In SOV languages, when the expected order of Modifier-Noun does not occur, agreement [between noun and modifier] tends to appear.
Standardized
Whenever basic order is SOV, IF the basic order of modifier and noun is reversed to noun-before-modifier, THEN there tends to be agreement between noun and modifier.
1. SOV & NAdj but no agreement between N and Adj: Burmese (Foster & Hofling 1987: 4813) [but see Comment 4]. 2. SOV & NNum but no agreement between N and Num: Kanuri. (Foster & Hofling 1987: 4853. SOV & NRel but no agreement between N and Rel: Mende, which has no relative pronounto agree with the head N, but a regular anaphoric pronoun is repeated in the subordinate clause serving thesame function. (Foster & Hofling 1987: 486)
1. The authors considered the following categories as MODIFIERs of the noun: adjectives (Adj), demonstratives (Dem), determiners (Det) (when applicable), genitives (Gen), numerals (Num), interrogative adjectives (Int), relative clauses (Rel).2. Under AGREEMENT the authors “include all instances where the modifier is morphosyntactically marked to indicate semantic features of the modified noun, such as number, case, and gender, whether or not the modified noun is marked for these features” (Foster & Hofling 1987: 481). Note that the presence of classifiers serves the same function as agreement marking. 3. Regarding the expected order of Modifier-Noun in SOV languages see #107.4. Foster & Hofling are not sure about the exceptional status of Burmese: possibly participle of adjective-verb usually precedes the noun, but this needs to be clarified.
1. The authors considered the following categories as MODIFIERs of the noun: adjectives (Adj), demonstratives (Dem), determiners (Det) (when applicable), genitives (Gen), numerals (Num), interrogative adjectives (Int), relative clauses (Rel).2. Under AGREEMENT the authors “include all instances where the modifier is morphosyntactically marked to indicate semantic features of the modified noun, such as number, case, and gender, whether or not the modified noun is marked for these features” (Foster & Hofling 1987: 481). Note that the presence of classifiers serves the same function as agreement marking. 3. Regarding the expected order of Modifier-Noun in SOV languages see #107.4. Foster & Hofling are not sure about the exceptional status of Burmese: possibly participle of adjective-verb usually precedes the noun, but this needs to be clarified.