Re: LIFO languages (was Re: "Theory informs practice" - OK?)

Den 15. nov. 2008 kl. 17.53 skreiv Jörg Rhiemeier:

> In a LIFO language like Fith ( http://www.langmaker.com/fith.htm ),
> a simple clause looks indeed quite much like one on an SOV language,
> but that is only a superficial resemblance because the language is
> processed in a way completely different from human languages.
Not completely, I'd say. In a SOV language there's also some
stacking. You need to stack both arguments, including attributes,
before you 'process' them with the verb.

> The Fith grammar allows for really bizarre manipulations of word
> order which are indeed at least very hard to follow for humans.
Well, so does German, for example. German legal or technical text can
be really hard to figure out sometimes. Sentences often end with two
verbs belonging to different clauses, and I think I have seen three.

> The language has "stack conjunctions" which duplicate, swap and
> do other things with objects on the stack. By these means, words
> can be pushed on the stack long before they are used, sentences
> can be intermeshed, uttered in reverse order and so on.
Yes, if you want to, you can make it very hard to decipher for a
human. But many natural languages have that ability, too.

Lately I have considered what kind of language deathless creatures
might use. Possibly something like Fith, and/or a verbless language.
I was actually thinking of a stacked language before the Fith
discussion came up, inspired by the discussion on sign language
conventions lately. No surprise that it was already invented. Most
things are, it seems.

LEF

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