Universal 499:
- Original
- In conditional statements, the conditional clause precedes the conclusion as the normal order in all languages.
- Standardized
- In conditional statements, the conditional clause precedes the conclusion as the normal order in all languages.
- Keywords
- clause combining, conditional clause, order
- Domain
- syntax
- Type
- unconditional
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- absolute?
- Basis
- 30 languages of Greenberg 1963 sample
- Source
- Greenberg 1963: 84, #14
- Counterexamples
For more discussion of the iconic structure of conditional clauses, see Traugott 1974, Haiman 1978.