Universal #1305

Legacy number: 1305

 Number  1301
 Original  If a language has SOV, nominalizing affixes on N (if any) are suffixed with considerably greater than chance frequency.
 Standardized  If basic order is SOV, THEN nominalizing affixes on nouns (if any) are suffixed with considerably greater than chance frequency.
 Formula  SOV ⇒ nominalizing affixes on N are suffixed;
 Keywords  order, SOV, noun, nominalization, affix-order, suffix
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  200 languages drawn from three samples: a 113-language sample by L. Stassen, a 40-language sample by J. Bybee & R. Perkins, and a 50-language sample by G. Gilligan
 Source  Cutler, Hawkins, & Gilligan 1985: 729; Hawkins & Gilligan 1988: 223

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Counterexamples
Gilligan’s sample: 93% of SOV languages with nominalizing affixes are suffixing, 7% are prefixing.
Notes
1. Moravcsik 1994: 49 summarizes universals of Hawkins & Gilligan (here ##414, 1303, 1305, 1306, and 1308) in a more general form:If a language has SOV order, nominal affixes, if any, are suffixed with overwhelmingly greater than chance frequency.2. #892 states a general tendency of OV languages to have suffixes and VO languages to have prefixes.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Moravcsik 1994: 49 summarizes universals of Hawkins & Gilligan (here <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=414"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1303"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1305"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1306"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, and <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1308"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">) in a more general form:
If a language has SOV order, nominal affixes, if any, are suffixed with overwhelmingly greater than chance frequency.

2. <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=892"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0"> states a general tendency of OV languages to have suffixes and VO languages to have prefixes.