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| ===Constituent order=== | | ===Constituent order=== |
| ===Quasi-Incorporation===
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| Nankôre canonical word order is SOV<sub>1</sub>V<sub>2</sub>, but OSV<sub><small>1</small></sub>V<sub>2</sub> order also occurs. Under certain circumstances, the O-argument may occur between V<sub>1</sub> and V<sub>2</sub>. The O-argument becomes backgrounded, thereby assuming a peripheral role; as a result, the clause is effectively detransitivized. The Inverse marker ''ta-'' does not occur in intransitive clauses; it must be omitted for the clause to remain grammatical. Moreover, adjuncts, which typically can occur in most positions of the clause, including clause-finally, cannot occur between V<sup>1</sup> and the relocated O-argument. This operation is called ''quasi-incorporation'', and occurs cross-linguistically in unrelated languages, e.g. Dutch and Hungarian.
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| Interestingly, Nankôre's distant relatives, Minhast and Nahónda, both of which exhibit full noun incorporation, also add the incorporated noun after the verb root, e.g. Minhast ''Ušnirupmakekaru'' << ''ušn-ruppumak-ek-ar-u'' (hit-face-3S.ABS+1S.ERG-PST.PFCT-TRANS) "I hit him in the face, I face-hit him", Nahónda ''tsokeklomenatsoyola''<< ''tso-ak-kloma-natsoye-ola'' (3S.PT-1S.AGT-speak-wisdom-PST) "I gave him counsel, I wisdom-speak to him. Most languages that exhibit noun incorporation attach the incorporated noun ''before'' the verb root; placement of the incorporated noun after the root is rare among incorporating languages. The process by which Nankôre performs quasi-incorporation, namely by placing the O-argument immediately after the primary verb, may explain why Minhast and Nahónda place their incorporated nouns after the verb. Proto-Nahenic may have had quasi-incorporation where the noun was placed after the primary verb but before the auxiliary verb, an order which the descendant languages preserved.
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| ===Dependent clauses=== | | ===Dependent clauses=== |
| <!-- etc. etc. --> | | <!-- etc. etc. --> |