Re: CHAT: I saw it! I saw it! I saw it!

Nik Taylor wrote:

> Sally Caves wrote:
> > What is true in all languages?  What gets thrown away by Delaney?
> > I thought Yoda spoke in the quite rare OSV grammar.  Like Teonaht.  ;-)
>
> He usually does.  But, there are occasions when he doesn't, as in "Help
> you I can", which is VOS
Well, when you think about it, it still is OSV:  when a modal auxilliary is
used (I think), the auxilliary goes in the V position, with the infinitive going
in the predicate phrase.  This is quite acceptable;  German does something
similar when determining which verb gets placed second in word order:

      Am 2. November werde ich das neue Haus kaufen.
      On the 2nd of November will I the new house buy.
      I'll buy the new house November 2nd.

Which is not to say that Yoda can't have a more complicated syntax.

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
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