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Universal 250: flexible language ⇒ predicative use (all classes of predicates)

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 250: flexible language ⇒ predicative use (all classes of predicates)

Original
All truly flexible languages allow all classes of predicate, up to and including possessive ones, to be used predicatively.
Standardized
IF parts-of-speech classification is truly flexible, THEN all classes of predicates can be used predicatively.
Keywords
word class, flexible, predicate, possessive
Domain
inflection, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
37 languages of Hengeveld’s sample
Source
Hengeveld 1992: 135
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    Hengeveld 1992: 65: “… non-specialized parts-of-speech systems can be subclassified into two major groups: those in which a single part of speech may be used in different functions, and those in which for certain functions a part of speech is lacking. The former may be called flexible languages, the latter rigid languages.”

    1. May 2020

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