Universal 496: initial question word ⇒ inversion Verb-Subject;
inversion Verb-Subject (interrogative question) ⇒ inversion Verb-Subject (yes-no question)
- Original
- Inversion of statement order so that verb precedes subject occurs only in languages where the question word or phrase is normally initial. This same inversion occurs in yes-no questions only if it also occurs in interrogative questions.
- Standardized
- IF interrogative sentences are formed from declarative sentences by inversion so that verb precedes subject, THEN the question word or phrase is normally initial.
IF such inversion occurs in yes-no questions, THEN it also occurs in information questions.
- Keywords
- order, sentence type, interrogative, subject-verb inversion
- Domain
- syntax
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical, almost absolute
- Basis
- 30 languages of Greenberg 1963 sample
- Source
- Greenberg 1963: 83, #11
- Counterexamples
