Universal 1382:
- Original
- No language with SVO or VSO basic order will have a clause final auxiliary.
- Standardized
- IF basic word order is SVO or VSO, THEN an auxiliary is clause medial or clause initial.
OR:
IF an auxiliary occurs in a clause initial position, THEN word order will be rigid V-initial.
- Keywords
- auxiliary, order, SVO, VSO, VOS
- Domain
- syntax
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- absolute
- Basis
- 20 languages in Steele 1978, see Steele 1978: 18
- Source
- Steele 1978: 42, also cited in Heine 1993: 24
- Counterexamples
- Classical Aztec (Uto-Aztecan) has an initial AUX but relatively free word order. (Steele 1978: 35)
Cf. #503.