Tomlin (1986): "... The principal reason for this is that under certain circumstances one principle may interact with another in ways which may neutralize it."

Komentatzen genuen atzo nóla Tomlin-ek dioen an bere "Basic word order. Functional principles" (1986):

... data from single languages could not constitute sufficient counterevidence to refute a language-general principle. [Tomlin, 1986:130]

eta nóla

Justuki horren jarraian, Tomlin-ek emanen digú bere azalpena ("the principal reason"), ... [Tomlin, 1986:130]

Horrá:

The principal reason for this is that under certain circumstances one principle may interact with another in ways which may neutralize it . So, for example, under the analysis presented here verb-initial languages cannot in principle realize all three functional principles . Either the TFP and AFP can be realized, yielding VSO orders, or VOB can be realized , yielding VOS orders. [Tomlin, 1986:130]

Esan nahi baita ze existitu daitezke inkonpatibilitateak arten Tomlin-en printzipio funtzionalak azpi zenbait ordena posible (ordena aditzaurrenak kasu), zeintan ezin litezken bateratu printzipio horiek (Tomlin, 1986:125):

 Ondo da, baina horrek segituan planteatzen digu beste galdera bat:

• Existizen badira, nola existitzen diren, bi ordena (SOV eta SVO) non Tomlin-en hiru printzipioak betetzen diren, zergátik ez dira sintaxi guztiak pertenitzen ki ordena horiek? Zergátik existitzen dira sintaxi realak non ez diren betetzen hiru printzipio horiek?

Bihar saiatuko gara bideratzen erantzun bat, erábiliz dimensio bat zein Tomlin-ek ez dun kontuan hartu an bere analisia, eta zein dén dimensio fundamentala an azalpena e hitz-ordenak arten munduko sintaxiak.