Re: R: Re: Greenberg's universals

On Wed, 13 Sep 2000, J Matthew Pearson wrote:

> > What I stated was a
> > generalization that was given to me in a typology course.  I have very
> > little exprience with VSO languages, and the one's I have looked at do, in
> > fact, lack definite articles: Eyak, Haida, Tlingit, and I can't recall
> > seeing a definite article in any Athabaskan languages either.
Oops.  Haida and Tlingit are in fact SOV.  That's what I get for making a
claim based off of a study of verbal morphology rather than syntax in
general.

So much for my evidence.

> Kwakwala (a.k.a. Kwakiutl), a Wakashan language spoken in the same general area as Haida
> and Tlingit, is verb-initial *with* articles, as are the nearby Salishan languages.  The
> only Athapaskan language I know anything about is Navajo, which is SOV.  Which ones did
> you have in mind?
Ahtna and Koyukon are OSV, and neither have definite articles. Maybe some
other Northern Athabaskan langs are as well, though Slave is certainly
SOV, as are all the southern ones.

Marcus