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Universal 197:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 197:

Original
No set of case marking elements both precede the head noun and participate in agreement.
Standardized
IF a relational marker (case, adposition) precedes the head noun, THEN it will not participate in agreement.
IF a relational marker (case, adposition) participates in agreement, THEN it will not precede the head noun.
Keywords
case, adposition, prefix, preposition, order, agreement
Domain
inflection, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
Russian (Slavic, IE), Evenki (Tungus), Japanese (Japanese-Ryukyuan), Tagalog (W. Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian), Amharic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Estonian, Karelian, Vepsian (all Finnic, Uralic)
Source
Kilby 1981: 115 (A)
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. Kilby 1981: 121 combines his universal with #198: “Case marking elements which precede the noun phrase are always separable from the head noun, and never participate in agreement.”2. See Greenberg’s universals (here ##1, 4, 8, 55) discussed in Kilby 1981: 128.

    1. May 2020

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