Universal #441

Legacy number: 441

 Number  440
 Original  In SOV languages the negation is commonly placed before or after the verb.
 Standardized  IF basic order is SOV, THEN SO Neg V or SOV Neg.
 Formula  SOV ⇒ SO Neg V v SOV Neg
 Keywords  order, SOV, negation
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  sample of 345 languages in Dryer 1988b
 Source  Dryer 1988b

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Discussion
Notes
1. SONegV (found in 39 languages/15 families out of 117 languages/23 families) and SOVNeg (found in 64 languages/18 families out of 117 languages/23 families).There is no evidence to support the widely accepted view (cf. W. Lehmann 1973, here #15) that SOV languages normally place the negative after the verb.2. See #109 for an SVO-languages correlation.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. SONegV (found in 39 languages/15 families out of 117 languages/23 families) and SOVNeg (found in 64 languages/18 families out of 117 languages/23 families). There is no evidence to support the widely accepted view (cf. W. Lehmann 1973, here <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=15"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">) that SOV languages normally place the negative after the verb.

2. See <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=109"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0"> for an SVO-languages correlation.