Word Order Tendencies

A forum for guides, lessons and sharing of useful information.
User avatar
Aevas
admin
admin
Posts: 1445
Joined: 11 May 2010 05:46
Location: ꜱᴇ

Word Order Tendencies

Post by Aevas »

WORD ORDER TENDENCIES

When touching the topic of word order, a lot of the time we are only talking about the order of the Subject, Object and Verb. This is of course the base of the combinations VSO, SVO, SOV, OSV, OVS, VOS that we have all come to learn and love.

But word order is more than this. Word order is the ordering of constituents, and several tendencies can be found here.

The two most important parts to note when looking at these tendencies are the Object, and the Verb. An OV language will tend to have its constituents follow a certain alignment, and VO languages will tend to have them the other way around.

The following table illustrates the two main alignment tendencies:
Spoiler:
Image
It should be noted that for several of these, SVO languages often vary.

Explanations of some terms

Standard/Marker/Adjective:

Men are taller than women.
-----------Adj----M-----St

Complementizer

Adverbial subordinator

Source: Matthew S. Dryer 'Word Order' (pdf)
User avatar
Micamo
MVP
MVP
Posts: 5671
Joined: 05 Sep 2010 19:48
Contact:

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Micamo »

There should probably be a little explanation here of subject side and subject placement. VO vs. OV is the main distinction but what distinguishes the subtypes from each other is also interesting.
My pronouns are <xe> [ziː] / <xym> [zɪm] / <xys> [zɪz]

My shitty twitter
User avatar
Xing
MVP
MVP
Posts: 4153
Joined: 22 Aug 2010 18:46

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Xing »

Word order frequency:

SOV (~40-45%)
SVO (~40%)
VSO (~10-15%)
VOS (~1-3%)
OVS (~1%)
OSV (~0.2~0.3%)

As most would guess, SO languages are far more common than OS languages.

Some interesting things to note:

VSO is much less common than SVO and SOV.

In OS languages, on the other hand, the verb-initial order VOS more common than OVS and OSV.

OSV is least common word order of them all. The frequency of OSV to OVS langs is roughly the same as the frequency of VSO to SVO langs. Mark C Baker has suggested that the same mechanisms that turn a SVO lang into a VSO lang, also is responsible for turning a OVS lang into a OSV lang.

Concerning OS languages. Perhaps som neo-Whorfians would claim that word orders putting the object before the subject reflects a "totally different world view", perhaps a more "passive" view of the world, where the thing acted upon is in the centre of attention, or something like that.

But from a linguistic perspective, most OVS langs derive from SOV langs. I many respects, OVS langs like Hixkaryana behave much like SOV langs.

According to WALS, Tuvaluan is an OVS lang. One could discuss the accuracy of this (previously it was listed as having "no dominant order). Assuming it is correct, Tuvaluan seems to be the only head-first/right-branching OVS lang. It's closely related to other Polynesian langs, which are often VSO. In most syntactic respects, Tuvaluan is like other Polynesian langs, exhibiting all the typical right-branching features.
User avatar
Ear of the Sphinx
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1587
Joined: 23 Aug 2010 01:41
Location: Nose of the Sun

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Ear of the Sphinx »

Aszev, you showed the tendencies I observed many of them. >:-( ( :-P )
What does 'standard' mean here?

But there is something more:

i. Where within SOV there is no correlation with adjective position, SVO are usually to be Noun-Adj.

ii. Indirect objects are placed the same side of V as O, but more remote, i.e. SXYOV vs SVOXY. (X, Y - indirect object)
Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
User avatar
Aevas
admin
admin
Posts: 1445
Joined: 11 May 2010 05:46
Location: ꜱᴇ

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Aevas »

Milyamd wrote:What does 'standard' mean here?
It's in my first post ;(
Milyamd wrote:But there is something more:

i. Where within SOV is there no correlation with adjective position, SVO are usually to be Noun-Adj.

ii. Indirect objects are placed the same side of V as O, but more remote, i.e. SXYOV vs SVOXY. (X, Y - indirect object)
I've read about that too, that OV takes N-Adj and VO takes Adj-N, but here I was strictly adhering to my source. About your 2nd point I can't really say.
User avatar
Micamo
MVP
MVP
Posts: 5671
Joined: 05 Sep 2010 19:48
Contact:

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Micamo »

Not quite on oblique position: There are plenty of SOVX langs and also a few SOXV langs. VO languages are almost universally VOX, however.
My pronouns are <xe> [ziː] / <xym> [zɪm] / <xys> [zɪz]

My shitty twitter
User avatar
eldin raigmore
korean
korean
Posts: 6352
Joined: 14 Aug 2010 19:38
Location: SouthEast Michigan

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by eldin raigmore »

Look at WALS.info features 81A through 97A and 143A through 144Y. You can combine them in pairs.

Also, look at the Universals Archive.

It contains 171 universals about order, if you search conservatively (for instance leaving out all those that weren't originally written in English). (It actually has over 400 about syntax that include the keyword "order" in the English translation; and maybe more about morphology etc.)
Spoiler:
The Universals
Archive



Result No. 1
Number 5
Original If a language has dominant SOV order and the genitive follows the governing noun, then the adjective likewise follows the noun.

Result No. 2
Number 8
Original If in a language the verb follows the nominal subject and the nominal object as the dominant order, the language almost always has a case system.

Result No. 3
Number 25
Original In all languages, if an adnominal nominal preceding the head shows Suffixaufnahme, so does an adnominal nominal of the same type following it, if that order is possible.

Result No. 4
Number 43
Original New (not borrowed) case forms enter the nominal morphology through the affixation of adpositions, but such a development is possible only if the unmarked word order in the NP is either (a) (modifiers and/or numerals) N (postposition), or; (b) (preposition) N (modifiers and/or numerals).

Result No. 5
Number 48
Original The noun phrase (NP) internal distribution of case between head noun and any agreeing constituents is determined by dominance relations defined on X-bar structures, not by linear order, contiguity of constituents, or control by the head noun.

Result No. 6
Number 55
Original Languages with dominant VSO order are always prepositional.

Result No. 7
Number 56
Original With overwhelmingly more than chance frequency, languages with dominant order VSO have the adjective after the noun.

Result No. 8
Number 59
Original When any or all of these items — demonstrative, numeral, descriptive adjective — precede the noun, they are always found in that order. If they follow, the order is the same or the opposite.

Result No. 9
Number 60
Original If some or all adverbs follow the adjective they modify, then the language is one in which the qualifying adjective follows the noun and the verb precedes its nominal object as the dominant order.

Result No. 10
Number 61
Original If in comparisons of superiority the only order, or one of the alternative orders, is standard - marker - adjective, then the language is postpositional. With overwhelmingly more than chance frequency if the only order is adjective - marker - standard, the language is prepositional.

Result No. 11
Number 65
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.

Result No. 12
Number 66
Original If a language has OV word order, then if the adjective precedes the noun, the genitive precedes the noun.

Result No. 13
Number 67
Original If a language has VSO word order, then if the adjective follows the noun, the genitive follows the noun.

Result No. 14
Number 68
Original If a language has verb-first order, then if the adjective follows the noun, the genitive follows the noun.

Result No. 15
Number 69
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the adjective follows the noun, the genitive follows the noun.

Result No. 16
Number 71
Original If a language has Postp word order, and if the adjective precedes the noun, then the genitive precedes the noun.

Result No. 17
Number 72
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the demonstrative determiner follows the noun, the adjective follows the noun.

Result No. 18
Number 74
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the numeral follows the noun, the adjective follows the noun.

Result No. 19
Number 87
Original IF a language has Prep word order, then if the demonstrative follows the noun, the relative clause follows the noun.

Result No. 20
Number 91
Original IF a language has Prep word order, then if the adjective follows the noun, the relative clause follows the noun.

Result No. 21
Number 97
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the adverb follows the adjective within the adjective phrase, the standard of comparison follows the adjective.

Result No. 22
Number 98
Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the adverb precedes the adjective within the adjective phrase, the standard of comparison precedes the adjective.

Result No. 23
Number 102
Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the possessive adjective precedes the noun, the genitive precedes the noun.

Result No. 24
Number 109
Original The most common position for negatives in SVO languages is between the subject and the verb, yielding S Neg V O order.

Result No. 25
Number 112
Original If the adverb occurs on the opposite side of the verb from the object, then the order of adjective and noun will mirror the order of adverb and verb.

Result No. 26
Number 127
Original No language has syntactic means (dependent marking, head marking, word order) which are exclusively used in ANCs.

Result No. 27
Number 130
Original Head-dependent word order is the same in ANCs and non-derived NPs.

Result No. 28
Number 175
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the genitive follows the noun, the relative clause follows the noun.

Result No. 29
Number 177
Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the demonstrative precedes the noun, the genitive precedes the noun.

Result No. 30
Number 178
Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the numeral precedes the noun, the genitive precedes the noun.

