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Difference between revisions of "Middle Olgish language"
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==Syntax== | ==Syntax== | ||
Syntax in Middle Olgish matrix clauses follows a verb-second pattern, with the additional limitation that only subjects and topicalized prepositional phrases and adverbial modifier phrases can appear in C | Syntax in Middle Olgish matrix clauses follows a verb-second pattern, with the additional limitation that only subjects and topicalized prepositional phrases and adverbial modifier phrases can appear in C /spec, with subjects being by far the most common. Base-generated word order seems to be SVO, and the vast majority of clauses also follow this pattern on the surface, including all subordinate clauses. | ||
===Serial IP constructions=== | |||
A hallmark feature of the [[Olgish languages|Olgish family]] are serial IP constructions, also present in Middle Olgish, albeit somewhat rarer than in Old and Liturgical Olgish. The subject of an Olgish sentence can in theory take an arbitrary number of IPs (including objects and modifiers) as its complement without the need for conjunctions or other overt function coding; this is most commonly used to either list simultaneous or subsequent actions (and then equivalent to a coordination with dropped subject pronouns) or to add information on the subject itself (then equivalent to a relative clause with a null-marker). | |||
This rule broadly extends to all syntactically independent nouns in Olgish, although for most non-subjects the possible applications of this construction are largely limited to that of a quasi-relative clause. In this context, such a construction may also (and possibly more usefully) analysed as a nominalized clause as a whole, rather than an IP nested in an NP. | |||
Any nominal can further take on an IP containing its referent as a non-subject argument or modifier in the same manner. In this case, a pronoun coreferent with the noun in question will appear immediately following the verb, bare if it is a direct object or in a Prepositional Phrase if it is a modifier or indirect object. This special case is the only instance where the Olgish languages permit VOS order; this can be modelled as the lower V projection as a whole being raised to the I head while the subject remains in its base position in ''v''P /spec (assuming the serialized/noun-dependent IP does not generate beyond the I head/the governing noun sits in a virtual IP /spec). | |||
As there is no overt relative construction in the Olgish languages, serial IPs are the most widely used form of clausal apposition. | |||
===The definite article=== | |||
Article | Article | ||