Re: Italian Particles

At 02:52 AM 4/22/2000 -0400, John Cowan wrote:
>Sally Caves scripsit:
>
>> So... what you're saying is that analytic languages, like English, are
>> PERFORCE subject first?  Or verb subject?  Hmmm.  I don't see why that
>> can't be formally broken.
>
>I think there is a pressure toward SVO in languages that don't mark case,
>simply so that ellipsis works: you can have VO or SV, and there's no doubt
>what's meant.  In verb-first or verb-last languages, it's not clear whether
>a single argument is S or O.
Good point.  In principle, OVS accomplishes the same thing; the important
thing is that it's verb-medial.  But SVO is more "natural" because the
subject is the topic a much higher percentage of the time than the object.

- Tim