33.388, Qs: Language with the Most Fixed Constituent Order?

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-388. Wed Feb 02 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.388, Qs: Language with the Most Fixed Constituent Order?

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Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2022 01:28:27
From: Roberto Zamparelli [roberto.zamparelli at unitn.it]
Subject: Language with the Most Fixed Constituent Order?

 
While there is a vast literature on "free word order" languages, I have been
interested in the opposite end of the spectrum: languages that have the
minimum amount of word order (and more generally, constituent order)
variation. I would guess that we should be searching among morphologically
isolating languages, and that a perfect candidate would have a fixed, unique
order of (DET), DEM, NUM, ADJ (CLASSIF) NOUN and RC within noun phrases, no
alternation between pre- and postverbal subjects (not even with pro-drop), no
focus- or topic-driven dislocation of argument or adjuncts, a unique, fixed
order for each class of adverbs, obviously no scrambling, possibly only one
order for if/when clauses, etc. Are there opinions of which language or
languages would best fit the bill?
 

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics



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