Re: THEORY: Connections Between Word-Order and Typology

Yes, the famous Joseph Greenberg, and other linguists, have pointed out just
such connections, which include hypotheses about the branching structures of
VO and OV languages (among other things).  I think Greenberg is responsible,
and I may be wrong, for the term "typology."  These hypotheses are not
without some dispute.  You might look at

 http://greenberg-conference.stanford.edu/Kemmer_Abstract.htm.

Or the Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_H._Greenberg

and go on from there.

cheers,
Sally

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Haden" <magwich78@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2004 5:24 PM
Subject: THEORY: Connections Between Word-Order and Typology


> Hey everyone!
>
> I was wondering if anyone knows whether a relationship exists between
> word-
> order and basic typology in languages.  It seems to me that left-branching
> languages would tend to prefer ergative-absolutive, while right-branching
> languages would tend to prefer nominative-accusative.  That is, of course,
> if all other things are equal (which is never the case :P ).  I also think
> this relationship is due to the core argument that is closest to the
> verb -
> the object in left-branching languages and the subject in right-branching
> ones.  What do y'all think?
>
> - Rob
>