Universal #1593

Legacy number: 1593

 Number  1589
 Original  Verb-final languages exhibit a very strong postposing tendency which leads to their preponderance of suffixes.
 Standardized  IF basic order is verb-final, THEN there will be a strong tendency to place grammatical morphemes (grams) after the verb, and eventually to suffix them.
 Formula  V-final ⇒ postposing ⇒ suffixes
 Keywords  order, verb-final, verbal morpheme, affix-order, suffix
 Domain  morphology, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic, diachronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  32 V-final languages from a 71-language sample (GRAMCATS database) in Bybee, Pagliuca, & Perkins 1990
 Source  Bybee, Pagliuca, & Perkins 1990: 30

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Counterexamples
V-final languages which are not predominantly suffixing: Worora (Wororan, Australian), Abkhaz (North Caucasian), Lahu (Burmese-Lolo, Tibeto-Burman), Haka (Baric, Tibeto-Burman), Nung (Nungish, Tibeto-Burman), Yessan-Mayo (Sepik-Ramu, Papuan), Mano (Mande, Niger-Congo), Slave (Athabaskan). Slave appears to be the only genuine exception in having entirely prefixed morphology – which includes person/number, tense, aspect and mood – and at the same time V-final word order (Bybee, Pagliuca, & Perkins 1990: 8, 11);Tümpisa Shoshone [=Panamint] (Uto-Aztecan): OV & prefixes (Mithun 1999, cf. #892).
Notes
1. In general verbs exhibit more extensive morphology than nouns, therefore Bybee, Pagliuca, & Perkins limit their study to verbal grammatical morphemes only. 2. Bybee, Pagliuca, & Perkins have no OSV languages in their sample. V-final order is represented by SOV-languages only. 3. V-initial and V-medial languages, rather than being heavily preposing, are more evenly split between pre-and postposed material. (Bybee, Pagliuca, & Perkins 1990: 7)4. For similar and content-related statements see ##170, 892 (OV => suffixes), 1310, 1312, 1315, 1594.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. In general verbs exhibit more extensive morphology than nouns, therefore Bybee, Pagliuca, & Perkins limit their study to verbal grammatical morphemes only.

2. Bybee, Pagliuca, & Perkins have no OSV languages in their sample. V-final order is represented by SOV-languages only.

3. V-initial and V-medial languages, rather than being heavily preposing, are more evenly split between pre-and postposed material. (Bybee, Pagliuca, & Perkins 1990: 7)

4. For similar and content-related statements see <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=170"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=892"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0"> (OV ⇒ suffixes), <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1310"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1312"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1315"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_idr=1594"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">.