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Universal 198:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 198:

Original
No set of case marking elements both precede the head noun and are inseparable from it.
Standardized
IF a relational marker (case, adposition) precedes the head noun, THEN it will not be inseparable from it.
IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is inseparable from the head noun, THEN it will not precede it.
Keywords
case, adposition, head noun
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 (B)
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. Kilby 1981: 121 combines this universal with #197: “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 and 55) discussed in Kilby 1981: 128.

    1. May 2020

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