SOV help!
Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2023 5:42 am
I stupidly decided that I would make one of my conlangs SOV for no reason other than "it's different to the others". This language is supposed to be kinda Latin-y in having "free word order" but its default is SOV, and I basically want it to be SOV but to have the freedom to change it to say SVO for poetry etc. It's also a literary form of the language - a more conservative version where the "modern" spoken form has moved to SVO. Because it is a literary language it's based on the grammar found in important religious/mythic texts with some additions and changes as time goes on, though not ones that reflect the spoken form (inspired by the situation with the literary and spoken forms of Welsh). So the literary language is kinda elitist and can have rules "just because" but nothing too extreme because it is also meant to be learnable without an expensive education (by the speakers of the colloquial form).
I'm having some trouble with word order, like when you get down into the finer points. So far what I have decided:
What about other clauses? Would "I know that he knows" stay the same:
What else should I be thinking about with an SOV language? I have no real experience of SOV languages or what feels natural to them. Also, anything I should be thinking about with regards to a language shifting from SOV to SVO would be appreciated.
I'm having some trouble with word order, like when you get down into the finer points. So far what I have decided:
- Underlying SVO order with Adj-Noun order (usually), and Noun-Numeral order (I have no idea why, but it just feels good, I think it happened in a natlang so I felt justified.)
- Adjs only agree in number, not case, or person.
- Verbs agree in number, not person.
Code: Select all
pron.1st.SG.NOM go.INF want.PRES.SG ?
Code: Select all
pron.1st.SG.NOM know.PRES.SG pron.REL pron.3rd.SG.NOM know.PRES.SG ?