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Universal 891:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 891:

Original
Iambic vs. Trochaic languages
See Graphics
Standardized
see Graphics for Iambic vs. Trochaic languages
Keywords
stress, syllable, unit, order, object, verb, subject, adverb, adjective, noun, attributive, agglutination, flexion, timing, stress, syllable, syllable structure, intonation contour, tone
Domain
prosodic phonology, morphology, syntax
Type
mutual implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
170 languages, drawn from the 197 in the Stanford Phonology Archive
Source
Gil 1986, summarized in Plank 1998
Counterexamples
For counterexamples of the correlation between verb/object and noun/modifier order see ##107, 1616.

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. While everybody agrees (## 893, 11, 13 ) on the OV/agglutination and VO/flection associations, iambic rhythm goes with VO and allied orders and flexive (or no) morphology according to Donegan-Stampe (and, as to VO, also Bally et al., see #675), but with OV and agglutination according to Gil. Also it is iambic rather than trochaic that potentially has more complex syllable structures according to Donegan-Stampe, while Gil (this time in agreement with Bally) has it the other way round. Now, while Donegan-Stampe and Gil agree on the iambic/stress-timing and trochaic/syllable-timing (or also mora-timing) associations, syllable-timed languages have elsewhere been claimed to have simpler syllable structures than stress-timed languages (Bertinetto 1977, 1989; Dauer 1983; Brakel 1985) – which ought to be better news for Donegan-Stampe than for Gil. Further, stress-timing comes with agglutination for Gil, and with flection for Donegan-Stampe. 2. Dryer 1986 concludes from his sample of 506 languages “… there is no evidence of adverbs to precede the adjective in OV languages, and following in VO languages; there is no evidence of any relation between the order of verb and object and the order of noun and adjective; and between the order of verb and object and the order of noun and demonstrative; both orders Rel N and N Rel are common in OV languages ”.

    1. May 2020

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