An diofar eadar na mùthaidhean a rinneadh air "VSO and Master Yoda"
(7 mùthaidhean eadar-mheadhanach le 2 chleachdaiche eile nach eil 7 'gan sealltainn) | |||
Loidhne 5: | Loidhne 5: | ||
OK, maybe I should elucidate on this S, V and O stuff first. Bluntly speaking, all languages make utterances that contain information about who is doing what to whom. Nit-picking about Agent-Patient languages aside, the WHO bit is commonly called the subject (=S), the ACTION bit is the verb (=V) and the TO WHOM bit is the object (=O). Broadly speaking. | OK, maybe I should elucidate on this S, V and O stuff first. Bluntly speaking, all languages make utterances that contain information about who is doing what to whom. Nit-picking about Agent-Patient languages aside, the WHO bit is commonly called the subject (=S), the ACTION bit is the verb (=V) and the TO WHOM bit is the object (=O). Broadly speaking. | ||
− | Take a simple English sentence: Jack | + | Take a simple English sentence: Jack kicks Jill. Who's doing what to whom? Jack is the one who's doing the kicking, so he's the subject (= S). Kicks is the action in question, so that bit is the verb (= V). And Jill is getting muddy footprints on her new Chanel costume, so she is the object (= O) here. So, in this sentence the word order is SVO - subject first, then the verb and last the action. If you look at more English sentences, you'll see that that is the overall structure of an English sentence. Which brings us back to Master Yoda (we're not worthy, we're not worthy!). Consider his ominous revelation to Luke Skywalker: "Your father he is". Hm ... here we start with the object first, followed by the subject and then by the verb at the end. OSV. While not all his sentences follow this strict structure, a lot of them do and that is what makes him sound so odd. |
Now, for a bit of linguistic trivia. We've determined that languages beg to differ as to their word order. So, how many different combinations of S, O and V does that give us? Yup, six: SVO, SOV, VSO, VOS, OSV and OVS. By far, the most common two are actually SVO & SOV which are used by roughly 75% of the world's languages, including English. Another 15% or so use VSO and the remaining three make up about 10% of the world's languages. Bet you're dying for some examples, so I'll try not to disappoint you. | Now, for a bit of linguistic trivia. We've determined that languages beg to differ as to their word order. So, how many different combinations of S, O and V does that give us? Yup, six: SVO, SOV, VSO, VOS, OSV and OVS. By far, the most common two are actually SVO & SOV which are used by roughly 75% of the world's languages, including English. Another 15% or so use VSO and the remaining three make up about 10% of the world's languages. Bet you're dying for some examples, so I'll try not to disappoint you. | ||
Loidhne 35: | Loidhne 35: | ||
:::{| style="width: 15%" | :::{| style="width: 15%" | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | <span style="color: #6600CC;">bā yā</span><br/>NEG S<br/>not he || <span style="color: #6600CC;">cîn</span> | + | | <span style="color: #6600CC;">bā yā</span><br/>NEG S<br/>not he || <span style="color: #6600CC;">cîn</span><br/>V<br/>eat || <span style="color: #6600CC;">nāmā</span><br/>O<br/>meat |
|- | |- | ||
| colspan="3" | ''he doesn't eat meat'' | | colspan="3" | ''he doesn't eat meat'' | ||
Loidhne 242: | Loidhne 242: | ||
! Pre-verbial particle<br/>'''Sentence Initial''' !! Example | ! Pre-verbial particle<br/>'''Sentence Initial''' !! Example | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | An? || An deach thu? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">An?</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">An deach thu?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Nach? || Nach deach thu? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Nach?</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Nach deach thu?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Cha(n) || Cha tuig thu | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Cha(n)</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Cha tuig thu</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Có? || Có tha seo? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Có?</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Có tha seo?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Càit? || Càit a bheil thu? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Càit?</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Càit a bheil thu?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Cuin? || Cuin a thig thu? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Cuin?</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Cuin a thig thu?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Carson? || Carson a thig thu? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Carson?</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Carson a thig thu?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Ma || Ma thig thu, gheibh thu aran. | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Ma</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Ma thig thu, gheibh thu aran.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Nan || Nan rachadh tu ann, gheibheadh tu aran. | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Nan</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Nan rachadh tu ann, gheibheadh tu aran.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | (Gu) dé? || Dé tha seo? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">(Gu) dé?</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Dé tha seo?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Dh' || Dh'fhàg mi. | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Dh'</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Dh'fhàg mi.</span> |
|} | |} | ||
Loidhne 269: | Loidhne 269: | ||
