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Universal 1915: polysynthesis ⇒ ¬ semantically significant determiners
Original
The lack of semantically significant determiners seems to be a property of the polysynthetic languages as a class.
Standardized
IF there is polysynthesis, THEN there are no semantically significant determiners.
Keywords
polysynthesis, determiner
Domain
inflection, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
Polysynthetic languages like Mohawk (Iroquoian), Nahuatl (Uto-Aztecan), Kiowa (Kiowa- Tanoan), Gunwinjguan (Gunwingguan, Australian), Wichita (Caddoan), Chukchi (Chukchi-Kamchatkan), Ainu (isolate). Non-polysynthetic languages like Greenlandic (Eskimo-Aleut), Lakhota (Siouan), Slave (Athabaskan), Alamblak (Sepik-Ramu), Chichewa (Bantoid, Niger-Congo), Choctaw (Muskogean)
Source
Baker 1996 : 253
Counterexamples
Bininj Gun-wok (Australian) where demonstratives clearly function as determiners (Evans 2002: 29)
POLYSYNTHESIS: roughly, noun incorporation and bound agreement/cross-reference markers for subject and object(s) on the verb.What is “semantically significant”?