Universal #1647

Legacy number: 1647

 Number  1642
 Original  Nearly all of the examples of subordinating serial verb structures (V+V) are found in SVO languages.
 Standardized  IF there are subordinating serial verb structures, THEN basic order will be SVO.
 Formula  subordinating serial verb structures ⇒ SVO
 Keywords  order, SVO, serial verb
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  languages surveyed by Shiller 1990
 Source  Shiller 1990: 396

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Some SOV languages: Ijo (Ijoid, Niger-Congo), Barai (Trans-New Guinea), Lahu, and Yi (both Burmese-Lolo, Tibeto-Burman). However, none of these languages conform completely to the definition of canonical serial verb construction employed by Shiller [for definition see Comments] (Shiller 1990).
Notes
A CANONICAL SUBORDINATING SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTION is defined as a subordinating serial verb construction which has verb phrases appearing in the syntax in an order which conforms to underlying word order in terms of the both the semantic and the syntactic head. In other words, in VO languages one expects that the phrase containing the semantic head will precede the subordinate material, and that in an OV language it will follow subordinate material.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
A CANONICAL SUBORDINATING SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTION is defined as a subordinating serial verb construction which has verb phrases appearing in the syntax in an order which conforms to underlying word order in terms of the both the semantic and the syntactic head. In other words, in VO languages one expects that the phrase containing the semantic head will precede the subordinate material, and that in an OV language it will follow subordinate material.