Marcus Smith wrote:
>Here are Greenberg's Word Order Universals from his book Universals of
>Language.>
I won't go through the whole list for Kash, having already done so,
though those universals weren't phrased quite the same, and dealt with SVO.
But some of these are worth a comment.
>1. In declarative sentences with nominal subject and object, the dominant
>order
>is almost always one in which the subject precedes the object. YES
>2. In languages with prepositions, the genitive almost always follows the
>governing noun,....YES
>6. All languages with dominant VSO order have SVO as an alternative or as
the
>only alternative basic order. IS THE REVERSE TRUE? IT IS FOR KASH, IN FACT
_VOS_ IS SLIGHTLY PREFERRED OVER VSO
>8. When a yes-no question is differentiated from the corresponding
>assertion by
>an intonational pattern, the distinctive intonational features of each of
the
>patterns is reckoned from the end of the sentence rather than the
beginning.
>YES
>9. With well more than chance frequency, when question particles or affixes
>are
>specified in position by reference to the sentence as a whole, if initial,
>such
>elements are found in prepositional languages and, if final, in
>postpositional. NOT SURE I UNDERSTAND THIS; SEE NEXT......
>
>10. Question particles or affixes, specified in position by reference to a
>particular word in the sentence, almost always follow that word. YES
>14. In conditional statements, the conditional clause precedes the
conclusion
>as the normal order in all languages. YES
>
>19. When the general rule is that the descriptive adjective follows, there
may
>be a minority of adjectives which usually precede,... KASH DESC. ADJ. NEVER
PRECEDE.
>20. When any or all of the items -- demonstratives, numeral, and
descriptive
>adjective -- precede the noun, they are always found in that order. If
they
>follow, the order is either the same or its exact opposite. MANY OF OUR
CONLANGS SEEM TO VIOLATE THIS; KASH NUMERALS PRECEDE, THOUGH, AS STATED,
DESC. AND DEM FOLLOW IN THAT ORDER
>
>21. If some or all adverbs follow the adjective they modify, then the
language
>is one in which the qualifying adjective follows the noun and the verb
>precedes
>its nominal object as the dominant order.YES
>
>22. ...With overwhelmingly more than chance frequency, if the only order is
>adjective-marker-standard, the language is prepositional. YES
>
>23. If in apposition the proper noun usually precedes the common noun, then
>the
>language is one in which the governing noun precedes its dependent
genitive.
>With much more than chance frequency, if the common noun usually precedes
the
>proper noun, the dependent genitive precedes its governing noun. ALREADY
COMMENTED-- STRIKES ME AS A MATTER OF STYLISTICS......?
>25. If the pronominal object follows the verb, so does the nominal object.
PRO.OBJECTS PRECEDE, NOM. OBJECTS FOLLOW
>
>26. If a language has discontinuous affixes, it always either prefixing or
>suffixing or both. PREFIXES / SUFFIXES YES, DISCONTINUOUS NO.
>
>27. If a language is exclusively suffixing, it is postpositional; if it is
>exclusively prefixing, it is prepositional. PREPOSITIONAL BUT NOT
EXCLUSIVELY PREFIXING
>
>29. If a language has inflection, it always has derivation. YES; BUT I
SUSPECT THE REVERSE IS NOT TRUE.
>
>30. If the verb has categories of person-number or if it has categories of
>gender, it always has tense-mode categories.YES
>
>>36. If a language has the category of gender, it always has the category
of
>number.YES
>
>37. A language never has more gender categories in nonsingular numbers that
in
>the singular.YES
>
>38. Where there is a case system, the only case which ever has only zero
>allomorphs is the one which includes among its meanings that of the subject
of
>the intrasitive verbs.YES
>
>39. Where morphemes of both number and case are present and both follow or
>both
>precede the noun base, the expression of number almost always comes between
>the
>noun base and the expression of case.YES
>
>40. When the adjective follows the noun, the adjective expresses all the
>inflectional categories of the noun. AT PRESENT, NO. THE ADJ. IS
INVARIANT. In such cases the noun may lack overt expression of one or all
of these categories. BUT YOU CAN PUT THE CASE/NO SUFFIXES ON THE ADJ., IN
WHICH CASE THE NOUN LACKS THEM. puna.sh.i raka {house+pl+gen big} of the
big houses OR puna rakashi. THIS LAST IS CONSIDERED BOOKISH, BUT I'M
BEGINNING TO LIKE IT.
>
>42. All languages have pronominal categories involving at least three
persons
>and two numbers.YES
>43. If a language has gender distinctions in the noun, it has gender
>categories
>in the pronoun. YES
>
>44. If a language has gender distinctions in the first person, it always
has
>gender distinctions in the second or third or in both. ONLY IN 3RD PERS.
>
>45. If there are any gender distinctions in the plural of the pronoun,
there
>are some gender distinctions in the singular also.YES
>
>WHEW! YES