Kipin/Syntax/Word Order

Kipin Word Order

The basic word order is SVO, with primary objects usually occurring before secondary objects. Primary objects are the patient of a monotransitive verb, the recipient of a ditransitive verb, the destination of a verb of motion, or the applied object when an applicative is used. Secondary objects are the patient of a diransitive verb or the demoted patient when an applicative is used. However, various processes, mostly related to focus or newness of information may cause the order of arguments to change.

Types of Arguments

Kipin is a pro-drop language, so the arguments of a verb may be explicit, implicit or omitted.

Explict arguments are realised by a noun phrase which is present in the sentence.

Implicit arguments are indicated only by the agreement marking on the verb.

Omitted arguments have been removed by valency-lowering voices. In the passive, the omitted argument is promoted to subject, and in the antipassive it is simply absent.

Historical Development

Kikun appears to have had a strict SVO word order.

Primary object focus

When the subject was implicit, an explicit primary object could move to before the verb. Historically, this is the oldest form of word order movement, and the other processes seem to have derived from it by analogy.

Since explicit arguments generally relate to newer information than implicit arguments (which are usually anaphoric), the first position in the sentence became associated with new information.

Subject defocussing

It then became possible for an explicit subject to be moved to the end of the sentence if it denoted old information. A defocussed subject was always the last element in the sentence. When the subject was defocussed, the primary object might be focussed if it indicated new information, but otherwise the verb might occupy the focus position, indicating that the action is the newest information.

Verb focussing

Once it was possible for the verb to occupy the focus position as a consequence of subject defocussing, analogy made it possible for the verb to be moved to the focus position whenever it was the newest information in the sentence.

Verb defocussing

It then became possible for the verb be moved to the end of the sentence if it denoted old information - this particulary happened with the verb djil (do the same thing).

Restrictions on the motion of secondary objects

By now it was possible for any component of a monotransitive sentence to be moved according to the newness of the information encoded. In ditransitive sentences, however, it was still necessary for syntax to distinguish the primary and secondary subjects, since they are marked by the same cases. Therefore, the secondary object can only be focussed if the primary object is omitted, or if the secondary object is of higher animacy than the primary object (Human > Animal > Inanimate). Focussing of secondary objects is more likely when the the primary object is implicit than when it is explicit. Primary objects may not be defocussed.

Synchronic Word Order

The order of constituents in Kipin can therefore be summarised as

1. The default word order is SVO, with primary objects ocurring before secondary objects
2. The verb or primary object may be focussed by moving them to the beginning of the sentence, indicating that they denote the newest information in the sentence.
   1. The secondary object may be focussed and moved to the beginning of the sentence if it is the newest information in the sentence, and the primary object is omitted or of lower animacy than the secondary object. This is most likely to happen if the primary object is implicit.
3. The subject or verb may be defocussed by moving them to the end of the sentence if they denote old information.

Possible Word Orders

Intransitive

SV

Default

VS

Verb focussed.

Transitive

SVO

Default

OSV

Object focussed

VSO

Verb focussed

VOS

Subject defocussed

SOV

Verb defocussed

OVS

Object focussed, subject defocussed

Ditransitive

SVO2

Default

OSV2

Primary object focussed

VSO2

Verb focussed

VO2S

Subject defocussed

SO2V

Verb defocussed

OV2S

Object focussed, subject defocussed

OS2V

Object focussed, verb defocussed

VO2S

Verb focussed, subject defocussed

2SVO

Secondary object focussed

2VOS

Secondary object focussed, subject defocussed

2SOV

Secondary object focussed, verb defocussed

Any of the subject, primary or secondary object may be implicit, and either of the objects may be omitted, effectively lowering the valence of the sentence.