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"Free" word order (was Re: Greek definite article (was Re: Addendum: a holy spirit))

From:Chris Bates <chris.maths_student@...>
Date:Tuesday, December 14, 2004, 8:07
>That is my impression as well. Either order would work, though -- "to >pnevma einai ayio" would be the usual form (the spirit is holy), but >"ayio einai to pnevma" would correspond, as in English, to the marked >(for emphasis or style) "holy is the spirit". > > >
Don't you just love "free" word order languages? Out of interest, how many people have current conlangs with word order determined by pragmatics rather than a fixed word order? And if focus/topic/other factor determine your word order, have you worked out the rules in detail? What's the focus position? Topic position (if there is one)? etc I have seen languages where people just specify "free" word order without giving any guide to how exactly the pragmatics affect the order, which really isn't helpful, since the rules applied do seem to vary from language to language in ordering the "free" arguments of the verb.

Replies

Steven Williams <feurieaux@...>
Henrik Theiling <theiling@...>
Rik Roots <rik@...>