Re: free word-order conlangs

On 7/17/06, Eldin Raigmore <eldin_raigmore@...> wrote:
> Words may be re-ordered within phrases; phrases may be re-ordered within
> clauses; and clauses may be re-ordered within sentences.
This sort of nonconfigurationality -- order is free but constituency
is still respected -- is a more common than the Warlpiri sort.  Moreso
at the clause and VP level than within the NP level, I believe.  (That
is, it's more likely to be able to rearrange clauses (like in, say,
English) and arguments of verbs (like in, oh, lots of languages) than
play around with the order inside NPs.)

Maybe there's some sort of implicational hierarchy.  If a language
allows some argument-scrambling, it also allows some
clause-scrambling; if it allows scrambling of words within NPs, it
also allows the previous two, and if it allows free scrambling ala
Warlpiri, any of above will be possible.

> But complete and total "scrambling" is much dis-preferred.
> I'm not sure yet I won't allow words to "leave their home phrases" and move
> around the clause.
>
> I can't even imagine why I would want to allow phrases to "leave their home
> clauses" and move around the sentence.  Does that occur in any natlang?  If
> so, does anyone on-list have an example?
I can only give it to you in translation -- I don't know where the
paper with the originals is, or whether I still have it, and the
author is too busy for me to bother right now -- but a word can "leave
home" in Russian to be fronted, as in 3 below.

1. I met interesting-ACC boy-ACC today. (Neutral)
2. Interesting-ACC boy-ACC I met today (Emphasis on the interesting boy)
3. Interesting-ACC I met boy-ACC today. (Emphasis on the interestingness)

I think there's only one topic slot for the sort of thing illustrated
in 3, though.  I don't think you're allowed to have multiple
"runaways" all leaving their "homes" at once.

So there's one motivation for allowing a constituent to escape its
parent constituent, even in a limited fashion.

-- Pat

Reply