Result No. 31
Number 192
Original A relation that is higher on the hierarchy of centrality (subject-object > local relations; locative > ablative; ...) than another one will not be expressed lower down on the grammatical-to-lexical hierarchy of expression (word order > verbal coding > case > adpositions > ...).

Result No. 32
Number 215
Original If a language has a noun-genitive order in the possessive construction, it has quantitative-noun order in the partitive construction.

Result No. 33
Number 230
Original If constituent order is rigid, then cases are absent, and vice versa; if cases are absent, then the use of prepositions is extensive, and vice versa; if order is rigid, then the use of prepositions is extensive, and vice versa. If, on the other hand, constituent order is flexible, then cases are present, and vice versa; if cases are present, then the use of prepositions is sparse, and vice versa; if order is flexible, then the use of prepositions is sparse, and vice versa.

Result No. 34
Number 231
Original If constituent order is rigid (or if there is no case inflection), then the gradation of adjectives is expressed by function words; if constituent order is flexible (or if there is case inflection), then the gradation of adjectives is expressed inflectionally.

Result No. 35
Number 232
Original If constituent order is rigid and there is no case inflection, then there is a definite article, but not vice versa.

Result No. 36
Number 238
Original If constituent order is rigid, all determined constituents precede their respective determining constituents; in particular, subjects precede their predicates, verbs their complements (objects, prepositional phrases), prepositions their complements (noun phrases), head nouns their attributive adjectives, relative clauses, and complements (prepositional phrases).

Result No. 37
Number 239
Original If constituent order is free, all potentially declinable kinds of nominal words in relationships of determination – nouns, pronouns, adjectives (including articles) – are declined at least for case, the cardinal relational category, but presumably for number and gender as well.

Result No. 38
Number 241
Original If there is segmental relation marking, word order is free, and vice versa.
OR equivalently:
If there is no segmental relation marking, then word order is rigid, and vice versa.

Result No. 39
Number 245
Original If constituent order is free without limits, then nominal words are inflected, but not vice versa; if constituent order is rigid without inversions, then there is no nominal inflection, but again not vice versa.

Result No. 40
Number 246
Original Words tend to be longer if constituent order is free than if it is rigid.

Result No. 41
Number 259
Original In ergative and active languages only secondary topicalization, by means of changing the word order in the sentence, is possible. Primary topicalization or subjectivization – choosing either agent or patient as subject – is not possible in these languages. This is due to the fact that in ergative languages transitive verbs lack the opposition of an active and passive voice and in active languages the version opposition is of a non-voice character.

Result No. 42
Number 277
Original If a language has VOS order, then it has no verbal inflection.

Result No. 43
Number 297
Original In all languages, inversion of the word order can be used as a logical or emotional emphasis.

Result No. 44
Number 298
Original In all languages: if there is no category definiteness/indefiniteness, then the change of the word order is used as a way of distinguishing the “given” (closer to the beginning of the sentence) and the “new” (closer to its end).

Result No. 45
Number 341
Original If the dominant position of the subject with respect to the verb depends on their morphological characteristics, the dominant order in such a language will be Verb-Object.

Result No. 46
Number 342
Original If the dominant position of the object with respect to the verb depends on morphological characteristics of the object, the dominant order is SV.

Result No. 47
Number 344
Original If the order VS is dominant with transitive verbs, then it will be dominant with intransitive verbs as well.

Result No. 48
Number 346
Original If the order OV is not recessive, the order SV is not recessive as well.

Result No. 49
Number 347
Original If VS order is not recessive, neither is VO order.

Result No. 50
Number 348
Original If SOV is a dominant order, then OVS is one of the alternative orders.

Result No. 51
Number 349
Original If VSO order is one of the alternative orders, then VOS is also one of the alternative orders.

Result No. 52
Number 350
Original In a dominant order the object and the verb are juxtaposed, i.e. no subject is placed between them.

Result No. 53
Number 351
Original In a dominant order the subject and the object are juxtaposed, i.e. no verb is placed between them.

Result No. 54
Number 352
Original In a dominant order not more than one of these principles - i.e. , , - can be violated.

Result No. 55
Number 353
Original If in a language the dominant order is OS, then the order VS is also dominant.

Result No. 56
Number 354
Original In the languages where the verb agrees with subject and object, if there are forms like s-V-o, and there are no forms like o-V-s, then the dominant word order is one with the initial predicate position (VSO or VOS).

Result No. 57
Number 355
Original In the languages where the verb agrees with subject and object, if there are forms like o-V-s, and there are no forms like s-V-o, then in this language the dominant word order is the order with the final position of the predicate (SOV).

Result No. 58
Number 356
Original In the languages where the verb agrees with subject and object, if forms like V-s are the only possible ones, then the dominant order is SV.

Result No. 59
Number 357
Original If in a dominant word order VS the only possible forms are the forms of the V-s conjugation, then the forms like V-o are also the only possible ones.

Result No. 60
Number 360
Original Words tend to be longer than one syllable in transpositive [free word order] languages and to be monosyllabic in analogous [SVO] languages.

Result No. 61
Number 365
Original If the verb agrees with the subject and object and there is at least one o-V form, then the dominant order is SV.

Result No. 62
Number 370
Original If a language has vowel harmony and perhaps other progressive phonological modifications, then basic word order is OV, but not vice versa; if a language has umlaut and perhaps other regressive/anticipatory phonological modifications, then basic word order is VO, but not vice versa.

Result No. 63
Number 373
Original There is a positive correlation between higher syllable-per-sentence and syllable-per word ratios, simpler (or shorter) syllables, agglutinative morphology, and (S)OV basic word order on the one hand and between lower syllable-per-sentence and syllable-per-word ratios, more complex (or longer) syllables, flective (or no) morphology, and (S)V(S)O basic word order on the other.

Result No. 64
Number 376
Original If a language has topic markers, then these will always be postpositional and basic word order in the language will almost always be SOV.

Result No. 65
Number 423
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the verb position is not SOV, the relative clause follows the noun.

Result No. 66
Number 437
Original Verb-initial order and lack of any determinate or stated order favour head-marking; verb-medial and verb-final order favour dependent-marking.

Result No. 67
Number 439
Original Non-accusative alignment may be associated with verb-initial order.

Result No. 68
Number 446
Original If a language has Verb-final (rigid, or non-rigid) or free word order as (one of) its basic word order(s), then it has postpositions or case affixes.

Result No. 69
Number 447
Original If a language has verb-initial word order, then it has prepositions or case prefixes.

Result No. 70
Number 449
Original A Gen N constituent order in a nominally possessed construction implies the same order in a pronominal (non-affixal) construction.

Result No. 71
Number 454
Original Personal possessive prefixes always imply a GN order, but not the converse; for personal possessive suffixes there is no such rule.

Result No. 72
Number 483
Original 80 % of the languages in Sedlak’s sample which indicate the direct or indirect object by word order also indicate them by morphological marker. Thus, even in those languages with a fixed word order, either direct object or the indirect object may be indicated by, say, the presence of a preposition, suffix, etc.

Result No. 73
Number 484
Original In two-thirds of the languages sampled, the indirect object is marked either extra- or intra-verbally when it is contiguous with the verb in fixed order languages. When the direct object is contiguous with the verb, the indirect object is marked in approximately the same proportion of languages.

Result No. 74
Number 485
Original In variable order SVO languages, where indirect-object marking is optional, the indirect object is contiguous with the verb when it is unmarked, but the direct object is contiguous with the verb when it is marked.

Result No. 75
Number 488
Original In declarative sentences with nominal subject and object, the dominant order is always one in which the subject precedes the object.

Result No. 76
Number 489
Original With overwhelmingly greater than chance frequency, languages with normal SOV order are postpositional.

Result No. 77
Number 490
Original All languages with dominant VSO order have SVO as an alternative or as the only alternative order.

Result No. 78
Number 491
Original If in a language with dominant SOV order there is no alternative basic order, or only OSV as the alternative, then all adverbial modifiers of the verb likewise precede the verb.

Result No. 79
Number 495
Original Question particles or affixes, when specified in position by reference to a particular word in the sentence, almost always follow that word. Such particles do not occur in languages with dominant order VSO.

Result No. 80
Number 496
Original Inversion of statement order so that verb precedes subject occurs only in languages where the question word or phrase is normally initial. This same inversion occurs in yes-no questions only if it also occurs in interrogative questions.

Result No. 81
Number 497
Original If a language has dominant order VSO in declarative sentences, it always puts interrogative words or phrases first in interrogative word questions; if it has dominant order SOV in declarative sentences, there is never such an invariant rule.

Result No. 82
Number 499
Original In conditional statements, the conditional clause precedes the conclusion as the normal order in all languages.

Result No. 83
Number 500
Original In expressions of volition and purpose, a subordinate verbal form always follows the main verb as the normal order except in those languages in which the nominal object always precedes the verb.