! Pre-verbial particle<br/>'''Phrase Initial''' !! Example | ! Pre-verbial particle<br/>'''Phrase Initial''' !! Example | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | ... far an... || An t-àite far an robh mi. | + | | ... <span style="color: #008000;">far an</span>... || <span style="color: #008000;">An t-àite far an robh mi.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | ... nuair a... || Bha mi 'nam chadal nuair a thàinig e. | + | | ... <span style="color: #008000;">nuair a</span>... || <span style="color: #008000;">Bha mi 'nam chadal nuair a thàinig e.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | ... gun... || Chuala mi gun robh thu ann. | + | | ... <span style="color: #008000;">gun</span>... || <span style="color: #008000;">Chuala mi gun robh thu ann.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | ... carson a... || Chuala mi carson a bha thu ann. | + | | ... <span style="color: #008000;">carson a</span>... || <span style="color: #008000;">Chuala mi carson a bha thu ann.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | ... a... || Chunnaic mi an duine a bha ann. | + | | ... <span style="color: #008000;">a</span>... || <span style="color: #008000;">Chunnaic mi an duine a bha ann.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | ... ma... || Chì sinn thu ma thig thu. | + | | ... <span style="color: #008000;">ma</span>... || <span style="color: #008000;">Chì sinn thu ma thig thu.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | ... nan... || Bhiodh tu gòradh nan digeadh tu ann. | + | | ... <span style="color: #008000;">nan</span>... || <span style="color: #008000;">Bhiodh tu gòradh nan digeadh tu ann.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | ... do... || Cha do dh'fhàg mi an taigh. | + | | ... <span style="color: #008000;">do</span>... || <span style="color: #008000;">Cha do dh'fhàg mi an taigh.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
|} | |} | ||
− | Some of these phrase intial pre-verbial particles can surface in tandem, with <span style="color: #008000;">a/an</span>, or alone, without <span style="color: #008000;">a/an</span>. However, in some cases, the pairing is obligatory, as is the case with <span style="color: #008000;">far an</span> which only surfaces as <span style="color: #008000;">far an</span>. Particles which end in a vowel and which take the relative particle <span style="color: #008000;">a</span> regularly | + | Some of these phrase intial pre-verbial particles can surface in tandem, with <span style="color: #008000;">a/an</span>, or alone, without <span style="color: #008000;">a/an</span>. However, in some cases, the pairing is obligatory, as is the case with <span style="color: #008000;">far an</span> which only surfaces as <span style="color: #008000;">far an</span>. Particles which end in a vowel and which take the relative particle <span style="color: #008000;">a</span> regularly swallow up the <span style="color: #008000;">a</span> if they're next to each other. Some examples: |
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
Loidhne 294: | Loidhne 294: | ||
! Example | ! Example | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | cuin + a || cuin a bha thu an-seo? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">cuin + a</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">cuin a bha thu an-seo?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | có + a || có tha seo? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">có + a</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">có tha seo?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | có + a || có fon ghréin a tha seo? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">có + a</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">có fon ghréin a tha seo?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | dé + a || dé ghabhas tu? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">dé + a</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">dé ghabhas tu?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | dé + a || dé an t-aran a dh'itheas tu? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">dé + a</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">dé an t-aran a dh'itheas tu?</span> |
|} | |} | ||
Loidhne 311: | Loidhne 311: | ||
! Preverbial particle(s) !! Verb !! Subject !! Predicate/Object | ! Preverbial particle(s) !! Verb !! Subject !! Predicate/Object | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | - || Tha || Calum || an-seo. | + | | - || <span style="color: #008000;">Tha || <span style="color: #008000;">Calum</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">an-seo.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | A || bheil || Calum || an-seo? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">A || <span style="color: #008000;">bheil</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Calum</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">an-seo?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Nach || eil || Calum || an-seo? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Nach || <span style="color: #008000;">eil</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Calum</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">an-seo?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Chan || eil || Calum || an-seo. | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Chan || <span style="color: #008000;">eil</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Calum</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">an-seo.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | - || Bha || Calum || an-seo. | + | | - || <span style="color: #008000;">Bha || <span style="color: #008000;">Calum</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">an-seo.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | An || robh || | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">An || <span style="color: #008000;">robh</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Calu</span>m || <span style="color: #008000;">an-seo?