PIE syntax and word-order

[Xavier Delamarre]

le 5/06/01 10:09, Eduard Selleslagh à edsel at glo.be a écrit :

>> 1/ Hier j'ai achete une maison tres grande a Vaucresson

>> 2/ Hier j'ai achete une tres grande maison a Vaucresson

>> Absolutely no difference in meaning, style or emphasis. I am sorry.

> Yes, but consider:
> 1) De Gaulle était un très grand homme.
> 2) De Gaulle était un homme très grand.

> The meaning is completely different.

    Of course, classical example of handbooks. You have (semantic) freedom
with the substantive maison but not with homme.
    What is in question here is that when there is the possibility of free
word order, it does not induce _systematically_ a difference in meaning,
style, emphasis etc.
    But there again it is not PIE, where these possibilities were much more
extended than in Modern french.
    And to reduce PIE syntax to word-order (Lehmann, Friedrich) is simply
nonsense.

    XD