Re: VOS

Hi there,

Why would VOS imply ergative?

Is this a common tendency?

AFAIK, natlangs with ergative argument schemes mark ergativity
morphologically.

I suppose you could have ergative word order, where ergatives come before
the verb and absolutives come after.

BILLY SAW SALLY.

JUMPED SALLY.

Are there any natlangs that do this?

Jim


----- Original Message -----
From: "BP Jonsson" <bpj@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2000 11:05 AM
Subject: VOS


> I read somewhere that Mayan is VOS.  I suppose this really means it's
> ergative, doesn't it?
>
> What other VOS languages are there?  Are they ergative or non-ergative?
>
>
>
> /BP
>
>  B.Philip Jonsson
> mailto:bpj@netg.se
> mailto:melroch@my-deja.com
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~~~~~__
>             Anant' avanaute quettalmar!               \
> \
>    __  ____ ____    _____________  ___ __   __ __     / /
>    \ \/___ \\__
> \  /___  _____/\ \\__ \\ \  \ \\ \   / /
>    / /   / /  /  \    / /Melroch\
> \_/ // /  / // /  / /
>   / /___/ /_ / /\ \  / /Melarocco\_  // /__/ // /__/
> /
>  /_________//_/  \_\/ /Eowine__   / / \___/\_\\___/\_\
> I neer
> Pityancalimeo\ \_____/ /ar/ /_atar Mercasso
> naan
> ~~~~~~~~~Cuinondil~~~\_______/~~~\__/~~~Noolendur~~~~~~
> || Lenda lenda
> pellalenda pellatellenda cuivie aiya! ||
> "A coincidence, as we say in
> Middle-Earth" (JRR Tolkien)