Word Order

Manas Jyoti Bora (EGL14007) Linguistics and Language Technology

Tezpur University

MA 3rd Semester

Language Universals and Language typology (LG501)

Autumn 2015

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Contents:

1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 2

2.0 The word orders in Assamese………………………………………………………… 2

2.1 The Order of the constituents of the Noun Phrase…………................…………... 3

3.0 The Word Orders in Mising………………………………………………………………. 4

4.0 The Word Order of Khasi and Manipuri…………………………………………….. 5

4.1 Khasi…………………...…………………………………………………...…………………… 5

4.2 Manipuri………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

5.0 The Word Orders in Bodo and Karbi….……………………………………………… 7

5.1 Karbi…………………………………………………………………………………………………..……7

5.2 Bodo………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8

6.0 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………..9

7.0 References…………………………………………………………………………………………………10

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1.0 Introduction:

Word-order is a major parameter in etymologizing languages. The major word orders are

the order of the constituents of the clause – subject, object, and verb – and of the noun

phrase. The constituents S, O, and V, give six logically possible types – SVO, SOV,

VSO, VOS, OSV, and OVS. However, the word order is only applicable to languages

where there is a relation between subject and object; and also to languages in which there

is a basic word order determined by grammatical relations relative to the verb.

When we classify English as basically SVO, we abstract away from the fact that in

special questions the word order of the wh-element is determined not by its grammatical

relation, but rather by a general rule that places such elements sentence-initially, thus

giving rise to such OSV orders as Whom did John see? Even in many languages that are

often described as having free word order, there is some good indication that one of the

orders is more basic than the others. In Russian, for instance, any permutation of S, O,

and V will give a grammatical sentence, but the order SVO is much frequent than all of

the other others put together. A further problem in assigning basic word order is where

the language has a split, i.e. different basic orders in different constructions. A classic

example is German which has the word order SVO in main clauses but SOV in

subordinate clauses.

The word orders within the noun phrase include: the relative order of adjective (A) and

noun (N); the order of head noun (N) and relative clause (Rel) in the relative clause

construction; the relative order of possessive (G) and head noun (N). the last among the

major word order parameters to be examined here is whether a language has prepositions

(Pr) as in English or postpositions as in Turkish – adam man icin for “for the man”.

The major word order parameters of four languages belonging to three different language

families are discussed in the subsequent sections here. The data of Assamese and Mising

are primary and of Khasi and Manipuri are secondary.

2.0 The word orders in Assamese:

Assamese is an Indo-Aryan language. The basic word order of the clause in Assamese is

SOV. However, Assamese allows scrambling of the order of the constituents of the

clause. Some examples are given below:

(1) ram-e am-tu kha-l-e (SOV)

Ram-NOM mango-CL eat-PST-3

(2) ram-e kha-l-e am-tu (SVO)

Ram-NOM eat-PST-3 mango-CL

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(3) kha-l-e ram-e am-tu (VSO)

eat-PST-3 Ram-NOM mango-CL

(4) am-tu kha-l-e ram-e (OVS)

mango-CL eat-PST-3 ram-NOM

But, as evident from different constructions, the order SOV is much more frequent than

others. The subject almost always precedes the object.

2.1 The Order of the constituents of the Noun Phrase: The constituents within the

noun phrases follow strict order in Assamese. The first order to be discussed within the

noun phrase is that of the adjective and the noun. In Assamese, the adjective always

precedes the noun (AN). For example:

(5) godhur bostu (AN)

heavy thing

“heavy things”

(6) gorom pani (AN)

hot water

“hot water”

Secondly, the order is of the possessor and the possessed. The possessor precedes the

possessed (GN). For example:

(7) mur kitap (GN)

my book

“my book”

(8) kɔmɔl-ɔr saikel (GN)

Kamal-GEN bicycle

“Kamal’s bicycle”

Moving to the next word order within the noun phrase, we have the order of the noun and

the relative clause in the relative clause construction. In Assamese the relative clause also

precedes the noun. For example:

(9) gan ga-i thok-a lora-tu

song sing-NF stay-NMZ boy-CL

“the boy who is singing”

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as in,

gan ga-i thok-a lora-tu mur bondhu

song sing-NF stay-NF boy-CL my friend

“The boy who is singing is my friend”

The last among the major word order parameters is the order of adpositions –

preposition and postpositions. Assamese is postpositional as it has some postpositions.