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Nach || robh || Calum || an-seo? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Nach || <span style="color: #008000;">robh</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Calum</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">an-seo?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Cha || robh || Calum || an-seo. | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Cha || <span style="color: #008000;">robh</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">Calum</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">an-seo.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | - || Bhuail || do mhàthair || mi. | + | | - || <span style="color: #008000;">Bhuail || <span style="color: #008000;">do mhàthair</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">mi.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | An do || bhuail || do mhàthair || mi? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">An do || <span style="color: #008000;">bhuail</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">do mhàthair</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">mi?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Nach do || bhuail || do mhàthair || mi? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Nach do || <span style="color: #008000;">bhuail</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">do mhàthair</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">mi?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Cha || bhuail || do mhàthair || mi. | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Cha || <span style="color: #008000;">bhuail</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">do mhàthair</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">mi.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | - || Chitheadh || tu || iad. | + | | - || <span style="color: #008000;">Chitheadh || <span style="color: #008000;">tu</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">iad.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Am || facadh || tu || iad? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Am || <span style="color: #008000;">facadh</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">tu</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">iad?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Nach || fhacadh || tu || iad? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Nach || <span style="color: #008000;">fhacadh</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">tu</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">iad?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Chan || fhacadh || tu || iad. | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Chan || <span style="color: #008000;">fhacadh</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">tu</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">iad.</span> |
|- | |- | ||
− | | Càit an || robh || thu || nuair a thuit mi? | + | | <span style="color: #008000;">Càit an || <span style="color: #008000;">robh</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">thu</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">nuair a thuit mi?</span> |
|- | |- | ||
|} | |} | ||
Loidhne 367: | Loidhne 367: | ||
! width="120" | Munster Irish !! width="120" | Standard Irish !! width="120" | Scottish Gaelic | ! width="120" | Munster Irish !! width="120" | Standard Irish !! width="120" | Scottish Gaelic | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | do dhúnas<br/>do dhúnais<br/>do dhún sé/sí<br/>do dhúnamair<br/>do dhúnabhair<br/>do dhúnadar || dhún mé<br/>dhún tú<br/>dhún sé/sí<br/>dhún muid<br/>dhún sibh<br/>dhún siad || dhùn mi<br/>dhùn thu<br/>dhùn e/i<br/>dhùn sinn<br/>dhùn sibh<br/>dhùn iad | + | | <span style="color: #6600CC;">do dhúnas<br/>do dhúnais<br/>do dhún sé/sí<br/>do dhúnamair<br/>do dhúnabhair<br/>do dhúnadar</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">dhún mé<br/>dhún tú<br/>dhún sé/sí<br/>dhún muid<br/>dhún sibh<br/>dhún siad</span> || <span style="color: #008000;">dhùn mi<br/>dhùn thu<br/>dhùn e/i<br/>dhùn sinn<br/>dhùn sibh<br/>dhùn iad</span> |
|- | |- | ||
|} | |} |
Am mùthadh mu dheireadh on 17:44, 23 dhen Dùbhlachd 2018
Right, I'll simply assume that you are all Star Wars fans and know Master Yoda.
Ever notice something weird about the way he talks? I mean aside from the creaky voice. Considering that he's speaking English (in a galaxy far far away ... how weird is that??) his word order is all up the spout. To put it in linguist-speak, he is using OSV word order. Which makes it sounds so weird because English really is an SVO language.
OK, maybe I should elucidate on this S, V and O stuff first. Bluntly speaking, all languages make utterances that contain information about who is doing what to whom. Nit-picking about Agent-Patient languages aside, the WHO bit is commonly called the subject (=S), the ACTION bit is the verb (=V) and the TO WHOM bit is the object (=O). Broadly speaking.
Take a simple English sentence: Jack kicks Jill. Who's doing what to whom? Jack is the one who's doing the kicking, so he's the subject (= S). Kicks is the action in question, so that bit is the verb (= V). And Jill is getting muddy footprints on her new Chanel costume, so she is the object (= O) here. So, in this sentence the word order is SVO - subject first, then the verb and last the action. If you look at more English sentences, you'll see that that is the overall structure of an English sentence. Which brings us back to Master Yoda (we're not worthy, we're not worthy!). Consider his ominous revelation to Luke Skywalker: "Your father he is". Hm ... here we start with the object first, followed by the subject and then by the verb at the end. OSV. While not all his sentences follow this strict structure, a lot of them do and that is what makes him sound so odd.
