Universal #1118

Legacy number: 1118

 Number  1114
 Original  VO languages are exceptionlessly Comp-initial.
OV languages exemplify both final complementizers and initial complementizers.
 Standardized  IF basic word order is VO, THEN complementizers are clause-initial.

OR, BY CONTRAPOSITION:
IF complementizers are clause-final, THEN basic word order is OV.
 Formula  VO ⇒ CompS;
 Keywords  order, complementizer, VO, OV
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  languages surveyed in Hawkins 1990
 Source  Hawkins 1990: 225

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Discussion
Notes
Dryer 1992: 101-102 (543 language sample): “While both initial and final complementizers are found in OV languages (cf. Dryer 1980, Hawkins 1990: 225), complementizers in VO languages seem invariably to be initial; in fact, it may be an exceptionless universal that final complementizers are found only in OV languages. If so, then final complementizers are clearly more common in OV languages than they are in VO languages, and complementizers are therefore verb patterners, while the Ss they combine with are object patterners.”
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Dryer 1992: 101-102 (543 language sample): "While both initial and final complementizers are found in OV languages (cf. Dryer 1980, Hawkins 1990: 225), complementizers in VO languages seem invariably to be initial; in fact, it may be an exceptionless universal that final complementizers are found only in OV languages. If so, then final complementizers are clearly more common in OV languages than they are in VO languages, and complementizers are therefore verb patterners, while the Ss they combine with are object patterners."