Re: Never violate a universal unless it seems like a good idea at the time

>I found out about those universals long after most of Rhean had taken
>shape, and while Tolborese and Omurax were still only sketches. I see them
>as interesting observations on existing natural languages, not rules to
>be "broken". Although, setting out to violate every one of them in one
>language would be an interesting project, and likely to produce a rather
>convoluted, "inside-out" feeling grammar.
Of course, it isn't actually possible to violate *all* of them at once,
since many of them are applicable only to certain types of languages, but
you could certainly hold a contest to see who could violate the most
universals at one time.  Some of those universals state that something is
likely or unlikely, some of them state that something almost always or
almost never occurs, and a few of them are stated as *absolute*
restrictions.  These universals express differing degrees of likelihood,
from "far better than average chance" to "always."

Isidora

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