Universal 602:

Original: No accusative language has only ergative-type verb agreement in person or number or gender.
Standardized: IF alignment is accusative for some/many purposes, THEN verb agreement in person or number or gender is not limited to ergative alignment.
Keywords: alignment, accusative, ergative, verb agreement, person, number, gender
Domain: inflection, syntax
Type: implication
Status: achronic
Quality: absolute
Basis: languages mentioned in Moravcsik 1978d
Source: Moravcsik 1978d: 263

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One Comment

FP

This statement contributes to the prediction of the distribution of ergative verb-agreement patterns by asserting that in whatever class of languages ergative person/gender/number agreement occurs exclusively, this class will not include accusative languages (Moravcsik 1978: 264).???

1. May 2020

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