Query Details
| Query Subject: |
Things that no languages do
|
| Author: | Frederick J Newmeyer |
| Submitter Email: | click here to access email |
| Query: |
I am interested in collecting examples of phenomena that are not found in any language in the world (as far as we know), where there is no OBVIOUS functional explanation for that fact. Here is an example of the sort of phenomenon that I am looking for: In no language do grammatical processes pay attention to 'third position' (though of course 'second position' is often important). I suspect also tha there are many conceivable syntax- phonology and semantics-phonology interactions that are logically possible and not obviously dysfunctional, but which never occur. If anybody has examples of this sort (or, even better, knows if there already exist compilations of them), I would be very grateful to know about them. I'll summarize. Fritz Newmeyer fjn@u.washington.edu |
