Nahuatl Dominant Word Order

[Budelberger, Richard]

30 nivôse an CCXII (le 21 janvier 2004 d. c.-d. c. g.), 03h28.

----- Message d'origine -----
De : Davius Sanctex <davius_sanctex at hotmail.com>
À : <nahuat-l at server2.umt.edu>
Envoyé : mardi 26 décembre 2000 23:43
Objet : Nahuatl Dominant Word Order

> 1) Word order in classical nahuatl
> 2) Word order in ancient nahuatl
> 3) Word order in modern nahuatl
> _________________________
> 1) WORD ORDER IN CLASSICAL NAHUATL
>
> Word order in classical nahuatl is very free, althought it
> seems to exists a dominat word order in wich verb antecedes
> objetct and subject:
>
> VSO:  kwa in okichtli in michin 'the man eat the fish'
> VOS: *kwa in michin in okichtli 'the man eat the fish'

    « kik^wa: in okichtli in michin » [« quicuä in oquichtli in michin »]

> (I am not sure wether these two sentences to be equivalent)

        Cf. Launey I, iii, 8b.

> My question is this: Is there some rule related to relative
> animacy of agent and pacient determining preference by any
> of these two forms (like in some mayan languages)?
> [...]