In subject-final languages noun phrase questions can always be formed by putting the question word, e.g., Who? What? etc., in a preverbal position, provided the question word is not a bound morpheme.
Standardized
IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN noun phrase questions can always be formed by putting the question word, e.g., Who? What? etc., in a preverbal position, provided the question word is not a bound morpheme.
Keywords
order, subject, object, question word
Domain
syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
Malagasy, Batak [Toba Dialect], Fijian, Gilbertese (all Malayo-Polynesian), Tzeltal (Mayan), Otomi (Oto-Manguean), Ineseño Chumash (Hokan), Baure (Arawakan), Tzotzil, Kekchi (both Mayan), Tsou (Formosan, Austronesian), although the last three languages are not surveyed in the paper
By SUBJECT-FINAL languages Keenan means any language in which full noun phrase subjects must follow noun phrase direct objects in the pragmatically less marked sentence types (which contain both subjects and direct objects) of the language. Sentences which are pragmatically less marked place the fewest restrictions on their contexts of appropriate use.
By SUBJECT-FINAL languages Keenan means any language in which full noun phrase subjects must follow noun phrase direct objects in the pragmatically less marked sentence types (which contain both subjects and direct objects) of the language. Sentences which are pragmatically less marked place the fewest restrictions on their contexts of appropriate use.