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Re: Branching typologies [was: Re: "easiest" languages, SE Asian word-order typologies]

From:Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date:Friday, September 28, 2001, 9:08
En réponse à "Thomas R. Wier" <trwier@...>:

> > I'm curious: what is the most common branching typology for our > conlangs? Phaleran is very left-branching: SOV word order, relative > clauses before the noun they modify, adjectival particles before > the noun they modify. Degaspregos was/is more right branching: > although it has mainly SOV word order, relative clauses and > adjectives usually come after the modified noun. >
Well, Moten is consistently SOV and head-final (like Japanese. Note that I prefer words like 'head-first' and 'head-final' because they are less amiguous than 'left-' or 'right-branching'), with complements and relative clauses preceeding their head. But adjectives usually follow their head in Moten, which makes the picture a little blurred. It doesn't have prepositions or postpositions, so you cannot compare in that. Azak is consistently VSO and head-first (as much as you can imagine). It doesn't have postpositions or prepositions, but is heavily agglutinating with tons of case endings. Narbonósc and Reman are SVO and mostly head-first (like any other Romance language) with adjectives which can preceed their head and adverbs which usually preceed adjectives. And of course they have prepositions. :) I'll have to check my other languages, I'm not sure of their typologies any more. Christophe. http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr