Universal #1534

Legacy number: 1534

 Number  1530
 Original  Subject-final languages generally do not have overt copulas.
 Standardized  IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there are no overt copulas.
 Formula  OS ⇒ ¬ overt copula
 Keywords  order, subject, object, copula
 Domain  inflection, 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: 300, G-20

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Possible counterexample: Otomi (Oto-Manguean)(Keenan 1978: 301)
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. Keenan’s definition of a COPULA is a morphophonemically independent element which has the characteristic properties of stative verb in its languages and which functions as the main verb in sentences with nominal predicates, like ‘John is a thief’. 3a. According to Keenan (#1516), subject-final languages are always verb-initial. This means that Keenan’s claims about subject-final languages can be applied to VOS languages as well. 3b. Cf. a more general claim about verb-initial languages (#1565): Verb-initial languages normally have no overt copula.
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. Keenan's definition of a COPULA is a morphophonemically independent element which has the characteristic properties of stative verb in its languages and which functions as the main verb in sentences with nominal predicates, like 'John is a thief'.

3a. 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. This means that Keenan's claims about subject-final languages can be applied to VOS languages as well.

3b. Cf. a more general claim about verb-initial languages (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1565"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">): Verb-initial languages normally have no overt copula.