Universal #65
Legacy number: 65
| Number | 65 |
| Original | If a language has SOV word order, then if the adjective precedes the noun, the genitive precedes the noun. If a language has dominant SOV order and the genitive follows the governing noun, then the adjective likewise follows the noun. |
| Standardized | IF basic order is OV, THEN IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the genitive precedes the noun. |
| Formula | SOV ⇒ (A N ⇒ G N) |
| Keywords | order, SOV, adjective, noun, attributive, genitive |
| Domain | syntax |
| Type | nested implication |
| Status | achronic |
| Quality | absolute |
| Basis | sample of 350 languages in Hawkins 1983 |
| Source | Hawkins 1979: 626; Hawkins 1980: 201; Hawkins 1983: 64 |
Discussion
Counterexamples
Tigre (S. Semitic, Afro-Asiatic) has SOV/Prep/AN/NG; the inconsistency is due to Cushitic influence (Campbell et al. 1988).
Notes
1. #65 is virtually identical to #66.2. Cf. Greenberg’s own statement #5, with the implicans a conjunction. 3. Since the 1990s, Hawkins proposes alternative explanations of his universals (see e.g. Hawkins 1993: 234).4. 1. Dryer 1988: 191: “There is no evidence of any relationship between the order of Verb and Object and the order of Adjective and Noun”.Dryer 1988: 200: “There is no clear evidence for the correlation between Genitive-Noun and Adjective-Noun order.”
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2. Cf. Greenberg's own statement #5, with the implicans a conjunction.
3. Since the 1990s, Hawkins proposes alternative explanations of his universals (see e.g. Hawkins 1993: 234).
4. Dryer 1988: 191: "There is no evidence of any relationship between the order of Verb and Object and the order of Adjective and Noun". Dryer 1988: 200: "There is no clear evidence for the correlation between Genitive-Noun and Adjective-Noun order."