Universal #970

Legacy number: 970

 Number  966
 Original  Plural words tend to follow the noun in OV languages and precede in VO languages.
 Standardized  IF basic order order is OV, THEN plural words follow the noun.
IF basic order order is VO, THEN plural words precede the noun.
 Formula  O V ⇒ N PluralWord;
V O ⇒ PluralWord N
 Keywords  order, verb, noun, plural word
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  one part absolute, the other statistical
 Basis  48 languages with plural words in Dryer’s 1989b sample of 307 languages; 39 languages with plural words in Dryer’s 1992 sample of 543 languages
 Source  Dryer 1989b: 880; Dryer 1992: 104-105

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Agta and Chamorro (both Austronesian): V O & N PluralWord.
Notes
1. PLURAL WORD is a morpheme whose meaning and function is similar to that of plural affixes in other languages, but which is a separate word that functions as a modifier of the noun. 2. This universal follows from Branching Direction Theory (BDT) as discussed in Dryer 1992: 108-118.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. PLURAL WORD is a morpheme whose meaning and function is similar to that of plural affixes in other languages, but which is a separate word that functions as a modifier of the noun.

2. This universal follows from Branching Direction Theory (BDT) as discussed in Dryer 1992: 108-118.