Universal #1310
Legacy number: 1310
| Number | 1306 |
| Original | If a language has SOV, mood affixes on verb (if any) are suffixed with greater than chance frequency. |
| Standardized | IF basic order is SOV, THEN mood affixes on verbs are suffixed with greater than chance frequency. |
| Formula | SOV ⇒ Mood affixes on V are suffixed |
| Keywords | order, order, verb, mood, 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: 224 |
Discussion
Counterexamples
Perkins-Bybee’s sample: 88 % of SOV languages with mood affixes are suffixing, 12% are prefixing; Gilligan’s sample: 93 % of SOV languages with mood affixes are suffixing, 7% are prefixing.
Notes
#892 states a general tendency of OV languages to have suffixes and VO languages to have prefixes.
Comment
<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.
Log in to join the discussion.