ABSTRACT
Now that we have taken a look at a number of structural properties typical of the Turkic languages, let us turn to the question of the general constraints possibly affecting the copying of these and similar features. Surprisingly, until today, it is occasionally claimed that nonlexical structural features cannot be copied at all or, at best, only with great difficulty. Linguists doubt whether grammatical structures can be influenced. According to Oksaar, there are ‘no clear cases that would permit a generalization of statements that grammatical paradigms, bound morphemes, word order etc. can be subject to interference’ (Oksaar 1972: 492). Givón simply states that languages ‘do not borrow grammar’ and that their speakers prefer to use ‘universal grammar’ rather than breaking up morphosyntactic patterns as a result of borrowing (Givón 1979: 25 ff.). As we have seen, such claims are readily refuted by Turkic language data, for one.
