Universal #831

Legacy number: 831

 Number  828
 Original  The most consistent OV languages (e.g. Japanese and Turkish) have prenominal relatives and no right-extraposed* relative clauses.
 Standardized  IF basic order is rigidly OV, THEN there are prenominal relatives and no right-extraposed relative clauses.
 Formula  rigid OV ⇒ RelN & ¬ right-extraposed clause
 Keywords  order, verb, object, relative clause
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  languages mentioned in Downing 1978
 Source  Downing 1978: 409

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Discussion
Notes
1. right-extraposed relatives occur at the end of or following the clause containing the modified nominal2. Languages with extraposed clauses (including correlative RCs) are not rigidly OV in structure in other respects.3. Dryer 1986: 102 surveying the sample of 506 languages “ ...both orders N Rel and RelN are common in OV languages.”
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. RIGHT-EXTRAPOSED relatives occur at the end of or following the clause containing the modified nominal.

2. Languages with extraposed clauses (including correlative RCs) are not rigidly OV in structure in other respects.

3. Dryer 1986: 102 surveying the sample of 506 languages "...both orders N Rel and RelN are common in OV languages."