Re: SVO vs SOV and A lot of other questions
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, October 13, 2003, 20:34 |
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On 13 Oct 2003 at 21:18, Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> En réponse à Akhilesh Pillalamarri :
>
>
> >Do any languages switch between the SVO and SOV in different cases, and is
> >that valid. For example, my language {Aryezi} has an SVO structure, except
> >when usuing pronouns, when it becomes an SOV.
> >Ex) Se sanos gaoñ (I saw a cow)
> > Se ganya sanos (I saw him) which can also work inversley
> > as Gan mêz sanos (he saw me)
>
> That's exactly what my native language, French, and most (all?) Romance
> languages do. So yes, it is valid. After all, if English can go from SVO to
> VSO in questions, why wouldn't you be able to do anything else?
Argueably, English goes from SVO to OASV or ASVO (with A for
Auxilliary), depending on whether O is known or unknown...
"You see him" -> "Whom do you see?" or "Do you see him?"
On the question of SVO / SOV patterning, I have an interesting book
on the development of SVO from SOV during the development of French
from Latin. It's lengthy and technical, and assumes a basic working
knowledge of both languages, but I'll see if I can dig it out if
you'd like other pointers on European word order alterations.
Paul