Universal #1655

Legacy number: 1655

 Number  1650
 Original  If L is a rigid verb-final language in its basic word order, the rhematic focus of a sentence of L is most likely to be in the position immediately preceding the finite verb.
 Standardized  IF basic word order is rigidly verb-final, THEN the rhematic focus of a sentence is most likely to be in the position immediately preceding the finite verb.
 Keywords  order, verb-final, rheme
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute?
 Basis  Telugu, Laccadive Malayalam, Tamil (all Dravidian), Dogri, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi-Urdu (all Indo-Aryan), Sherpa (Sino-Tibetan), Turkish, Mongolian (Altaic) , Japanese (Japanese-Ryukyuan), Korean (Altaic(-like))
 Source  Kim 1988: 150

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Discussion
Notes
1. The hypothesis holds in a number of languages which do not necessarily exhibit a rigid verb-final constraint on the surface. For instance, Hungarian (Ugric) and Kartvelian languages including Georgian – equivocally having VO or OV order – display rigorous linear order focusing. WH-words in Modern Eastern Armenian (a non-rigid vebr-final language) almost always occur before the verb, which is in turn frequently followed by non-focused material. Another verb-final language, Basque, a type 24 language shares the same properties. (Kim 1988: 161)2. See similar observations by Dezsö: ##1669, 1670.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. The hypothesis holds in a number of languages which do not necessarily exhibit a rigid verb-final constraint on the surface. For instance, Hungarian (Ugric) and Kartvelian languages including Georgian – equivocally having VO or OV order – display rigorous linear order focusing. WH-words in Modern Eastern Armenian (a non-rigid vebr-final language) almost always occur before the verb, which is in turn frequently followed by non-focused material. Another verb-final language, Basque, a type 24 language shares the same properties. (Kim 1988: 161)

2. See similar observations by Dezsö: <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1669"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_idr=1670"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">.