Universal #1526

Legacy number: 1526

 Number  1522
 Original  Subject-final languages do not have relative pronouns.
 Standardized  IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there are no relative pronouns.
 Formula  OS ⇒ ¬ relative pronoun
 Keywords  order, subject, object, relative pronoun
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 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: 296, G-12

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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. 2. A RELATIVE PRONOUN is some kind of pronominal element which marks the grammatical role (subject, object, etc.) of the position relativized.
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.

2. A RELATIVE PRONOUN is some kind of pronominal element which marks the grammatical role (subject, object, etc.) of the position relativized.