Universal 1826:

Universal 1826:

Original

If a language is an SOV language, then nominalizations are the most likely to show the ModifierNoun syntactic pattern, other possessives are next on the likelihood scale, while relative clauses and embedded adjectives are lower on that scale.

Standardized

IF basic word order is SOV, THEN modifiers tend to come before nouns, most likely in nominalizations and with continuously decreasing likelihood with possessives, with relative clauses, and with attributive adjectives.

Keywords

order, SOV, verb, subject, object, nominalization, noun, modifier, possessive, adjective, relative clause

Domain

syntax

Type

implication

Status

achronic

Quality

statistical

Basis

Bantu languages (with a special reference to Swahili), Romance, Germanic languages, Amharic, (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic)

Source

Givón 1971: 405

Counterexamples