Universal #109

Legacy number: 109

 Number  109
 Original  The most common position for negatives in SVO languages is between the subject and the verb, yielding S Neg V O order.
 Standardized  IF basic order is SVO, THEN the negation marker most commonly occurs between subject and verb.
 Formula  SVO ⇒ S Neg V O
 Keywords  order, SVO, negation
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  sample of 345 languages in Dryer 1988b
 Source  Dryer 1988b: 98

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Middle Egyptian (Afro-Asiatic): split system (S Neg V O or Neg S V O, depending on construction).Coptic (Afro-Asiatic): split system (Neg S V (Neg) O or S V Neg O, depending on construction). (F. Kammerzell, p.c.)
Notes
1. Not an absolute universal but only statistical: out of 67 languages/15 families this position is found in 47 languages/13 families.2. Dahl1979: 91f: “... all verb-initial and verb-second languages have preverbal placement [of negator].”3. See also #441 for SOV languages.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Not an absolute universal but only statistical: out of 67 languages/15 families this position is found in 47 languages/13 families.

2. Dahl 1979: 91f: "... all verb-initial and verb-second languages have preverbal placement [of negator]."

3. See also <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=441"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0"> for SOV languages.