Universal 1533: verb-initial ⇒ Comp Stand
- Original
- In verb-initial languages the comparative form precedes the standard.
- Standardized
- IF word order is verb-initial, THEN the comparative form precedes the standard.
- Keywords
- order, verb-initial, adjective, comparison
- Domain
- inflection, syntax
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical
- Basis
- unknown
- Source
- unpublished statements of Keenan’s, reproduced in D.Payne 1990: 11
- Counterexamples
The comparative marker is commonly a verbal form or an adposition. Thus ‘John is taller than Bill’ may be expressed as ‘Tall John from-Bill’ or as ‘Tall John exceed Bill’.