Borrowed word order in phrases

Eduardo Ribeiro kariri at GMAIL.COM
Sat Dec 14 06:09:15 UTC 2013


[apologies for cross-posting]

Dear colleagues,

I'm looking for examples of languages where certain (types of) phrases
present a different, borrowed word order when compared to a more
common, inherited type.  Well-known examples are, in English, legal
terms in which the adjective follows the noun, preserving the original
Norman French order: "attorney general", "court martial", etc.
(Jespersen 1912:87-88).

Are you aware of similar examples from other languages? And of cases
in which the borrowed order, originally limited to borrowed lexemes,
ended up becoming the default usage?

I would appreciate any insights and bibliographic references on this topic.

Obrigado,

Eduardo


-- 
Eduardo Rivail Ribeiro, lingüista
http://etnolinguistica.org/perfil:9
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