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Syntax: Difference between revisions
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The [https://i.imgur.com/iHH8gud.png tree] for a sentence like {{t|Nỏaq jí kúe nha}} indicates an SVO deep structure: <code>jí nỏaq kúe</code>. What's going on? | The [https://i.imgur.com/iHH8gud.png tree] for a sentence like {{t|Nỏaq jí kúe nha}} indicates an SVO deep structure: <code>jí nỏaq kúe</code>. What's going on? | ||
The generativist "verb phrase" has the verb and the object generated side-by-side. Even in VSO natural languages like Irish, there is evidence for verb-and-object VP structures. Meanwhile, there is also some evidence for verb-and-object structures in Toaq: for example, [[ | The generativist "verb phrase" has the verb and the object generated side-by-side. Even in VSO natural languages like Irish, there is evidence for verb-and-object VP structures. Meanwhile, there is also some evidence for verb-and-object structures in Toaq: for example, [[prepositional phrase]]s like {{t|tì kúa}}, or genitival [[serial verb]]s like {{t|nỏaq kủe}}. | ||
A generativist approach for analyzing a VSO language is thus that the verb and object really are side-by-side in the deep structure, and that the verb moves up to the front of the sentence for ''some'' reason.<ref>Hoemaı has suggested that there is "room for fanfic" as to why this happens in Toaq. The F in ''F'' and ''FP'' nodes could stand for "focus", so that {{t|Nỏaq jí kúe nha}} is a bit like "Read it, I'll do that book!" — except perhaps over time it got watered down and became normal grammar with no actual focusing function.</ref> | A generativist approach for analyzing a VSO language is thus that the verb and object really are side-by-side in the deep structure, and that the verb moves up to the front of the sentence for ''some'' reason.<ref>Hoemaı has suggested that there is "room for fanfic" as to why this happens in Toaq. The F in ''F'' and ''FP'' nodes could stand for "focus", so that {{t|Nỏaq jí kúe nha}} is a bit like "Read it, I'll do that book!" — except perhaps over time it got watered down and became normal grammar with no actual focusing function.</ref> | ||
Toaq could have been designed as SVO from the start, and have a surface structure that's closer to the deep structure. There are aesthetical arguments in favor of VSO. Having V right next to the complementizer makes {{tone|3}} and {{tone|5}} work nicely. Moreover, VSO grammar is similar to the logic notation <math>P(x,y,z)</math> for predicates and their arguments. | Toaq could have been designed as SVO from the start, and have a surface structure that's closer to the deep structure. There are aesthetical arguments in favor of VSO. Having V right next to the complementizer makes {{tone|3}} and {{tone|5}} work nicely. Moreover, VSO grammar is similar to the logic notation <math>P(x,y,z)</math> for predicates and their arguments. | ||