Universal #1423

Legacy number: 1423

 Number  1419
 Original  The predicate precedes copula in OV languages and follows it in VO languages.
 Standardized  IF a language has OV order, THEN the predicate precedes the copula.
IF a language has VO order, THEN the predicate follows the copula.
 Formula  OV ⇒ Predicate Copula;
VO ⇒ Copula Predicate
 Keywords  order, copula, predicate
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  sample of 543 languages in Dryer 1992
 Source  Dryer 1992: 93-94

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Wembawemba (Pama-Nyungan): VO & Predicate Copula (Dryer 1992: 94)
Notes
1. By copula Dryer means a word that is used with nominals, adjectives, or locatives when they are used predicatively. In most languages the word in question is a verb, analogous to English ‘be’, but in a few languages it is a nonverbal particle. 2. Cf. a similar correlation for auxiliaries #503.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. By COPULA Dryer means a word that is used with nominals, adjectives, or locatives when they are used predicatively. In most languages the word in question is a verb, analogous to English 'be', but in a few languages it is a nonverbal particle.

2. Cf. a similar correlation for auxiliaries <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=503"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">.