TolsienO: Difference between revisions
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==Syntax== | ==Syntax== | ||
===Constituent order=== | ===Constituent order=== | ||
====Declarative sentences==== | |||
There are two main constituant orders in declarative sentences : SVO and VSO. The former is mostly used in literature, and the verb is then conjugated according to its subject. But the VSO order is more common in everyday speech and then the verb is conjugated in the third person and only agrees in number with its subject (the 3SG verbal ending is used when the subject is 1SG, 2SG or 3SG, and the 3PL ending is used when the subject is 1PL, 2PL or 3PL). | There are two main constituant orders in declarative sentences : SVO and VSO. The former is mostly used in literature, and the verb is then conjugated according to its subject. But the VSO order is more common in everyday speech and then the verb is conjugated in the third person and only agrees in number with its subject (the 3SG verbal ending is used when the subject is 1SG, 2SG or 3SG, and the 3PL ending is used when the subject is 1PL, 2PL or 3PL). | ||
====Questions==== | |||
Questions are made by inversing verb and subject. However, this inversion is relative to the underlying constituent order in the corresponding declarative sentence : | |||
<poem> | |||
(1) If the underlying order is VSO (more common), then the corresponding question is : (question word) + Subject + Verb (in the third person) | |||
(2) If it is SVO , then the corresponding question is : (question word) + Verb (agreeing in person with its subject) + Subject. | |||
</poem> | |||
Questions usually have a rising intonation. | |||
===Noun phrase=== | ===Noun phrase=== | ||