Universal #1518

Legacy number: 1518

 Number  1514
 Original  If a language is subject-final then either transitive verbs of unmarked sentences agree with no full noun phrase in the sentence or they agree with two noun phrases.
 Standardized  IF basic order is subject-final (for full noun phrases), THEN either transitive verbs of unmarked sentences agree with no full noun phrase in the sentence or they agree with two noun phrases (subject and object).
 Formula  OS ⇒ no verb agreement V. agreement with two noun phrases
 Keywords  order, subject, object, agreement
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  Malagasy, Batak [Toba Dialect], Fijian, Gilbertese (all Malayo-Polynesian), Tzeltal (Mayan), Otomi (Oto-Manguean), Ineseño Chumash (Hokan), Baure (Arawakan), Tzotzil, Kekchi (both Mayan), Tsou (Formosan, Austronesian), although the last three languages are not surveyed in the paper
 Source  Keenan 1978b: 288, G-4

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Notes
1. By SUBJECT-FINAL languages Keenan means any language in which full noun phrase subjects must follow noun phrase direct objects in the pragmatically less marked sentence types (which contain both subjects and direct objects) of the language. Sentences which are pragmatically less marked place the fewest restrictions on their contexts of appropriate use. 2a. According to Keenan (#1516), subject-final languages are always verb-initial. It means that Keenan’s claims about subject-final languages can be applied to VOS languages as well. 2b. Cf. a more general claim about verb-initial languages (#1564): With possibly greater than chance frequency, the verb in verb-initial languages either agrees with no NPs, or with two NPs.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. By SUBJECT-FINAL languages Keenan means any language in which full noun phrase subjects must follow noun phrase direct objects in the pragmatically less marked sentence types (which contain both subjects and direct objects) of the language. Sentences which are PRAGMATICALLY LESS MARKED place the fewest restrictions on their contexts of appropriate use.

2a. According to Keenan (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1516"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">), subject-final languages are always verb-initial. It means that Keenan's claims about subject-final languages can be applied to VOS languages as well.

2b. Cf. a more general claim about verb-initial languages (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1564"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">): With possibly greater than chance frequency, the verb in verb-initial languages either agrees with no NPs, or with two NPs.