Re: me and my languages

On Tue, 11 Sep 2001, Rik Roots wrote:

> > Certainly, all languages have some restrictions on word order, even if it
> > is on the level of "keep words in the clause they belong in", eg. don't
> > move the object of a relative clause in front of the first word of the
> > main clause.
>
> oops. Gevey is apparently happy to allow a relative clause to float
> anywhere within its host clause, and in particular it will go at the
> start of the sentence if it is being emphasised by the speaker. But,
> then, Gevey is wierd like that.
I didn't mean to say that was a real word order law: it provablly isn't,
at least not universally. I just meant that there are always word order
restrictions, even if they are very general.

Even so, the brief description you give doesn't necessarily violate the
"law". If the relative clause stays in one piece, then it could move
anywhere in the host clause and still not violate the "law".

Marcus