Re: head-initial structure

Garrett Jones <alkaline@...>
>>>
> Mike S. scripsit:
>
> > Actually I can't think of a single language that
> > regularly forms head-initial compounds.
>
John Cowan wrote:
> Vietnamese is SVO but otherwise quite rigidly head-initial.  Native,
> as opposed to Sino-Viet, compounds are always head-initial, in particular.
Garrett Jones wrote:
what about affixation in vietnamese?
<<<

i don't know much about vietnamese but khmer is also head-initial and
affix-free. the only head-last compounds are made with pali suffixes like "piep"
(which is like romance "-tion" and there is a factitive infix now lexicalized.
isn't Thai the same? indonesian has strictly head-initial compounds but has also
pre-, suf- and circumfixes (infixes are now lexicalized). tahitian is also
head-first with a few suffixes like "-ra'a" ("-tion"). swaheli has also
head-first compounds. french compounds and incorporates(? "intégrations" in
french) are head-first : machine à écrire, onde de choc, lave-linge,
tire-bouchon. and i'd say that arabic and hebrew constructs are also head-first.
actually, i could think of a few languages that regularly form head-initial
compounds ;-)

Mathias
http://takatunu.free.fr/tunugram.htm