UC Davis

This chapter examines synchronic cross-linguistic patterns in grammars and language use. It proposes that " variation-defining" universals delimit the scope of possible variation across languages. Examples of such universals include the Greenbergian implicational universals and the parameters in the Government-Binding tradition. It argues that variation-defining universals should be understood in terms of performance principles. It further suggests these same performance principles govern variation of structures within languages, dictating that following a verb, short prepositional phrases should precede long prepositional phrases.