Universal 901:

Universal 901:

Original

The more firmly individuated (definite, human, etc.) the agent and the object and/or the more complete (semantically pregnant, perfective, real. etc.) the process, the greater the chances the sentence will adopt the more grammatically transitive construction.

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Standardized

The more firmly individuated (definite, human, etc.) the agent and the object and/or the more complete (semantically pregnant, perfective, real. etc.) the process, the greater the chances the sentence will adopt the more grammatically transitive construction.

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Keywords

definiteness, animacy, perfective, affectedness, transitivity

Domain

inflection, syntax

Type

implication

Status

achronic

Quality

statistical

Basis

languages surveyed in Lazard 1986b, Lazard 1991, Lazard 1995, Lazard 1998

Source

Lazard 1986b: 63, Lazard 1991: 45, Lazard 1995: 202-203, Lazard 1998: 237

Counterexamples