THEORY: Subject: THEORY: Word Order In Phrases

Jeff Jones <jeffsjones@...> wrote:

>>>>
I have a question about word order in Natlangs. How common is the order
Noun  Adjectives  Quantifier  Determiner
where Quantifier includes exact and approximate numbers and fractions as
well as logical quantifiers, and Determiner includes things like definite
articles?
<<<<

i don't know whether it's very common but indonesian works like that:

mobil dua biji (yang) ini (or: dua biji mobil ini)
car two seed (which) this
these two cars

orang (yang) banyak itu
man (who) many that
those many people

however, indonesian may also put quantifiers before the noun:

dua orang tukang yang miskin itu
two man craftsman who poor that
those two poor craftsmen

seekor sapi yang merah ini
one-tail ox which red this
this red ox

setiap kali
each time

semua kera
all the monkeys

etc.

other langs like khmer do the same as well. i think french creole does so too.

>>>>>
It seems odd to me, but is what I came up with in avoiding ambiguity (in
relation to other aspects of a syntax I'm working on). I notice that it's
the reverse order of English (e.g. "the 3 hungry wolves").
I have another question: is there any theoretical reason why or why not
(depending on the answer to the first question).

<<<<<
i agree with you that this order does a good job in "avoiding ambiguity".
my conlang works like that too because it's very natural to me.
as french say: "tous les gouts sont dans la nature" :-)

Mathias

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