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Universal 65: SOV ⇒ (A N ⇒ G N)

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 65: SOV ⇒ (A N ⇒ G N)

Original
If a language has SOV word order, then if the adjective precedes the noun, the genitive precedes the noun.
If a language has dominant SOV order and the genitive follows the governing noun, then the adjective likewise follows the noun.
Standardized
IF basic order is OV, THEN IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the genitive precedes the noun.
Keywords
order, SOV, adjective, noun, attributive, genitive
Domain
syntax
Type
nested implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
sample of 350 languages in Hawkins 1983
Source
Hawkins 1979: 626; Hawkins 1980: 201; Hawkins 1983: 64
Counterexamples
Tigre (S. Semitic, Afro-Asiatic) has SOV/Prep/AN/NG; the inconsistency is due to Cushitic influence (Campbell et al. 1988).

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. #65 is virtually identical to #66.2. Cf. Greenberg’s own statement #5, with the implicans a conjunction. 3. Since the 1990s, Hawkins proposes alternative explanations of his universals (see e.g. Hawkins 1993: 234).4. 1. Dryer 1988: 191: “There is no evidence of any relationship between the order of Verb and Object and the order of Adjective and Noun”.Dryer 1988: 200: “There is no clear evidence for the correlation between Genitive-Noun and Adjective-Noun order.”

    1. May 2020

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