Result No. 84
Number 501
Original In languages with dominant order VSO, an inflected auxiliary always precedes the main verb. In languages with dominant order SOV, an inflected auxiliary always follows the main verb.

Result No. 85
Number 510
Original When number agreement between the noun and verb is suspended and the rule is based on order, the case is always one in which the verb precedes and the verb is in the singular.

Result No. 86
Number 536
Original If in a language, in any sum the smaller addend precedes the larger, then the same order holds for all smaller numbers expressed by addition.

Result No. 87
Number 537
Original If in a language, in any sum the larger addend precedes the smaller, then the same order holds for all larger numbers expressed by addition.

Result No. 88
Number 542
Original When there is a word order variation in addition between larger and smaller, and one order has an overt link and the other has not, it is always the order smaller+larger which has the link.

Result No. 89
Number 550
Original The order noun-numeral is favoured in indefinite and approximative constructions.

Result No. 90
Number 552
Original If there is variation in Noun Quantifier order depending on the identity of the numeral, one of the two orders is used with a continuous series of numbers beginning with ‘one’, or ‘one’ and the bases of the system are used with one of the orders. If there is free variation with a particular numeral ‘x’, the next higher is also in free variation or is in the opposite order to that of ‘x’ with the noun.

Result No. 91
Number 594
Original If in a language the temporal order of syntactic constituents that describe events symbolizes anything about the actual order in which these events are said to take place, the symbolism is iconic in that the earlier-mentioned event is to be taken as the one that takes place earlier.

Result No. 92
Number 595
Original The reversal of syntactic constituent order is never systematically iconic, i. e. signaling the reversal of meaning.

Result No. 93
Number 603
Original If in a language the definiteness of a class of noun phrases is an order-significant property, this class will include both objects and intransitive subjects, but not transitive subjects.

Result No. 94
Number 624
Original If a language has Suffixaufnahme, then it has verb-initial or verb-final constituent order.

Result No. 95
Number 651
Original Unlimited consonant clustering correlates with VS order, limitations on consonant clustering correlate with SV order.

Result No. 96
Number 661
Original There is a correlation between converb prominence and object-verb word order.

Result No. 97
Number 664
Original The presence of yes-no question inversion implies a basic order type in which subject precedes verb.

Result No. 98
Number 665
Original Yes-no question inversion implies a resultant VSO order.

In periphrastic constructions the finite auxiliary always occupies the V slot of the inverted constituent order and precedes the main or non-finite verb.

Result No. 99
Number 667
Original While languages of all basic order types may have information-question-inversion, SOV languages are less likely than others to have it; they tend more to retain the basic constituent order of simple declarative sentences in information questions.

Result No. 100
Number 676
Original If a language has replacive relative clauses, then in the basic word order of the language verbs follow their objects, and there is a general rule of left-to-right deletion of anaphora.

Result No. 101
Number 684
Original Morphological Negation -- in particular suffixal Neg -- is more common in verb-final and free word order languages and the preference for suffixal Neg is stronger there.

Result No. 102
Number 962
Original The more distinct the definite article form is from demonstratives, the more likely its position relative to the noun will correlate with the order of verb and object.

Result No. 103
Number 965
Original Languages where indefinite articles are quite distinct from the numeral ‘one’ exhibit a statistical correlation between the order of article and noun and that of verb and objects.

Result No. 104
Number 990
Original Languages with absolute anterior consecutive deranking typically prefer SOV word order.

Result No. 105
Number 991
Original Languages with absolute posterior consecutive deranking typically prefer VSO word order.

Result No. 106
Number 992
Original Languages with conditional deranking typically prefer SVO word order.

Result No. 107
Number 995
Original If a language has posterior consecutive deranking and its word order is SVO, then it has conditional deranking.

Result No. 108
Number 997
Original If a language has posterior consecutive deranking and its word order is VSO, then it has absolute deranking.

Result No. 109
Number 1017
Original ... verb-initial languages do exhibit a clear preference for N Gen order.

Result No. 110
Number 1018
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3, then it has predicate-initial or predicate-final basic word order.

Result No. 111
Number 1019
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-3/4, then it does not allow variation in the ordering of Subject and Predicate, unless the potential ambiguity arising from a deviant order is solved by morphological means.

Result No. 112
Number 1020
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-3/4 and has Predicate-final word order, then it has ModifierHead basic word order within the term phrase, unless the potential ambiguity arising from a deviant order is solved by morphological means.

Result No. 113
Number 1021
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-3/4 and has Predicate-initial word order, then it has HeadModifier basic word order within the term phrase, unless the potential ambiguity arising from a deviant order is solved by morphological means.


Result No. 114
Number 1022
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-3/4, then it does not allow variation in the order of Head and Modifier within the term phrase.

Result No. 115
Number 1023
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3 and has Predicate-final basic word order, then it has Modifier Head basic word order within the predicate phrase.

Result No. 116
Number 1024
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3 and has Predicate-initial basic word order, then it has HeadModifier basic word order within the predicate phrase.

Result No. 117
Number 1025
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3, then it does not allow variation in the order of Head and Modifier within the predicate phrase.

Result No. 118
Number 1026
Original Languages with dominant order VSO and parts-of-speech system of types 1-3/4 always have the adjective after the noun.

Result No. 119
Number 1027
Original There are correlations between following parameters:
VO word order, Non-tensedness, Non-casedness, WITH-Construction, Non-Absolute Converb.

Result No. 120
Number 1028
Original There are correlations between following parameters:
OV word order, Tensedness, Casedness, AND-Construction, Absolute Converb.

Result No. 121
Number 1048
Original If word order is SOV, then there are no preclitics.
If word order is VSO, then there are no postclitic question markers.

Result No. 122
Number 1075
Original If case, and especially genitive, is marked (enclitically) at the end of NPs, then word order is mainly SOV, NP Postposition, Genitive Noun, Noun Adjective (Greenberg’s type 24).

Result No. 123
Number 1111
Original Lack of inflectional morphology implies fixed word order of direct nominal arguments. The converse is not true, hardly even a tendency.

Result No. 124
Number 1165
Original Whenever order correlates with definiteness, the definite element tends to be placed at the beginning of the sentence.

Result No. 125
Number 1214
Original If there are local cases, then basic word order tends to be SVO or SOV.

Result No. 126
Number 1274
Original The same nuclear tagmeme which occurs initially in the unitransitive dominant order will occur initially in the bitransitive order.

Result No. 127
Number 1275
Original If the dominant unitransitive order is SVO, the dominant bitransitive order will be either SVDO or SVOD.

Result No. 128
Number 1276
Original If a language of the unitransitive SVO type has different relative orders depending upon whether the direct object is marked or unmarked, the order is SVDO with s unmarked indirect object and SVOD with a marked indirect object.

Result No. 129
Number 1313
Original There is a tendency that, in postspecifying languages (i.e., specified-specifier, head-modifier), the order in complex names normally is Given name-Family name (e.g. Gaelic), and in prespecifying languages, Family name-Given name.

Result No. 130
Number 1314
Original The various classes of adverbs (AdvPs) enter a rigidly ordered sequence, which is the same across languages. And if one sets aside agreement and negation, the order of the head morphemes encoding the different types of functional notions in the clause (mood, modality, tense, aspect, and voice) is also rigidly fixed, and apparently invariant across languages.
The two hierarchies (that of AdvPs, and that of functional heads) match systematically, from left to right.

Result No. 131
Number 1334
Original Prepositional Noun-Modifier Hierarchy (PrNMH): If a language is prepositional, then
if Relative clause Noun order then Genitive Noun order,
if Genitive Noun order then Adjective Noun order, and
if Adjective Noun order then Demonstrative Noun order.

Result No. 132
Number 1335
Original If we have an OSV basic order, then we also have SOV as an alternative order.
If we have an OVS basic order, then we also have SVO as an alternative order.
If we have a VSO non dominant order, then we also have SOV, OSV or SVO, OVS as alternative orders.
If we have a VSO dominant order, then we also have SVO or VOS as alternative orders.
If we have SOV and SVO basic orders, then we also have OVS, OSV, VSO, and VOS as alternative orders.
If we have OVS and OSV basic orders, then we also have SOV, SVO, VSO, and VOS as alternative orders.
If we have a VSO (non dominant) and VOS orders, then we also have SOV, SVO, OVS, and OSV as alternative orders.

Result No. 133
Number 1337
Original The more marked a basic word order is, the stronger the tendency towards having a less marked alternative word order.

Hierarchy of Markedness of basic word orders:
SOV < SVO < OVS < VOS < VSO < OSV

Result No. 134
Number 1339
Original An element which serves as a semantic link between two other elements is likely to occur in linear order between them.

Result No. 135
Number 1342
Original If a language has dominant SOV order and the genitive follows the governing noun and the language has a parts-of-speech system of types 4-5/6, then the adjective likewise follows the noun.

Result No. 136
Number 1344
Original In comparative structures (e.g. ‘taller than John’) there’s a correlation between
VO order and adjective-marker-standard order and between OV order and standard-marker-adjective order.

Result No. 137
Number 1361
Original If the multiplier follows the multiplicand in a particular numeral, it follows in all higher numerals which are expressed by multiplication.
Where there is this variability in multiplicand-multiplier order, the language is always one in which the numeral follows the noun.

Result No. 138
Number 1380
Original Question-word Fronting and Basic Word Order:
A fronted WH-question word will be preferred across languages in proportion to the distance between WH and the subcategorizing verb in its basic order: the smaller the FGD, the more the WH-word is fronted.

Result No. 139
Number 1382
Original No language with SVO or VSO basic order will have a clause final auxiliary.

Result No. 140
Number 1385
Original No language with free word order will have a clause final auxiliary.

Result No. 141
Number 1513
Original SVO is a grammatical (although marked) word order in all VOS languages.

Result No. 142
Number 1545
Original In verb-initial languages, the demonstrative, numeral, and qualifying adjective follow the common noun in that order or its mirror image (Adj + Num + Dem).

Result No. 143
Number 1550
Original In verb-initial languages the dominant order of relative clauses is always postnominal.

Result No. 144
Number 1563
Original In all languages with over 60% order overall, VS word order is statistically correlated with temporally sequenced clauses. In languages with less than 40% VS order, there does not seem to be any correlation between sequencing and word order; in languages with between 40% and 60% VS order, if there is correlation, it will be relatively weak.

Result No. 145
Number 1591
Original Clear cases of internal relative clauses are present only in languages whose basic word order is SOV.

Result No. 146
Number 1596
Original Instantiations of AUX* which occur sentence-finally (in surface-order) are limited to languages such as Japanese which are commonly termed ‘rigid verb-final’.

Result No. 147
Number 1612
Original In SOV languages, when the expected order of Modifier-Noun does not occur, agreement [between noun and modifier] tends to appear.

Result No. 148
Number 1613
Original Concord is common among VO languages, particularly when the order of constituents is modifier-Noun and thus inconsistent with the basic VO order.

Result No. 149
Number 1627
Original If a language has the order VOS, OVS, OSV and has a double object construction, the patient in that clause should precede the other object.

Result No. 150
Number 1628
Original If the language has the basic order “topic-before-focus”, then the secondary topic would precede the focus.
Correspondingly, in languages where subject precedes object, causee, recipient, and benefactive precede the patient in double object constructions.

Result No. 151
Number 1629
Original If the language has the basic order “focus-before-topic”, then the secondary topic would follow the focus.
Correspondingly, in languages where object precedes subject, causee, recipient, and benefactive follow the patient in double object constructions.

Result No. 152
Number 1650
Original If L is a rigid verb-final language in its basic word order, the rhematic focus of a sentence of L is most likely to be in the position immediately preceding the finite verb.

Result No. 153
Number 1688
Original If a language has posterior consecutive deranking and its word order is SVO, then it has conditional deranking.

Result No. 154
Number 1689
Original If a language has posterior consecutive deranking and its word order is VSO, then it has absolute deranking.

Result No. 155
Number 1690
Original Languages with absolute consecutive deranking have either SOV or VSO word order.

Result No. 156
Number 1691
Original Languages with absolute anterior consecutive deranking typically have SOV word order.

Result No. 157
Number 1692
Original Languages with absolute posterior consecutive deranking typically have VSO word order.

Result No. 158
Number 1693
Original Languages which permit only conditional deranking of consecutive chains have posterior deranking and typically prefer SVO word order.

Result No. 159
Number 1715
Original Higher Order Law:
All syllabic complexities are less disfavoured in stressed syllables than in unstressed syllables.

Result No. 160
Number 1763
Original The velars are most likely to undergo weakening, then the dentals, and lastly the labials, in that order.

Result No. 161
Number 1790
Original Extended Stress Parameter:
Nasalization and N-deletion develop successively in a predictable manner, occurring first in tonic (’VN) stressed syllables, before spreading to pretonic (+VN) unstressed syllables, and then finally to post-tonic (-VN) unstressed syllables.
(Denasalization follows the reverse order.)


Result No. 162
Number 1827
Original If a language shows the order RelNoun or AdjNoun in its noun phrase, it is very likely to also show PossNoun, but not vice versa.

Result No. 163
Number 1895
Original A lexical item that is of the "grammatical" type (which type includes at least conjunctions and adpositions) cannot be included in the set of properties borrowed from a language unless the rule that determines its linear order with respect to its head is also included.

Result No. 164
Number 1902
Original Pivotless languages favour isolating morphology and free word order.

Result No. 165
Number 1903
Original Pure and mixed separatist languages prefer agglutinative morphology and free word order.

Result No. 166
Number 1904
Original Cumulative languages prefer fusional morphology or rigid word order.

Result No. 167
Number 1922
Original If more than one modifier occurs before the noun, the order is always Dem < Num < Adj.

Result No. 168
Number 1924
Original If a language has two modifier constructions that differ in linear order and in linguistic distance, the construction with a prenominal modifier will display the shorter linguistic distance.

Result No. 169
Number 1925
Original If a language has two modifier constructions that differ in linear order and in linguistic distance, the construction with a prenominal modifier will display the closer conceptual distance.

Result No. 170
Number 1946
Original Plural markers tend to originate on personal nouns and to spread in both directions, to inanimate nouns, on the one hand, and via the demonstrative to the 2nd and 1st person in that order.

Result No. 171
Number 2024
Original [IF there is Scrambling, then basic order is SOV.]




The Universals Archive ©1998-2009 :: Universität Konstanz
This site is maintained by Frans Plank. If you have questions about or comments on this page, please send your mail to the Webmaster.
User avatar
eldin raigmore
korean
korean
Posts: 6352
Joined: 14 Aug 2010 19:38
Location: SouthEast Michigan

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by eldin raigmore »

Result No. 1
Number 5
Original If a language has dominant SOV order and the genitive follows the governing noun, then the adjective likewise follows the noun.

Result No. 2
Number 8
Original If in a language the verb follows the nominal subject and the nominal object as the dominant order, the language almost always has a case system.

Result No. 3
Number 25
Original In all languages, if an adnominal nominal preceding the head shows Suffixaufnahme, so does an adnominal nominal of the same type following it, if that order is possible.

Result No. 4
Number 43
Original New (not borrowed) case forms enter the nominal morphology through the affixation of adpositions, but such a development is possible only if the unmarked word order in the NP is either (a) (modifiers and/or numerals) N (postposition), or; (b) (preposition) N (modifiers and/or numerals).

Result No. 5
Number 48
Original The noun phrase (NP) internal distribution of case between head noun and any agreeing constituents is determined by dominance relations defined on X-bar structures, not by linear order, contiguity of constituents, or control by the head noun.

Result No. 6
Number 55
Original Languages with dominant VSO order are always prepositional.

Result No. 7
Number 56
Original With overwhelmingly more than chance frequency, languages with dominant order VSO have the adjective after the noun.

Result No. 8
Number 59
Original When any or all of these items — demonstrative, numeral, descriptive adjective — precede the noun, they are always found in that order. If they follow, the order is the same or the opposite.

Result No. 9
Number 60
Original If some or all adverbs follow the adjective they modify, then the language is one in which the qualifying adjective follows the noun and the verb precedes its nominal object as the dominant order.

Result No. 10
Number 61
Original If in comparisons of superiority the only order, or one of the alternative orders, is standard - marker - adjective, then the language is postpositional. With overwhelmingly more than chance frequency if the only order is adjective - marker - standard, the language is prepositional.

Result No. 11
Number 65
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.

Result No. 12
Number 66
Original If a language has OV word order, then if the adjective precedes the noun, the genitive precedes the noun.

Result No. 13
Number 67
Original If a language has VSO word order, then if the adjective follows the noun, the genitive follows the noun.

Result No. 14
Number 68
Original If a language has verb-first order, then if the adjective follows the noun, the genitive follows the noun.

Result No. 15
Number 69
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the adjective follows the noun, the genitive follows the noun.

Result No. 16
Number 71
Original If a language has Postp word order, and if the adjective precedes the noun, then the genitive precedes the noun.

Result No. 17
Number 72
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the demonstrative determiner follows the noun, the adjective follows the noun.

Result No. 18
Number 74
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the numeral follows the noun, the adjective follows the noun.

Result No. 19
Number 87
Original IF a language has Prep word order, then if the demonstrative follows the noun, the relative clause follows the noun.

Result No. 20
Number 91
Original IF a language has Prep word order, then if the adjective follows the noun, the relative clause follows the noun.

Result No. 21
Number 97
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the adverb follows the adjective within the adjective phrase, the standard of comparison follows the adjective.

Result No. 22
Number 98
Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the adverb precedes the adjective within the adjective phrase, the standard of comparison precedes the adjective.

Result No. 23
Number 102
Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the possessive adjective precedes the noun, the genitive precedes the noun.

Result No. 24
Number 109
Original The most common position for negatives in SVO languages is between the subject and the verb, yielding S Neg V O order.

Result No. 25
Number 112
Original If the adverb occurs on the opposite side of the verb from the object, then the order of adjective and noun will mirror the order of adverb and verb.

Result No. 26
Number 127
Original No language has syntactic means (dependent marking, head marking, word order) which are exclusively used in ANCs.

Result No. 27
Number 130
Original Head-dependent word order is the same in ANCs and non-derived NPs.

Result No. 28
Number 175
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the genitive follows the noun, the relative clause follows the noun.

Result No. 29
Number 177
Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the demonstrative precedes the noun, the genitive precedes the noun.

Result No. 30
Number 178
Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the numeral precedes the noun, the genitive precedes the noun.

Result No. 31
Number 192
Original A relation that is higher on the hierarchy of centrality (subject-object > local relations; locative > ablative; ...) than another one will not be expressed lower down on the grammatical-to-lexical hierarchy of expression (word order > verbal coding > case > adpositions > ...).

Result No. 32
Number 215
Original If a language has a noun-genitive order in the possessive construction, it has quantitative-noun order in the partitive construction.

Result No. 33
Number 230
Original If constituent order is rigid, then cases are absent, and vice versa; if cases are absent, then the use of prepositions is extensive, and vice versa; if order is rigid, then the use of prepositions is extensive, and vice versa. If, on the other hand, constituent order is flexible, then cases are present, and vice versa; if cases are present, then the use of prepositions is sparse, and vice versa; if order is flexible, then the use of prepositions is sparse, and vice versa.

Result No. 34
Number 231
Original If constituent order is rigid (or if there is no case inflection), then the gradation of adjectives is expressed by function words; if constituent order is flexible (or if there is case inflection), then the gradation of adjectives is expressed inflectionally.

Result No. 35
Number 232
Original If constituent order is rigid and there is no case inflection, then there is a definite article, but not vice versa.

Result No. 36
Number 238
Original If constituent order is rigid, all determined constituents precede their respective determining constituents; in particular, subjects precede their predicates, verbs their complements (objects, prepositional phrases), prepositions their complements (noun phrases), head nouns their attributive adjectives, relative clauses, and complements (prepositional phrases).

Result No. 37
Number 239
Original If constituent order is free, all potentially declinable kinds of nominal words in relationships of determination – nouns, pronouns, adjectives (including articles) – are declined at least for case, the cardinal relational category, but presumably for number and gender as well.

Result No. 38
Number 241
Original If there is segmental relation marking, word order is free, and vice versa.
OR equivalently:
If there is no segmental relation marking, then word order is rigid, and vice versa.

Result No. 39
Number 245
Original If constituent order is free without limits, then nominal words are inflected, but not vice versa; if constituent order is rigid without inversions, then there is no nominal inflection, but again not vice versa.

Result No. 40
Number 246
Original Words tend to be longer if constituent order is free than if it is rigid.

Result No. 41
Number 259
Original In ergative and active languages only secondary topicalization, by means of changing the word order in the sentence, is possible. Primary topicalization or subjectivization – choosing either agent or patient as subject – is not possible in these languages. This is due to the fact that in ergative languages transitive verbs lack the opposition of an active and passive voice and in active languages the version opposition is of a non-voice character.

Result No. 42
Number 277
Original If a language has VOS order, then it has no verbal inflection.

Result No. 43
Number 297
Original In all languages, inversion of the word order can be used as a logical or emotional emphasis.

Result No. 44
Number 298
Original In all languages: if there is no category definiteness/indefiniteness, then the change of the word order is used as a way of distinguishing the “given” (closer to the beginning of the sentence) and the “new” (closer to its end).

Result No. 45
Number 341
Original If the dominant position of the subject with respect to the verb depends on their morphological characteristics, the dominant order in such a language will be Verb-Object.

Result No. 46
Number 342
Original If the dominant position of the object with respect to the verb depends on morphological characteristics of the object, the dominant order is SV.

Result No. 47
Number 344
Original If the order VS is dominant with transitive verbs, then it will be dominant with intransitive verbs as well.

Result No. 48
Number 346
Original If the order OV is not recessive, the order SV is not recessive as well.

Result No. 49
Number 347
Original If VS order is not recessive, neither is VO order.

Result No. 50
Number 348
Original If SOV is a dominant order, then OVS is one of the alternative orders.

Result No. 51
Number 349
Original If VSO order is one of the alternative orders, then VOS is also one of the alternative orders.

Result No. 52
Number 350
Original In a dominant order the object and the verb are juxtaposed, i.e. no subject is placed between them.

Result No. 53
Number 351
Original In a dominant order the subject and the object are juxtaposed, i.e. no verb is placed between them.

Result No. 54
Number 352
Original In a dominant order not more than one of these principles - i.e. , , - can be violated.

Result No. 55
Number 353
Original If in a language the dominant order is OS, then the order VS is also dominant.

Result No. 56
Number 354
Original In the languages where the verb agrees with subject and object, if there are forms like s-V-o, and there are no forms like o-V-s, then the dominant word order is one with the initial predicate position (VSO or VOS).

Result No. 57
Number 355
Original In the languages where the verb agrees with subject and object, if there are forms like o-V-s, and there are no forms like s-V-o, then in this language the dominant word order is the order with the final position of the predicate (SOV).

Result No. 58
Number 356
Original In the languages where the verb agrees with subject and object, if forms like V-s are the only possible ones, then the dominant order is SV.

Result No. 59
Number 357
Original If in a dominant word order VS the only possible forms are the forms of the V-s conjugation, then the forms like V-o are also the only possible ones.

Result No. 60
Number 360
Original Words tend to be longer than one syllable in transpositive [free word order] languages and to be monosyllabic in analogous [SVO] languages.

Result No. 61
Number 365
Original If the verb agrees with the subject and object and there is at least one o-V form, then the dominant order is SV.

Result No. 62
Number 370
Original If a language has vowel harmony and perhaps other progressive phonological modifications, then basic word order is OV, but not vice versa; if a language has umlaut and perhaps other regressive/anticipatory phonological modifications, then basic word order is VO, but not vice versa.

Result No. 63
Number 373
Original There is a positive correlation between higher syllable-per-sentence and syllable-per word ratios, simpler (or shorter) syllables, agglutinative morphology, and (S)OV basic word order on the one hand and between lower syllable-per-sentence and syllable-per-word ratios, more complex (or longer) syllables, flective (or no) morphology, and (S)V(S)O basic word order on the other.

Result No. 64
Number 376
Original If a language has topic markers, then these will always be postpositional and basic word order in the language will almost always be SOV.

Result No. 65
Number 423
Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the verb position is not SOV, the relative clause follows the noun.

Result No. 66
Number 437
Original Verb-initial order and lack of any determinate or stated order favour head-marking; verb-medial and verb-final order favour dependent-marking.

Result No. 67
Number 439
Original Non-accusative alignment may be associated with verb-initial order.

Result No. 68
Number 446
Original If a language has Verb-final (rigid, or non-rigid) or free word order as (one of) its basic word order(s), then it has postpositions or case affixes.

Result No. 69
Number 447
Original If a language has verb-initial word order, then it has prepositions or case prefixes.

Result No. 70
Number 449
Original A Gen N constituent order in a nominally possessed construction implies the same order in a pronominal (non-affixal) construction.

Result No. 71
Number 454
Original Personal possessive prefixes always imply a GN order, but not the converse; for personal possessive suffixes there is no such rule.

Result No. 72
Number 483
Original 80 % of the languages in Sedlak’s sample which indicate the direct or indirect object by word order also indicate them by morphological marker. Thus, even in those languages with a fixed word order, either direct object or the indirect object may be indicated by, say, the presence of a preposition, suffix, etc.

Result No. 73
Number 484
Original In two-thirds of the languages sampled, the indirect object is marked either extra- or intra-verbally when it is contiguous with the verb in fixed order languages. When the direct object is contiguous with the verb, the indirect object is marked in approximately the same proportion of languages.

Result No. 74
Number 485
Original In variable order SVO languages, where indirect-object marking is optional, the indirect object is contiguous with the verb when it is unmarked, but the direct object is contiguous with the verb when it is marked.

Result No. 75
Number 488
Original In declarative sentences with nominal subject and object, the dominant order is always one in which the subject precedes the object.

Result No. 76
Number 489
Original With overwhelmingly greater than chance frequency, languages with normal SOV order are postpositional.

Result No. 77
Number 490
Original All languages with dominant VSO order have SVO as an alternative or as the only alternative order.

Result No. 78
Number 491
Original If in a language with dominant SOV order there is no alternative basic order, or only OSV as the alternative, then all adverbial modifiers of the verb likewise precede the verb.

Result No. 79
Number 495
Original Question particles or affixes, when specified in position by reference to a particular word in the sentence, almost always follow that word. Such particles do not occur in languages with dominant order VSO.

Result No. 80
Number 496
Original Inversion of statement order so that verb precedes subject occurs only in languages where the question word or phrase is normally initial. This same inversion occurs in yes-no questions only if it also occurs in interrogative questions.

Result No. 81
Number 497
Original If a language has dominant order VSO in declarative sentences, it always puts interrogative words or phrases first in interrogative word questions; if it has dominant order SOV in declarative sentences, there is never such an invariant rule.

Result No. 82
Number 499
Original In conditional statements, the conditional clause precedes the conclusion as the normal order in all languages.

Result No. 83
Number 500
Original In expressions of volition and purpose, a subordinate verbal form always follows the main verb as the normal order except in those languages in which the nominal object always precedes the verb.

Result No. 84
Number 501
Original In languages with dominant order VSO, an inflected auxiliary always precedes the main verb. In languages with dominant order SOV, an inflected auxiliary always follows the main verb.

Result No. 85
Number 510
Original When number agreement between the noun and verb is suspended and the rule is based on order, the case is always one in which the verb precedes and the verb is in the singular.

Result No. 86
Number 536
Original If in a language, in any sum the smaller addend precedes the larger, then the same order holds for all smaller numbers expressed by addition.

Result No. 87
Number 537
Original If in a language, in any sum the larger addend precedes the smaller, then the same order holds for all larger numbers expressed by addition.

Result No. 88
Number 542
Original When there is a word order variation in addition between larger and smaller, and one order has an overt link and the other has not, it is always the order smaller+larger which has the link.

Result No. 89
Number 550
Original The order noun-numeral is favoured in indefinite and approximative constructions.

Result No. 90
Number 552
Original If there is variation in Noun Quantifier order depending on the identity of the numeral, one of the two orders is used with a continuous series of numbers beginning with ‘one’, or ‘one’ and the bases of the system are used with one of the orders. If there is free variation with a particular numeral ‘x’, the next higher is also in free variation or is in the opposite order to that of ‘x’ with the noun.

Result No. 91
Number 594
Original If in a language the temporal order of syntactic constituents that describe events symbolizes anything about the actual order in which these events are said to take place, the symbolism is iconic in that the earlier-mentioned event is to be taken as the one that takes place earlier.

Result No. 92
Number 595
Original The reversal of syntactic constituent order is never systematically iconic, i. e. signaling the reversal of meaning.

Result No. 93
Number 603
Original If in a language the definiteness of a class of noun phrases is an order-significant property, this class will include both objects and intransitive subjects, but not transitive subjects.

Result No. 94
Number 624
Original If a language has Suffixaufnahme, then it has verb-initial or verb-final constituent order.

Result No. 95
Number 651
Original Unlimited consonant clustering correlates with VS order, limitations on consonant clustering correlate with SV order.

Result No. 96
Number 661
Original There is a correlation between converb prominence and object-verb word order.

Result No. 97
Number 664
Original The presence of yes-no question inversion implies a basic order type in which subject precedes verb.

Result No. 98
Number 665
Original Yes-no question inversion implies a resultant VSO order.

In periphrastic constructions the finite auxiliary always occupies the V slot of the inverted constituent order and precedes the main or non-finite verb.

Result No. 99
Number 667
Original While languages of all basic order types may have information-question-inversion, SOV languages are less likely than others to have it; they tend more to retain the basic constituent order of simple declarative sentences in information questions.

Result No. 100
Number 676
Original If a language has replacive relative clauses, then in the basic word order of the language verbs follow their objects, and there is a general rule of left-to-right deletion of anaphora.

Result No. 101
Number 684
Original Morphological Negation -- in particular suffixal Neg -- is more common in verb-final and free word order languages and the preference for suffixal Neg is stronger there.

Result No. 102
Number 962
Original The more distinct the definite article form is from demonstratives, the more likely its position relative to the noun will correlate with the order of verb and object.

Result No. 103
Number 965
Original Languages where indefinite articles are quite distinct from the numeral ‘one’ exhibit a statistical correlation between the order of article and noun and that of verb and objects.

Result No. 104
Number 990
Original Languages with absolute anterior consecutive deranking typically prefer SOV word order.

Result No. 105
Number 991
Original Languages with absolute posterior consecutive deranking typically prefer VSO word order.

Result No. 106
Number 992
Original Languages with conditional deranking typically prefer SVO word order.

Result No. 107
Number 995
Original If a language has posterior consecutive deranking and its word order is SVO, then it has conditional deranking.

Result No. 108
Number 997
Original If a language has posterior consecutive deranking and its word order is VSO, then it has absolute deranking.

Result No. 109
Number 1017
Original ... verb-initial languages do exhibit a clear preference for N Gen order.

Result No. 110
Number 1018
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3, then it has predicate-initial or predicate-final basic word order.

Result No. 111
Number 1019
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-3/4, then it does not allow variation in the ordering of Subject and Predicate, unless the potential ambiguity arising from a deviant order is solved by morphological means.

Result No. 112
Number 1020
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-3/4 and has Predicate-final word order, then it has ModifierHead basic word order within the term phrase, unless the potential ambiguity arising from a deviant order is solved by morphological means.

Result No. 113
Number 1021
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-3/4 and has Predicate-initial word order, then it has HeadModifier basic word order within the term phrase, unless the potential ambiguity arising from a deviant order is solved by morphological means.


Result No. 114
Number 1022
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-3/4, then it does not allow variation in the order of Head and Modifier within the term phrase.

Result No. 115
Number 1023
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3 and has Predicate-final basic word order, then it has Modifier Head basic word order within the predicate phrase.

Result No. 116
Number 1024
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3 and has Predicate-initial basic word order, then it has HeadModifier basic word order within the predicate phrase.

Result No. 117
Number 1025
Original If a language has a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3, then it does not allow variation in the order of Head and Modifier within the predicate phrase.

Result No. 118
Number 1026
Original Languages with dominant order VSO and parts-of-speech system of types 1-3/4 always have the adjective after the noun.

Result No. 119
Number 1027
Original There are correlations between following parameters:
VO word order, Non-tensedness, Non-casedness, WITH-Construction, Non-Absolute Converb.

Result No. 120
Number 1028
Original There are correlations between following parameters:
OV word order, Tensedness, Casedness, AND-Construction, Absolute Converb.

Result No. 121
Number 1048
Original If word order is SOV, then there are no preclitics.
If word order is VSO, then there are no postclitic question markers.

Result No. 122
Number 1075
Original If case, and especially genitive, is marked (enclitically) at the end of NPs, then word order is mainly SOV, NP Postposition, Genitive Noun, Noun Adjective (Greenberg’s type 24).

Result No. 123
Number 1111
Original Lack of inflectional morphology implies fixed word order of direct nominal arguments. The converse is not true, hardly even a tendency.

Result No. 124
Number 1165
Original Whenever order correlates with definiteness, the definite element tends to be placed at the beginning of the sentence.

Result No. 125
Number 1214
Original If there are local cases, then basic word order tends to be SVO or SOV.

Result No. 126
Number 1274
Original The same nuclear tagmeme which occurs initially in the unitransitive dominant order will occur initially in the bitransitive order.

Result No. 127
Number 1275
Original If the dominant unitransitive order is SVO, the dominant bitransitive order will be either SVDO or SVOD.

Result No. 128
Number 1276
Original If a language of the unitransitive SVO type has different relative orders depending upon whether the direct object is marked or unmarked, the order is SVDO with s unmarked indirect object and SVOD with a marked indirect object.

Result No. 129
Number 1313
Original There is a tendency that, in postspecifying languages (i.e., specified-specifier, head-modifier), the order in complex names normally is Given name-Family name (e.g. Gaelic), and in prespecifying languages, Family name-Given name.

Result No. 130
Number 1314
Original The various classes of adverbs (AdvPs) enter a rigidly ordered sequence, which is the same across languages. And if one sets aside agreement and negation, the order of the head morphemes encoding the different types of functional notions in the clause (mood, modality, tense, aspect, and voice) is also rigidly fixed, and apparently invariant across languages.
The two hierarchies (that of AdvPs, and that of functional heads) match systematically, from left to right.

Result No. 131
Number 1334
Original Prepositional Noun-Modifier Hierarchy (PrNMH): If a language is prepositional, then
if Relative clause Noun order then Genitive Noun order,
if Genitive Noun order then Adjective Noun order, and
if Adjective Noun order then Demonstrative Noun order.

Result No. 132
Number 1335
Original If we have an OSV basic order, then we also have SOV as an alternative order.
If we have an OVS basic order, then we also have SVO as an alternative order.
If we have a VSO non dominant order, then we also have SOV, OSV or SVO, OVS as alternative orders.
If we have a VSO dominant order, then we also have SVO or VOS as alternative orders.
If we have SOV and SVO basic orders, then we also have OVS, OSV, VSO, and VOS as alternative orders.
If we have OVS and OSV basic orders, then we also have SOV, SVO, VSO, and VOS as alternative orders.
If we have a VSO (non dominant) and VOS orders, then we also have SOV, SVO, OVS, and OSV as alternative orders.

Result No. 133
Number 1337
Original The more marked a basic word order is, the stronger the tendency towards having a less marked alternative word order.

Hierarchy of Markedness of basic word orders:
SOV < SVO < OVS < VOS < VSO < OSV

Result No. 134
Number 1339
Original An element which serves as a semantic link between two other elements is likely to occur in linear order between them.

Result No. 135
Number 1342
Original If a language has dominant SOV order and the genitive follows the governing noun and the language has a parts-of-speech system of types 4-5/6, then the adjective likewise follows the noun.

Result No. 136
Number 1344
Original In comparative structures (e.g. ‘taller than John’) there’s a correlation between
VO order and adjective-marker-standard order and between OV order and standard-marker-adjective order.

Result No. 137
Number 1361
Original If the multiplier follows the multiplicand in a particular numeral, it follows in all higher numerals which are expressed by multiplication.
Where there is this variability in multiplicand-multiplier order, the language is always one in which the numeral follows the noun.

Result No. 138
Number 1380
Original Question-word Fronting and Basic Word Order:
A fronted WH-question word will be preferred across languages in proportion to the distance between WH and the subcategorizing verb in its basic order: the smaller the FGD, the more the WH-word is fronted.

Result No. 139
Number 1382
Original No language with SVO or VSO basic order will have a clause final auxiliary.

Result No. 140
Number 1385
Original No language with free word order will have a clause final auxiliary.

Result No. 141
Number 1513
Original SVO is a grammatical (although marked) word order in all VOS languages.

Result No. 142
Number 1545
Original In verb-initial languages, the demonstrative, numeral, and qualifying adjective follow the common noun in that order or its mirror image (Adj + Num + Dem).

Result No. 143
Number 1550
Original In verb-initial languages the dominant order of relative clauses is always postnominal.

Result No. 144
Number 1563
Original In all languages with over 60% order overall, VS word order is statistically correlated with temporally sequenced clauses. In languages with less than 40% VS order, there does not seem to be any correlation between sequencing and word order; in languages with between 40% and 60% VS order, if there is correlation, it will be relatively weak.

Result No. 145
Number 1591
Original Clear cases of internal relative clauses are present only in languages whose basic word order is SOV.

Result No. 146
Number 1596
Original Instantiations of AUX* which occur sentence-finally (in surface-order) are limited to languages such as Japanese which are commonly termed ‘rigid verb-final’.

Result No. 147
Number 1612
Original In SOV languages, when the expected order of Modifier-Noun does not occur, agreement [between noun and modifier] tends to appear.

Result No. 148
Number 1613
Original Concord is common among VO languages, particularly when the order of constituents is modifier-Noun and thus inconsistent with the basic VO order.

Result No. 149
Number 1627
Original If a language has the order VOS, OVS, OSV and has a double object construction, the patient in that clause should precede the other object.

Result No. 150
Number 1628
Original If the language has the basic order “topic-before-focus”, then the secondary topic would precede the focus.
Correspondingly, in languages where subject precedes object, causee, recipient, and benefactive precede the patient in double object constructions.

Result No. 151
Number 1629
Original If the language has the basic order “focus-before-topic”, then the secondary topic would follow the focus.
Correspondingly, in languages where object precedes subject, causee, recipient, and benefactive follow the patient in double object constructions.

Result No. 152
Number 1650
Original If L is a rigid verb-final language in its basic word order, the rhematic focus of a sentence of L is most likely to be in the position immediately preceding the finite verb.

Result No. 153
Number 1688
Original If a language has posterior consecutive deranking and its word order is SVO, then it has conditional deranking.

Result No. 154
Number 1689
Original If a language has posterior consecutive deranking and its word order is VSO, then it has absolute deranking.

Result No. 155
Number 1690
Original Languages with absolute consecutive deranking have either SOV or VSO word order.

Result No. 156
Number 1691
Original Languages with absolute anterior consecutive deranking typically have SOV word order.

Result No. 157
Number 1692
Original Languages with absolute posterior consecutive deranking typically have VSO word order.

Result No. 158
Number 1693
Original Languages which permit only conditional deranking of consecutive chains have posterior deranking and typically prefer SVO word order.

Result No. 159
Number 1715
Original Higher Order Law:
All syllabic complexities are less disfavoured in stressed syllables than in unstressed syllables.

Result No. 160
Number 1763
Original The velars are most likely to undergo weakening, then the dentals, and lastly the labials, in that order.

Result No. 161
Number 1790
Original Extended Stress Parameter:
Nasalization and N-deletion develop successively in a predictable manner, occurring first in tonic (’VN) stressed syllables, before spreading to pretonic (+VN) unstressed syllables, and then finally to post-tonic (-VN) unstressed syllables.
(Denasalization follows the reverse order.)


Result No. 162
Number 1827
Original If a language shows the order RelNoun or AdjNoun in its noun phrase, it is very likely to also show PossNoun, but not vice versa.

Result No. 163
Number 1895
Original A lexical item that is of the "grammatical" type (which type includes at least conjunctions and adpositions) cannot be included in the set of properties borrowed from a language unless the rule that determines its linear order with respect to its head is also included.

Result No. 164
Number 1902
Original Pivotless languages favour isolating morphology and free word order.

Result No. 165
Number 1903
Original Pure and mixed separatist languages prefer agglutinative morphology and free word order.

Result No. 166
Number 1904
Original Cumulative languages prefer fusional morphology or rigid word order.

Result No. 167
Number 1922
Original If more than one modifier occurs before the noun, the order is always Dem < Num < Adj.

Result No. 168
Number 1924
Original If a language has two modifier constructions that differ in linear order and in linguistic distance, the construction with a prenominal modifier will display the shorter linguistic distance.

Result No. 169
Number 1925
Original If a language has two modifier constructions that differ in linear order and in linguistic distance, the construction with a prenominal modifier will display the closer conceptual distance.

Result No. 170
Number 1946
Original Plural markers tend to originate on personal nouns and to spread in both directions, to inanimate nouns, on the one hand, and via the demonstrative to the 2nd and 1st person in that order.

Result No. 171
Number 2024
Original [IF there is Scrambling, then basic order is SOV.]
User avatar
eldin raigmore
korean
korean
Posts: 6352
Joined: 14 Aug 2010 19:38
Location: SouthEast Michigan

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by eldin raigmore »

Number 11

Original Consistent OV languages tend to be agglutinative in their morphology.

Standardized IF basic order is consistently OV, THEN the morphology tends to be agglutinative.

Formula OV ⇒ agglutinative

Keywords order, OV, agglutination

Domain morphology, syntax

Type implication

Status achronic

Quality statistical

Basis languages in Lehmann 1973

Source W.P.Lehmann 1973: 47

Counterexamples By Frans Plank 03.08.2006, 09:49

Akkadian (E. Semitic, Afro-Asiatic): basic constituent order OV, but language is highly (intro-)flexive/fusional (e.g. izzakar < *iztakar 'he called' consisting of three morphemes, i - [3sg.m.], z_k_r 'call', _ta_a [Perfekt]). Akkadian word order differs from that of other Semitic languages and is generally thought to be influenced by Sumerian. (F. Kammerzell, p.c.)


Comments By Frans Plank 03.08.2006, 09:49

See also .
Should probably be the other way round: IF agglutination, THEN verb-final.
User avatar
Micamo
MVP
MVP
Posts: 5671
Joined: 05 Sep 2010 19:48
Contact:

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Micamo »

As a compliment to Aszev's post, I'll give a quick lesson here:

What causes VSO?

Verb-Subject-Object word order is a combination of two simultaneous phenomena: Verb Attraction and Subject Placement.

Verb attraction is a property of a language where the verb moves upward in the syntax tree to receive its inflections, rather than the inflections moving downward.

Image

Here's a (simplified) syntax tree, where S is the subject, I is the inflection node, V is the verb, and O is the object. I is a syntactic element which carries things like agreement with parts of the clause. In English this inflection node is most often hypothesized to be only a single element, but more morphologically complex languages can have multiple inflection nodes. Dealing with multiple I's, however, is a bit beyond the scope of what I want to explain here today.

Here's a little diagram of verb attraction in an SVO language:

Image

Notice the fundamental SVO order isn't changed in this case, but the syntax of the language isn't completely unaffected. For example, adjuncts which adjoin to the verb phrase are now required to come after the verb (but not necessarily after the object). This is the case in French, where.... <insert french example>

Subject placement is said to be "High" when the subject is projected from the CP to the subject and "Low" when the subject is projected as a complement to the IP instead. The tree in a lang with low subject placement looks like this:

Image

VSO order comes about when low subject placement is combined with verb attraction, like so:

Image
My pronouns are <xe> [ziː] / <xym> [zɪm] / <xys> [zɪz]

My shitty twitter
User avatar
eldin raigmore
korean
korean
Posts: 6352
Joined: 14 Aug 2010 19:38
Location: SouthEast Michigan

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by eldin raigmore »

Micamo wrote:As a compliment to Aszev's post, I'll give a quick lesson here:

What causes VSO?
Spoiler:
Verb-Subject-Object word order is a combination of two simultaneous phenomena: Verb Attraction and Subject Placement.

Verb attraction is a property of a language where the verb moves upward in the syntax tree to receive its inflections, rather than the inflections moving downward.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/556/sivoz.png

Here's a (simplified) syntax tree, where S is the subject, I is the inflection node, V is the verb, and O is the object. I is a syntactic element which carries things like agreement with parts of the clause. In English this inflection node is most often hypothesized to be only a single element, but more morphologically complex languages can have multiple inflection nodes. Dealing with multiple I's, however, is a bit beyond the scope of what I want to explain here today.

Here's a little diagram of verb attraction in an SVO language:

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/4305 ... action.png

Notice the fundamental SVO order isn't changed in this case, but the syntax of the language isn't completely unaffected. For example, adjuncts which adjoin to the verb phrase are now required to come after the verb (but not necessarily after the object). This is the case in French, where.... <insert french example>

Subject placement is said to be "High" when the subject is projected from the CP to the subject and "Low" when the subject is projected as a complement to the IP instead. The tree in a lang with low subject placement looks like this:

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/4250 ... cement.png

VSO order comes about when low subject placement is combined with verb attraction, like so:

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/968/vsop.png
Please note that that is a Generativist explanation.
Some linguists regard it as reliable as a Creationist explanation of why the unicorns didn't make it onto Noah's Ark.
Some linguists also regard it as necessary as such an explanation.

Micamo is studying Generativism. It's worth studying. It's not all there is to linguistics.
User avatar
Xing
MVP
MVP
Posts: 4153
Joined: 22 Aug 2010 18:46

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Xing »

It's the explanation given by Mark C . Baker in The Atoms of Language.

The French example he uses is Jean embrasse souvent Marie. (lit. "Jean kisses often Mary"). I if you want to fake French accent, you can say "John kisses often Mary". "Often" comes right after "kisses", due to the verb attraction parameter.

I'm interested in generative linguistics, and have enjoyed Bakers books so far. but I'm not knowledgeable enough to say whether I endorse it or not.

If anyone have other explanations (generative or cognitivist or whatever...) this or other word order tendencies, (s)he's welcome to present it here.
User avatar
Ceresz
mayan
mayan
Posts: 2237
Joined: 16 Oct 2010 02:14
Location: North
Contact:

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Ceresz »

I've seen that 'Jean kisses often Mary' before.

Jean kysser ofta Mary :P.
User avatar
Micamo
MVP
MVP
Posts: 5671
Joined: 05 Sep 2010 19:48
Contact:

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Micamo »

What other books on generativism have you read besides Atoms?

As for french, can adverbs come before a verb if they attach to the clause as a whole rather than to the verb phrase directly as in "Often, John kisses Mary."?

Since Google Books' preview isn't letting me read any more of the book for now, what's the argument Baker gives for why the verb attraction parameter is dependent on the subject side parameter? And for that matter, why the option of subject-finality is dependent on a language being head-initial? I'm curious how Baker handles OVS and OSV in his theory.
My pronouns are <xe> [ziː] / <xym> [zɪm] / <xys> [zɪz]

My shitty twitter
User avatar
Ear of the Sphinx
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1587
Joined: 23 Aug 2010 01:41
Location: Nose of the Sun

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Ear of the Sphinx »

I don't get the generativistic explanation. It's Steady State for me.

--

Interesting phenomenon is, in Polish, VSO used with polite forms, e.g.
Zjadł Pan truciznę. - You ate poison. (lit. Ate Sir poison.)
Znajdzie Pani skarb. - You'll find a treasure. (lit. Will.find Madame treasure.)
Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
User avatar
Visinoid
roman
roman
Posts: 908
Joined: 04 Aug 2011 05:13
Location: Sparta

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Visinoid »

Micamo wrote:What other books on generativism have you read besides Atoms?

As for french, can adverbs come before a verb if they attach to the clause as a whole rather than to the verb phrase directly as in "Often, John kisses Mary."?

Since Google Books' preview isn't letting me read any more of the book for now, what's the argument Baker gives for why the verb attraction parameter is dependent on the subject side parameter? And for that matter, why the option of subject-finality is dependent on a language being head-initial? I'm curious how Baker handles OVS and OSV in his theory.
The answer is YES, it's possible. :) It changes the meaning (subconsciously) into thinking that John kisses Mary often! But in the other example ''John kisses often Mary'', you can ''suppose'' that John kisses Mary more often than any other girl. However, this is a personal feeling. ^^
User avatar
Xing
MVP
MVP
Posts: 4153
Joined: 22 Aug 2010 18:46

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Xing »

Micamo wrote:What other books on generativism have you read besides Atoms?
Apart from Baker, it's mainly Steven Pinker's trilogy of language. I think "Words and Rules" may be the most interesting from a theoretical point of view (Pinker contrasts his "words and rules-theory" with on the one hand connectionist models, and on the other hand more radically innatist/chomskian theories).
Since Google Books' preview isn't letting me read any more of the book for now, what's the argument Baker gives for why the verb attraction parameter is dependent on the subject side parameter?
The explanation baker gives (on p. 138 in my paper copy) is that the verb attraction parameter won't make any difference to a VOS language. The verb will always come first, regardless of whether the tense attracts verbs, or verbs attract tense.
And for that matter, why the option of subject-finality is dependent on a language being head-initial?
Baker is first considering the possibility that OVS languages are the result of the subject-side parameter applying to head-last languages. He ultimately concludes that this is not the case. The reason for this is that indirect objects come after the verb in langs like Hixkaryana. If Hixkaryana (and similar langs) were really SOV with the subject moved to the end of the sentence, one would expect the indirect object to appear before the verb.
I'm curious how Baker handles OVS and OSV in his theory.
OSV derives from OVS in the same way as VSO derives from SVO, through the verb-attraction and the subject-placement parameters. In roughly half of the OVS languages, we would expect verbs to be attracted to auxiliaries, rather than the other way around. If the subject placement is high, this has no effect on the placement of V relative to S (like in French), since V and the tense auxiliary are next to each other. But if subject placement is low, we can expect that the verb moves to the position of the tense auxiliary, which is behind the subject.
User avatar
Micamo
MVP
MVP
Posts: 5671
Joined: 05 Sep 2010 19:48
Contact:

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Micamo »

xingoxa wrote:Baker is first considering the possibility that OVS languages are the result of the subject-side parameter applying to head-last languages. He ultimately concludes that this is not the case. The reason for this is that indirect objects come after the verb in langs like Hixkaryana. If Hixkaryana (and similar langs) were really SOV with the subject moved to the end of the sentence, one would expect the indirect object to appear before the verb.
Does he provide an alternative mechanism for OVS? Or leave it open as a matter for further research?
My pronouns are <xe> [ziː] / <xym> [zɪm] / <xys> [zɪz]

My shitty twitter
User avatar
Xing
MVP
MVP
Posts: 4153
Joined: 22 Aug 2010 18:46

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Xing »

Micamo wrote:
xingoxa wrote:Baker is first considering the possibility that OVS languages are the result of the subject-side parameter applying to head-last languages. He ultimately concludes that this is not the case. The reason for this is that indirect objects come after the verb in langs like Hixkaryana. If Hixkaryana (and similar langs) were really SOV with the subject moved to the end of the sentence, one would expect the indirect object to appear before the verb.
Does he provide an alternative mechanism for OVS? Or leave it open as a matter for further research?
I think these are the two explanations for OVS he considers.

(1)
OVS comes about when the subject side parameter is applied on a SOV language.

John.NOM Mary.DAT flower.ACC give - A regular SOV
Apply subject-side - move [John.NOM] to the end:
Mary.DAT flower.ACC give John.NOM

(2)
John.NOM Mary.DAT flower.ACC give - a regular SOV
[flower.ACC give] - the verb phrase moves to the front:
flower.ACC give John.NOM Mary.DAT

He (at least tentatively) assumes that he last one is correct, because it fits with the placement of indirect objects in langs like Hixkaryana.

I think he admits not being an expert on Hixkaryana, and that the questions surrounding OVS and OSV may be open to further research.
User avatar
Xing
MVP
MVP
Posts: 4153
Joined: 22 Aug 2010 18:46

Re: Word Order Tendencies

Post by Xing »

There seems to be some kind of relationship between word order and the prevalence of ergativity.

Verb-final SOV languages are quite often ergative.
Verb-initial VSO languages are sometimes ergative.
Verb-medial SVO languages are rarely (perhaps some would claim never) ergative.

For some reason.
Post Reply