Universal #1670

Legacy number: 1670

 Number  1665
 Original  In SVO languages, the usual place of the focused rheme is after the verb either in an immediately postverbal position or after an unstressed element.
 Standardized  IF basic word order is SVO, THEN the usual place of rheme is after the verb either in an immediately postverbal position or after an unstressed element.
 Formula  SVO ⇒ rheme in an immediately postverbal position or after an unstressed element
 Keywords  order, SVO, rheme
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  Uralic, Altaic, and some Indo-European languages
 Source  Dezsö 1977: 8

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Discussion
Notes
1. Cf. the statement for SOV languages: # 1669. 2. In Dezsö’s proposal, then, immediate proximity to the finite verb is crucial to the occurrence of rhematic constituenets, and their relative positions with respect to the verb (before or after the verb) is determined by the type of language, namely SOV or SVO. Kim (#1655) made a similar observation independently from Dezsö’s studies (Kim 1988: 147).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Cf. the statement for SOV languages: <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1669"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">

2. In Dezsö's proposal, then, immediate proximity to the finite verb is crucial to the occurrence of rhematic constituenets, and their relative positions with respect to the verb (before or after the verb) is determined by the type of language, namely SOV or SVO. Kim (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1655"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">) made a similar observation independently from Dezsö's studies (Kim 1988: 147).