When any or all of these items — demonstrative, numeral, descriptive adjective — precede the noun, they are always found in that order. If they follow, the order is the same or the opposite.
Standardized
When any or all of these items — demonstrative, numeral, descriptive adjective — precede the noun, they are always found in that order. If they follow, the order is the same or the opposite.
Old Egyptian (Afro-Asiatic): Num Dem N A (e.g. fdw -pw nTr.(w) prr.w m- wp.t- Gb [four DEM.:SG.:MASC. god-PLUR. emerging-PLUR. from vertex THEONYM] ‘these four gods that issue from the vertex of Geb’). However, since Egyptian numeral expressions do not constitute simple noun phrases, but rather complex phrases in which the head is formed by the numeral and the noun counted follows in apposition, this is not necessarily a true counterexample against the principles of Domain Integrity, Head Proximity, and Scope (cf. Rijkhoff 1998: 339-362). (F. Kammerzell, p.c.)
illustrated by Greenberg from English (Germanic): these five large houses;and from Kikuyu (Bantu): houses large five these/ houses these five large [=less popular alternative]COMMENTS:1. Which of the 24 possible permutations of the four elements are really excluded? Given the possibility of only some of the relevant items preceding or following the noun (“… ANY or all of the items …”), many of these non-exclusively pre- or post-nominal permutations ought to be legitimate. On this reading of the universal, only 12 out of 24 possibilities (=50%) would be proscribed by it. Dem Num A N ok;Dem A Num N *;Num Dem A N *;Num A Dem N *;A Dem Num N *;A Num Dem N *;Dem Num N A ok?;Num Dem N A *;Dem A N Num ok?;A Dem N Num *;Num A N Dem ok?;A Num N Dem *;N A Num Dem ok;N Num A Dem *;N A Dem Num *;N Dem A Num *;N Num Dem A *;N Dem Num A ok;A N Num Dem ok?;A N Dem Num ok?;Num N A Dem ok?;Num N Dem A ok?;Dem N A Num ok?;Dem N Num A ok?;2. Why is it that, when (any or all) items follow the noun, they can occur in mirror-image order of the pre-nominal arrangement AS WELL AS in the same order as pre-nominally?Obvious answer (provided you reasonably believe in the possibility of “underlying” order being different from surface order): The second, non-mirror-image post-nominal order is due to NOUN FRONTING, operating on ‘Dem Num A N’. There is no syntactic rule of NOUN BACKING that would derive non-mirror-image ‘A Num Dem N’ from underlying ‘N A Num Dem’. 3. A genuinely implicational reformulation would be possible, along these lines:IF A precedes N and Dem precedes N too, THEN Dem will come before A; etc.
illustrated by Greenberg from English (Germanic): these five large houses;and from Kikuyu (Bantu): houses large five these/ houses these five large [=less popular alternative]COMMENTS:1. Which of the 24 possible permutations of the four elements are really excluded? Given the possibility of only some of the relevant items preceding or following the noun (“… ANY or all of the items …”), many of these non-exclusively pre- or post-nominal permutations ought to be legitimate. On this reading of the universal, only 12 out of 24 possibilities (=50%) would be proscribed by it. Dem Num A N ok;Dem A Num N *;Num Dem A N *;Num A Dem N *;A Dem Num N *;A Num Dem N *;Dem Num N A ok?;Num Dem N A *;Dem A N Num ok?;A Dem N Num *;Num A N Dem ok?;A Num N Dem *;N A Num Dem ok;N Num A Dem *;N A Dem Num *;N Dem A Num *;N Num Dem A *;N Dem Num A ok;A N Num Dem ok?;A N Dem Num ok?;Num N A Dem ok?;Num N Dem A ok?;Dem N A Num ok?;Dem N Num A ok?;2. Why is it that, when (any or all) items follow the noun, they can occur in mirror-image order of the pre-nominal arrangement AS WELL AS in the same order as pre-nominally?Obvious answer (provided you reasonably believe in the possibility of “underlying” order being different from surface order): The second, non-mirror-image post-nominal order is due to NOUN FRONTING, operating on ‘Dem Num A N’. There is no syntactic rule of NOUN BACKING that would derive non-mirror-image ‘A Num Dem N’ from underlying ‘N A Num Dem’. 3. A genuinely implicational reformulation would be possible, along these lines:IF A precedes N and Dem precedes N too, THEN Dem will come before A; etc.