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Re: Greenberg's Word Order Universals

From:Nik <fortytwo@...>
Date:Thursday, September 14, 2000, 23:08
Lars Henrik Mathiesen wrote:
> Some nouns have a marked singular, some have a marked plural, none > have both. (Old French was almost like this at one stage, I think).
In Old French, the nominative singular and the oblique plural of at least some nouns were marked, and nominative plural and oblique singular were unmarked. For example: S P N fils fil O fil fils If French had generalized the nominative, then it would've violated that universal, I think. -- Dievas dave dantis; Dievas duos duonos God gave teeth; God will give bread - Lithuanian proverb ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor