02_Verb Subject
| Definition |
|---|
| The property Verb Subject has the value "yes" when in a clause with an intransitive verb the order
Verb Subject can be used in a neutral context. The clause in this property is an active (non-
passive) declarative (non-interrogative) clause. In this property, the subject is not a pronoun.
Furthermore, the verb must be clause initial (see German example below). As with all word order properties, we restrict our attention to productive word order patterns. Definition of Subject General Note on Word Order Properties: A "yes" value for Verb Subject does not exclude a "yes" value for any other order of these categories. NA (Not Applicable): All known languages have subjects in the defined sense, so this property is always defined and never has the value NA. Examples: 1. Welsh is "yes" for Verb Subject: Gadawodd Mair. leave.3SG.PST Mair "Mair left." 2. Italian is "yes" for Verb Subject: È apparsa la Madonna is appeared the Virgin Mary "The Virgin Mary appeared." 3. In general, a language will be classified as Verb Subject when that order is possible with a clause initial verb. German admits the order Verb Subject, but only in the presence of an initial adverb (this is the so-called Verb-Second property). Therefore, we assume that German is not Verb Subject. Heute fliegt Hans nach München today fly.3SG John to Munich "Today John flies to Munich." 4. English is "no" for Verb Subject since this order is always ungrammatical: *Left John. (* means ungrammatical) |
| Contributed by: Andrea Cattaneo, Chris Collins, Jim Wood |
| Language | Value | Contributor | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| =Hoan | No | Chris Collins | |
| Acehnese | No | Julie Legate | only neutral after verb na "exist" |
| Afrikaans | No | Theresa Biberauer | |
| + Albanian | Yes | Dalina Kallulli | |
| American Sign Language | Yes | Natasha Abner | |
| Amharic | No | Girma Demeke | |
| + Ancient Greek | Yes | Richard Faure | |
| + Arabic, Gulf | Yes | Dimitrios Ntelitheos | |
| Atayal (Squliq) | Yes | Sihwei Chen | |
| Bajau, West Coast | Yes | Mark Miller | |
| Bambara | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| Bardi | Yes | Claire Bowern | |
| + Basaa | No | Paul Roger Bassong | |
| Basque | No | Karlos Arregi | |
| + Bellinzonese | Yes | Mike Taylor | |
| Beng | No | Denis Paperno | |
| Bengali | No | Priyanka Biswas | OK under contrastive focus interpretation on verb. |
| Bole | No | Alhaji Gimba | |
| Brazilian Portuguese | Yes | Bruna Moreira | |
| Breton | Yes | Steve Hewitt | |
| Bulgarian | No | Ljuba Veselinova | |
| Burgenland-Romani | No | Michelle McComb | |
| Burmese | No | Timothy Ho | |
| Calabrian (Northern) | Yes | Giuseppina Silvestri | |
| Catalan | Yes | Txuss Martin | |
| + Chalcatongo Mixtec | Yes | Jess Combs | |
| + Chichewa | Yes | Sam Mchombo | |
| Chickasaw | Yes | Pam Munro | |
| Chol | Yes | Jessica Coon | |
| + Czech | Yes | Pavel Caha | |
| Dagaare | No | Adams Bodomo | |
| + Dholuo | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| + Digo | Yes | Steve Nicolle | |
| + Digor Ossetic | Yes | David Erschler | |
| + Dutch | No | Hilda Koopman | only in narrative contexts. |
| Eastern Armenian | Yes | Karine Megerdoomian | |
| Egyptian Arabic | Yes | Arwa Rangwala | |
| English | No | Chris Collins | |
| English (Singapore) | No | Adam Chong | |
| + European Portuguese | Yes | Salvador Mascarenhas | |
| Ewe | No | Chris Collins | |
| Farefari | No | Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu | |
| Faroese | No | Gunnar Hrafn Hrafnbjargarson | |
| Finnish | Yes | Anders Holmberg | Possible chiefly with verbs of occurrence/appearance. |
| French | No | Chris Collins | |
| Frisian (West Frisian) | No | Jarich Hoekstra | |
| Ga | No | Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu | |
| galician | Yes | Naír García | |
| Garifuna | Yes | Teresa O'Neill (contributor till 2012) | |
| georgian | Yes | Lea Nash | |
| German | No | Chris Collins | |
| + Greek | Yes | Arhonto Terzi | |
| Greenlandic, West (Kalaallisut) | No | Stephen Mayeaux | |
| Gungbe (Porto-Novo) | No | Enoch Oladé Aboh | |
| Gurene | No | Samuel Atintono | |
| Haitian | No | Michel DeGraff | |
| Hakka | No | Iris Wu | |
| Hanga | No | Geoffrey Hunt | |
| Hausa | No | Russell Schuh | |
| + Hebrew | Yes | Ur Shlonsky | Hebrew does allow VS(0) but in a constrained way: Either some constituent precedes V (not V2, but V-not-1) or the postverbal subject is indefinite (with intransitives, not with transitives), or, the verb is presentational (not simply unaccusative) or if there is a weak locative 'here' or 'there' in the sentence. |
| Hindi | No | Anoop Mahajan | |
| Hittite | No | Mattyas Huggard | |
| + Hixkaryana | Yes | Laura Kalin | |
| + Hungarian | Yes | Anna Szabolcsi | |
| Ibibio | No | Willie Willie | |
| Icelandic | No | Jim Wood | |
| Igala | No | Johnson Folorunso Ilori | |
| Iha | No | Mark Donohue | |
| + Ilokano | Yes | Jeremy Rafal | |
| imbabura quichua | No | UCLA Linguistics 210 | |
| Indonesian | No | Mark Donohue | |
| + Irish | Yes | Bridget Nixdorf | |
| Iron Ossetic | Yes | David Erschler | |
| Isbukun Bunun | Yes | Iris Wu | |
| Italian | Yes | Chris Collins | |
| Jamaican Creole English | No | Tonjes Veenstra | |
| Japanese | No | Chris Collins | |
| Jarawara | No | Alan Vogel | |
| Jingulu | Yes | Rob Pensalfini | |
| Karachay | No | Steve Seegmiller | |
| Kayan | No | Ken Manson | |
| Khasi | Yes | Gracious Temsen | |
| KiLega | No | Kasangati Kinyalolo | |
| Kindendeule | No | Deo Ngonyani | |
| Kiswahili | Yes | Aggrey Wasike | |
| Kiyaka | Yes | Lukowa Kidima | |
| Konni | No | Michael Cahill | |
| Korean | No | Chung-hye Han | |
| + Kuot | Yes | Eva Lindström | |
| Kurdish (Sorani) | No | Yadgar Karimi | |
| Kusunda | Yes | Mark Donohue | |
| Laal | No | Florian Lionnet | |
| Lango | No | Arwa Rangwala | |
| Lani | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Lao | No | Alif Silpachai | |
| + Lebanese Arabic | Yes | Lina Choueiri | |
| Lubukusu | No | Aggrey Wasike | |
| Maasai (Kisongo) | Yes | Hilda Koopman | |
| + Malagasy | Yes | Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin | |
| Malayalam | No | Mythili Menon | |
| + Mandarin | Yes | Arthur Wang | |
| Mankanya | No | Tim Gaved | |
| Maori | Yes | Ray Harlow | |
| + Marshallese | Yes | Heather Willson Sturman | |
| Masarak | No | Jessica Chen | |
| Mbuko | No | Richard Gravina | |
| Medumba | No | KEUPDJIO HERMANN SIDOINE | |
| Middle Dutch | No | Gertjan Postma | |
| Miya | Yes | Michael A. Estrada | |
| N|u | No | Chris Collins | |
| + Nahuatl (Central Huasteca) | Yes | John Garcia | |
| Nahuatl (Classical) | Yes | John Garcia | |
| Naki | No | Jeff Good | |
| Nawdm | No | Hannah Kim | |
| Ndut | No | Daniel Morgan | |
| Nepali | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Niuean | Yes | Diane Massam | |
| Nkore-Kiga | Yes | Arwa Rangwala | |
| Northern Thai | No | Alif Silpachai | |
| Norwegian | No | Marit Julien | |
| + Nupe | No | Jason Kandybowicz | |
| Nweh | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| Okinawan | No | Ken Hiraiwa | |
| Old English | No | Steve Seegmiller | |
| One | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Palue | No | Mark Donohue | |
| panjabi | No | Gurprit Bains | |
| Papuan Malay | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Pashto | No | Taylor Roberts | |
| Pima | Yes | Marcus Smith | |
| + Polish | Yes | Barbara Tomaszewicz | |
| Q'anjob'al | Yes | Kathleen O'Flynn | |
| Q'eqchi' | Yes | Ava Berinstein | |
| + Romanian | Yes | Oana Savescu | |
| + Russian | Yes | Stephanie Harves | |
| Salasaca Quichua | No | Pieter Muysken | |
| Samoan | Yes | Vincent Homer | |
| San Dionisio Ocotepec Zapotec | Yes | George Aaron Broadwell | |
| Sandawe | No | Helen Eaton | |
| Saramaccan | No | Tonjes Veenstra | |
| Saweru | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Scottish Gaelic | Yes | Andrew Carnie | |
| Senaya | No | Laura McPherson | |
| Shan | No | Alif Silpachai | |
| + Shupamem | No | Abdoulaye Laziz Nchare | The order Verb Subject is possible when the subject is focussed. |
| Skou | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Slovenian | No | Franc Marušič | |
| Spanish | Yes | Chris Collins | |
| St'át'imcets | Yes | Lisa Matthewson | |
| + Swedish | No | fredrik heinat | |
| Swiss German | No | Cecile Meier | |
| + Tagalog | Yes | Edith Aldridge | |
| Taiwanese Southern Min | Yes | Arthur Wang | |
| + Tarascan | Yes | Violeta Vazquez-Rojas | |
| Thai | No | Peter Jenks | |
| + Tigre | No | Zhenyu Sun | |
| Titan | No | Claire Bowern | |
| Tiwa | No | Virginia Dawson | |
| + Tlingit | Yes | James Crippen | |
| Tommo-So | No | Laura McPherson | |
| Tongan | Yes | Hilda Koopman | |
| Triqui, Copala | Yes | George Aaron Broadwell | |
| Tukang Besi | Yes | Mark Donohue | |
| Tuki (Tukombo) | No | Edmond Biloa | |
| Turkish | Yes | Murat Kural | |
| Tuvan | No | Brian Hsu | |
| Twi | No | Chris Collins | |
| Udmurt | No | Orsolya Tanczos | |
| + Ukrainian | Yes | Roksolana Mykhaylyk | |
| Vata | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| + Vietnamese | No | Binh Ngo | |
| Vlaški-Žejanski-Istro-Romanian | No | Zvjezdana Vrzic | |
| Wan | No | Tatiana Nikitina | |
| + Warlpiri | Yes | Margit Bowler | |
| Welsh | Yes | David Willis | |
| West Flemish | No | Liliane Haegeman | |
| Western Armenian | Yes | Hrayr Khanjian | |
| Wolof | No | Harold Torrence | |
| Yan-nhaŋu | Yes | Claire Bowern | |
| Yawa | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Yiddish | No | Shannon Mooney | |
| Yoruba | No | Johnson Folorunso Ilori | |
| Zulu | Yes | Claire Halpert |