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Universal 542:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 542:

Original
When there is a word order variation in addition between larger and smaller, and one order has an overt link and the other has not, it is always the order smaller+larger which has the link.
Standardized
When there is a word order variation in addition between larger and smaller, and one order has an overt link and the other has not, it is always the order smaller+larger which has the link.
Keywords
order, numeral
Domain
word formation, syntax
Type
no genuine implication; rather: provided that
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
56 languages mentioned in Greenberg 1978a
Source
Greenberg 1978a: 277 (#33)
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    For example, in Latin 21 was either “unus et viginti” ‘one and twenty’ or “viginti unus” ‘twenty one’ . In Araucanian (Andean), 11 is either “mari quiñe” ‘ten, one’ or “quiña huente mari” ‘one on ten’.

    1. May 2020

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