This is clear from the sentences illustrated above. Some other examples are:

(10) gao-r pora (11) xita-r dwara

village-REL from Sita-REL by

“from the village” “by Sita”

Thus, Assamese conforms to Greenberg’s universal 24: “if the relative expression

precedes the noun either as the only construction or as an alternative construction, either

the language is postpositional or the adjective precedes the noun or both.”

3.0 The Word Orders in Mising:

The data used here is based on the field training at Gogamukh area of Dhemaji district in

Assam. The word order of Mising is very like that of Assamese. Mising has the basic

order of SOV; the adjective precedes the noun (AN) and the possessor precedes the noun

(GN).

(12) Ƞɘ apin dɔ-ka (SOV)

I rice eat-PST

“I ate rice.”

(13) aile kɔ:nɘdɘ (AN)

“good girl” as in

bɯ akɯ aile kɔ:nɘdɘ

3SG one.CL good girl

“She is a good girl.”

(14) ram-kɔ bɯmɔ (GN)

Ram-GEN sister (younger)

“Ram’s sister.”

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In questions also, Mising exhibit the same word order. A question particle is also used

variably. For example:

(15) mɯlɯ nɘ arɯk gɯ-ka-n (Adv S O V)

yesterday you paddyfield go-PST-Q

“Did you go to paddyfield yesterday?”

Thus, we see that although Assamese (IA) and Mising (TBL) belong to two different

language families, their word orders are same. Both the languages fall under one of the

major types of language listed by Greenberg:

SOV/Po/GN/AN

4.0 The Word Order of Khasi and Manipuri:

Khasi is an Austro-Asiatic language spoken in Meghalaya and Manipuri is spoken mainly

in Manipur. Khasi belongs to the Mon-Khmer group of Austroasiatic language family,

whereas Manipuri belongs to the Kuki-Chan group of Tibeto-Burman language family.

Khasi and Manipuri have different word orders with respect to basic constituent structure:

Khasi has SVO and Manipuri has SOV. The data included here are taken from Grierson

and H. S. Sharma (1999).

4.1 Khasi: Khasi is a SVO language which agrees with Greenberg’s universal 5: “if a

language has dominant SVO order and the genitive follows the governing noun (NG),

then the adjective likewise follows the noun (NA)”. Examples:

(16) u la-piniap iau kasim (SVO)

he PST-kill the bird

“He killed the bird.”

(17) ki-shakri jong-u (NG)

PM-servants his-PM

“His servants.”

(18) ki-kinthey ba-bha (NA)

PM-woman REL-good

“good woman”

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In Khasi the adposition precedes the noun (ApN), i.e. it is prepositional. For example,

(19) u la-leit sha iew (S V Pr O)

he PST-go to market

“He went to market.”

Thus, Khasi rightly falls under one of the major types of language listed by Greenberg:

SVO/Pr/NG/NA.

4.2 Manipuri: Manipuri is a SOV language in which the adjective either precedes or

follows the noun within the noun phrase: AN or NA. However, the possessor precedes the

possessed noun (GN). Examples:

(20) jon-nɘ sɘn-du-bu kɘl-li (SOV)

John-NOM cow-DET-ACC whip-NFUT

“John whipped the cow.”

(21) tombә-gi kar (GN)

tomba-GEN car

“Tomba’s car.”

(22) ɘcɘwbɘ tebɘl (AN)

big table

or,

tebɘl ɘcɘwbɘ (NA)

table big

“big table.”

Manipuri agrees with Greenberg’s universal 7: if in a language with dominant SOV order

there is no alternative basic order, or only OSV as the alternative, then all adverbial

modifiers of the verb likewise precede the verb. Examples:

(23) tom-nɘ phi-si ley-li (SOV)

Tom-NOM cloth-DET buy-NFUT

“Tom bought this cloth.”

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(24) phi-si tom-nɘ ley-li (OSV)

cloth-DET Tom-NOM buy-NFUT

“Tom bought this cloth.”

The following examples show the position of adverbial modifiers:

(25) mәhak tɘpnә cɘt-li

he slowly go-NFUT

“He went slowly.”

(26) mәhak thunɘ lak-kɘni

he quickly come-FUT

“He will come quickly.”

Thus, it seems that Manipur belongs to the type that Assamese belongs to with the

exception that the former has equal occurrences of NA: SOV/Po/GN/AN or NA.

5.0 The Word Orders in Bodo and Karbi:

Bodo and Karbi both belong to Tibeto-Burman Language Family. The word orders of

Bodo are SOV in the declarative sentences, and GN and AN in the noun phrases. The

word orders of Karbi are also same. The only difference is that in Karbi, the possessed is

marked. These are exemplified in the following sections:

5.1 Karbi:

(27) ne tharve choetlo (SOV)

I mango ate

“I ate the mango.”

(28) jiten a-hem (GN)

Jiten GEN-house

“Jiten’s house.”

(29) kaheno ɔso (AN)

bad boy

“bad boy”

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as in,

gupal inut kaheno ɔso

Gupal one bad boy

“Gupal is a bad boy.”

5.2 Bodo:

(30) aȠ thaizu-khou za-bai (SOV)

I mango-ACC eat-PST.

“I ate the mango.”

(31) riȠsar-ni bwida (GN)

Ringsar-GEN brother (elder)

“Ringsar’s brother.”

(32) mɯzaȠ huasa-gotho (AN)

good M-child

“good boy”

as in,

biyw mɯzaȠ huasa-gotho

he good M-child

“He is a good boy”

Thus, we see that although the word orders in Bodo and Karbi are similar and both belong

to the same language family (TBL), Karbi exhibits “head-marking” in the possessive

construction and also the marker is prefixed. Both the languages belong to the type:

SOV/Po/GN/AN.

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6.0 Conclusion:

In the conclusion, it can be said that word orders are correlated. For instance, if a

language has the basic order SOV, and if it has AN order, then it will necessarily have GN

and RelN. From the discussion of the word orders of the six languages, it seems that

languages from different language families may exhibit different orders: Assamese and

Khasi; and also that they may exhibit the same orders: Assamese and other Tibeto-

Burman languages discussed.

Finally, following Lehmann, we can do away with the order of subject as irrelevant from

a general typological viewpoint, so that we may indeed work with two major types of

language: OV and VO. Comrie lists two major types of language with respect to which

Khasi belongs to the type: VO/Pr/NG/NA; and the rest belong to the type:

OV/Po/GN/AN.

SL NO: Language Language

Family

Word

Order

A, N G, N Type

1 Assamese Indo-Aryan SOV AN GN OV/Po/GN/AN

2 Mising TBL SOV AN GN OV/Po/GN/AN

3 Khasi Austroasiatic SVO NA NG VO/Pr/NG/NA

4 Manipuri TBL SOV AN/NA GN OV/Po/GN/AN or NA

5 Karbi TBL SOV AN GN OV/Po/GN/AN

6 Bodo TBL SOV AN GN OV/Po/GN/AN

Table 1: Word orders of the Languages.

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7.0 References:

Comrie, Bernard. (1989). Language Universals and Linguistic Typology.

Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc.

Grierson, George A. (2000). Languages of North-Eastern India. New Delhi:

Gyan Publishing House.

Sharma, H.S. (Spring 1999). “A Comparison between Khasi and Manipuri

Word Order.” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. Volume 22.1.