Universal 344: VS (transitive verb) ⇒ VS (intransitive verb)
- Original
- If the order VS is dominant with transitive verbs, then it will be dominant with intransitive verbs as well.
- Standardized
- IF the order VS is dominant with transitive verbs, THEN it will be dominant with intransitive verbs as well.
- Keywords
- order, transitivity, subject
- Domain
- syntax
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- absolute
- Basis
- languages surveyed in Kozinsky 1981
- Source
- Kozinsky 1981
- Counterexamples
In many languages, where the order VS is dominant with transitive and intransitive verbs, the frequency of SV order with transitive verbs is still higher than with intransitive ones (Kozinsky 1981).Possible rationale: Presentative/existential constructions are presumably more common with intransitive verbs, and they tend to be VS.