian, Occitan (all Romance, IE), Macedonian (Slavic, IE), Abkhaz (NW Caucasian), Turkish (Turkic, Altaic), Maltese (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Basque (isolate), Jicaltepec Mixtec (Oto-Manguean), Samoan (Oceanic, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian), Berbice Dutch Creole, Toba (Western Malayo-Polynesian), Chantyal (?)
Source
Moravcsik 1994b
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    More generally: If a less peripherally ordered noun phrase constituent carries redundant information, so may all more peripherally ordered constituents. (Moravcsik 1994b)

    1. May 2020

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