Word order variation in Isthmus Mixe

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Dieterman
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Subject

In the face of evidence of considerable word order variation in Mixe languages, this article posits a basic word order of SOV for Isthmus Mixe, analyzing the language as having an inverse voice category that partially explains the observed surface word order variation. Using functional criteria established for voice distinctions by Givón (1994), it is shown that the Object is higher in topicality than the Subject in inverse-transitive clauses, as attested by ellipsis of the Subject and by topicality measures of Referential Distance and Topic Persistence. When inverse-clause word orders are separated out from direct-clause word orders, and when discourse considerations are taken into account, the basic SOV order of the Isthmus Mixe direct clause becomes apparent.

Particle-verb order in Old Hungarian and complex predicates

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika Hegedűs
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Order Change ◽  
Secondary Predicates ◽  
Particle Verb ◽  
Word Order Change

This chapter examines the distribution of verbal particles in Old Hungarian, and argues that despite the word order change from SOV to SVO in Hungarian, the particle-verb order did not change because the previous pre-verbal argument position was reanalysed as a pre-verbal predicative position where complex predicates are formed in overt syntax. Predicative constituents other than particles show significant word order variation in Old Hungarian, apparently due to optionality in predicate movement (while variation found with particle-verb orderings can be attributed to independent factors). It is proposed that after the basic word order was reanalysed as VO, internal arguments and secondary predicates could appear post-verbally and it was the still obligatory movement of particles that triggered the generalization of predicate movement, making all predicates pre-verbal in neutral sentences at later stages. This process involves a period of word order variation as predicate movement gradually generalizes to different types of predicates.

A corpus-based analysis of word order variation in Yami relative clause construction

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-122
Author(s):  
Hui-Huan Chang ◽  
D. Victoria Rau
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Head Noun ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Grammatical Roles ◽  
The Given

Abstract Yami relative clauses (RCs) can either precede the head noun, for example, kanakan ‘child,’ as in ko ni-ma-cita o [ji yákneng] a kanakan ‘I saw the child who cannot hold still’, functioning as restrictive RCs ([RC] + a + Head NP), or follow it as in ko ni-ma-cita o kanakan a [ji yákneng] ‘I saw that child, who cannot hold still’, functioning as nonrestrictive RCs for complementation strategy (Head NP + a + [RC]). The VARBRUL results demonstrate that head final RCs are predominant in Yami, and Yami speakers use them to connect the given referent with the previous discourse to convey given information. The study found that Subject head nouns outnumber other grammatical roles of head NPs, and that Subject head noun with Subject RC construction is produced more than any other RC constructions, which indicates that Yami RCs are used to modify the Subject for topic continuity.

The relative cycle in Hungarian declaratives

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Bacskai-Atkari
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Position ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
Fixed Order ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Head Positions

This chapter examines word order variation and change in the high CP-domain of Hungarian embedded clauses containing the finite subordinating C head hogy ‘that’. It is argued that the complementizer hogy developed from an operator of the same morphophonological form, meaning ‘how’, and that its grammaticalization path develops in two steps. In addition to the change from an operator, located in a specifier, into a C head (specifier-to-head reanalysis), the fully grammaticalized complementizer hogy also changed its relative position on the CP-periphery, ultimately occupying the higher of two C head positions (upward reanalysis). Other complementizers that could co-occur with hogy in Old Hungarian eventually underwent similar reanalysis processes. Hence the possibility of accommodating two separate C heads in the left periphery was lost and variation in the relative position of complementizers was replaced by a fixed order.

OV versus VO in Old High German

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Petrova ◽  
Helmut Weiß
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Landing Site ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Functional Projection ◽  
Functional Head ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
The Right

This chapter surveys the word order variation in the right periphery of the clause in OHG. The investigation is based on a corpus including all dependent clauses introduced by the complementizer thaz ‘that’ in the minor OHG documents, a collection of up to forty smaller texts of various genres. The analysis shows that the majority of the data can be explained within a standard OV grammar, assuming additional extraposition of heavy XPs to the right. But apart from these cases, there is evidence supporting the assumption of leftward movement of the verb to an intermediate functional projection vP which is optional with basic OV but obligatory with basic VO. In addition, the chapter presents patterns which evidently involve verb movement to a higher functional head, above vP, and discusses the nature of the landing site of the verb in these cases.

Syntactic complexity, discourse status and animacy as determinants of grammatical variation in Modern English

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELENA SEOANE
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Semantic Role ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Word Order Variation ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Grammatical Variation ◽  
Order Variation ◽  
Corpus Data

The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the syntactic, pragmatic and semantic determinants of word-order variation in Modern English, exemplified by the specific case of the use of long passives as order-rearranging devices. Word order in English and in most other SVO languages is affected by a number of factors such as animacy, semantic role, discourse status and syntactic complexity (Sornicola 2006). In this article, which analyses the influence of such factors in the use of long passives, I will try to show that their effects are construction-specific; in particular, that factors which are crucial in determining word order in some constructions – factors such as the animacy of the constituents involved – are entirely overruled by others in the case of Modern English long passives. Corpus data presented here will also serve to address issues pertaining to the nature of the determinants of grammatical variation, such as their independent versus epiphenomenal character, their interactions, and the locus of their effects on word order.

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