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, that's not strictly VOS, is it, Nik?  In my understanding of the
auxiliary plus infinitive, the auxiliary is the main verb and the
infinitive
is a kind of substantive.  How can infinitive first really be verb
first?  In
Teonaht, the gerund becomes the object:  his helping I desire.  "I want
to
help him."

In English it might not be OSV (we've had a discussion about complements
and objects and so forth) but I don't think its VOS.  "Help him I" would
fit the bill ("I help him")  "Sings the song Peter."  "Goes to the
cinema
he."  "Can help him I."  This is probably too foreign even for Yoda.