Universal #278

Legacy number: 278

 Number  277
 Original  If a language has VOS order, then it has no verbal inflection.
 Standardized  IF basic order is VOS, THEN there is no verbal inflection.
 Formula  VOS ⇒ ¬ verbal inflection
 Keywords  order, VOS, inflection, verb
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  50 languages of Bybee 1985b sample, see Bybee 1985b: 215-216
 Source  Bybee 1985b: 46-47

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Fijian, Gilbertese (both Malayo-Polynesian), Tzeltal (Mayan), Otomi (Oto-Manguean), Ineseño Chumach (Hokan), Baure (Arawakan), Tzotzil, Kekchi (both Mayan), Tsou (Formosan, Austronesian) are VOS and have a prefixal subject agreement and some form of suffixal object agreement (Keenan 1978: 288).
Notes
1. Cf. a less restrictive claim by Keenan (#1518): If a language is subject-final then either transitive verbs of unmarked sentences agree with no full noun phrase in the sentence or they agree with two noun phrases. 2. By SUBJECT-FINAL languages Keenan means any language in which full noun phrase subjects must follow noun phrase direct obejcts in the pragmatically least marked sentence types (which contain both subjects and direct objects) of the language.3. According to his survey (#1516): Subject-final languages are always verb-initial. Which means that Keenan’s claims about subject-final languages can be applied to VOS languages as well.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Cf. a less restrictive claim by Keenan (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1518"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">): If a language is subject-final then either transitive verbs of unmarked sentences agree with no full noun phrase in the sentence or they agree with two noun phrases.

2. By SUBJECT-FINAL languages Keenan means any language in which full noun phrase subjects must follow noun phrase direct obejcts in the pragmatically least marked sentence types (which contain both subjects and direct objects) of the language.

3. According to his survey (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1516"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">): Subject-final languages are always verb-initial. Which means that Keenan's claims about subject-final languages can be applied to VOS languages as well.