Universal #1546

Legacy number: 1546

 Number  1542
 Original  In verb-initial languages, where affixal case marking occurs, it is more likely to be prefixal than in verb-final languages, but suffixing is still fairly common.
 Standardized  IF word order is verb-initial and there is affixal case marking, THEN prefixal case marking is more likely than in verb-final languages, but suffixing is still fairly common.
 Formula  verb-initial ⇒ prefixal case-marking
 Keywords  order, verb-initial, case-marking, affix-order, prefix
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  unknown
 Source  unpublished statements of Keenan’s, reproduced in D.Payne 1990

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Discussion
Notes
Cf. Rijkhoff’s statement (#448): If a language has verb-initial word order, then it has prepositions or case prefixes – which is a combined version of ##1546 and 1547.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Cf. Rijkhoff's statement (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=448"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">):
If a language has verb-initial word order, then it has prepositions or case prefixes – which is a combined version of <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1546"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0"> and <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1547"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">.