Universal #355

Legacy number: 355

 Number  354
 Original  In the languages where the verb agrees with subject and object, if there are forms like s-V-o, and there are no forms like o-V-s, then the dominant word order is one with the initial predicate position (VSO or VOS).
 Standardized  Whenever there is verb agreement with subject and object, IF the orderings of agreement markers on verbs include s-V-o but not o-V-s, THEN basic word order is verb-initial (VSO or VOS).
 Formula  (s-V-o) & ¬(o-V-s) ⇒ verb-initial
 Keywords  order, verb-initial, VSO, VOS, verb agreement, subject, object, affix-order
 Domain  inflection, syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  languages surveyed in Kozinsky 1981
 Source  Kozinsky 1981

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Akkadian (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Luo (Eastern Sudanic, Nilo-Saharan), Sora, Parengi, Juang (all Munda, Austro-Asiatic) (Kozinsky 1981)
Notes
Cf. a reverse implication of Keenan’s (1519): If transitive verbs in subject-final languages have agreement at all, then they have prefixal (pre-verb stem) agreement with subjects and suffixal agreement with non-subjects.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Cf. a reverse implication of Keenan's (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1519"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">): If transitive verbs in subject-final languages have agreement at all, then they have prefixal (pre-verb stem) agreement with subjects and suffixal agreement with non-subjects.