[In subject-final languages] With much greater than chance frequency numerical expressions precede the nouns they modify.
Standardized
IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN numerical expressions precede the nouns they modify.
Keywords
order, subject, object, numeral
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
In Malagasy (Barito, West Malayo-Polynesian), numerical expressions behave by and large like descriptive adjectives and as such follow the noun (although there are one or two frozen expressions with numerals preceding nouns) (Keenan 1978: 298).
1. 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. 2. In some languages of Keenan’s sample, notably Tzeltal and Gilbertese, the constructions of numerical expressions are complicated by the existence of numeral classifier.
1. 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. 2. In some languages of Keenan’s sample, notably Tzeltal and Gilbertese, the constructions of numerical expressions are complicated by the existence of numeral classifier.