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Universal 1742:
- Original
- If a language has person marking affixes on verb (direct object), they are prefixed with more than chance frequency.
- Standardized
- When there are any person affixes on the verb marking direct object, these will be prefixed with more than chance frequency.
- Keywords
- person, direct object, verb, affix-order, prefix
- Domain
- inflection
- Type
- no genuine implication; rather: provided that
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical
- Basis
- 200 languages drawn from three samples: a 125-language sample by L. Stassen, a 40-language sample by J. Bybee, and a 39-language sample by G. Gilligan
- Source
- Cutler, Hawkins, & Gilligan 1985: 730
- Counterexamples
- Bybee’s sample: 75% of languages confirm this generalization.
