Universal #1315

Legacy number: 1315

 Number  1311
 Original  If a language has SOV, causative affixes on verb (if any) are suffixed with more than chance frequency.
 Standardized  IF basic order is SOV, THEN causative affixes on verbs are suffixed with more than chance frequency.
 Formula  SOV ⇒ causative affixes on V are suffixed
 Keywords  order, SOV, verb, causative, 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

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Perkins-Bybee’s sample, 86% of SOV languages with causative affixes are suffixing, while 14% are prefixing.
Notes
#892 states a general tendency of OV languages to have suffixes and VO languages to have prefixes.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
<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.