Now, for a bit of linguistic trivia. We've determined that languages beg to differ as to their word order. So, how many different combinations of S, O and V does that give us? Yup, six: SVO, SOV, VSO, VOS, OSV and OVS. By far, the most common two are actually SVO & SOV which are used by roughly 75% of the world's languages, including English. Another 15% or so use VSO and the remaining three make up about 10% of the world's languages. Bet you're dying for some examples, so I'll try not to disappoint you.
SVO
English
Jack kicks Jill S V O
Vietnamese
Bích ăn com S V O Bích eat rice Bích eats rice
Haussa
bā yā
NEG S
not hecîn
V
eatnāmā
O
meathe doesn't eat meat
SOV
Chechen
as Gürzhiini motta büütsa S O V I Georgian language speak I speak Georgian
Tongan
kuo u sio he kulī PAST S V O -ed I see the dog I have seen the dog
SVO
Japanese
Ryōko wa terebi o mimasu S TOPIC O DAT V Ryōko television watch Ryoko watches TV
VSO
Welsh
mae dwy ferch gyda fi V S O be two girl with I I have two daughters
Cebuano
adúna siyáy duhá ka anák V S O have she two COUNT child she has two children
Irish
phóg sé an madra PAST-V S O -ed kiss he the dog he kissed the dog
VOS
Malagasy
manana akondra aho V O S have banana I I have a banana
Tzotzil
lá snákan ti vĩnike yu'un ti xpétule PAST V THEME AGENS S -ed seat man Peter Peter seated the man
OSV
Apurinã
anana nota apa O S V pineapple I fetch I fetch a pineapple
Amharic
shay yït'at'all O S-V tea he-drinking he's drinking the tea
Yanomami
rorõ ya kona taarema O S INC V cigarette I see I see a cigarette
OVS
Hixkaryana
toto yonoye kana O V S the fish ate the man the man ate the fish
Xavante
ma wĩrĩ ni PAST O-V S -ed him kill someone someone killed him
So what?
Wonderful, but where does that leave us? Well, from the above Irish example, some of you may have already guessed that Gaelic falls into the select category of VSO languages. And it's quite strict about that - which is lucky for us.
Practically speaking, this means that no matter what bits come in between, the verb comes before the subject, and the subject before the object. Let's look at a few examples:
bidh V |
mi S |
ag ithe ùbhlan O (technically a predicate) |
a-màireach, a bhalaich blabla |
chunnaic V |
mo mhàthair S |
cù O |
aig an doras O/Predicate |
bhiodh V |
m' athair S |
ag obair air càraichean O/Predicate |
nuair a bha mi òg blabla |
So, why did I say "quite strict"? Because there's a select group of particles that can come before the verb: interrogative particles, past tense markers, negative particles, and others. Here's a list of particles which can commonly come before the verb and a few examples:
Pre-verbial particle Sentence Initial |
Example |
---|---|
An? | An deach thu? |
Nach? | Nach deach thu? |
Cha(n) | Cha tuig thu |
Có? | Có tha seo? |
Càit? | Càit a bheil thu? |
Cuin? | Cuin a thig thu? |
Carson? | Carson a thig thu? |
Ma | Ma thig thu, gheibh thu aran. |
Nan | Nan rachadh tu ann, gheibheadh tu aran. |
(Gu) dé? | Dé tha seo? |
Dh' | Dh'fhàg mi. |
Pre-verbial particle Phrase Initial |
Example |
---|---|
... far an... | An t-àite far an robh mi. |
... nuair a... | Bha mi 'nam chadal nuair a thàinig e. |
... gun... | Chuala mi gun robh thu ann. |
... carson a... | Chuala mi carson a bha thu ann. |
... a... | Chunnaic mi an duine a bha ann. |
... ma... | Chì sinn thu ma thig thu. |
... nan... | Bhiodh tu gòradh nan digeadh tu ann. |
... do... | Cha do dh'fhàg mi an taigh. |
Some of these phrase intial pre-verbial particles can surface in tandem, with a/an, or alone, without a/an. However, in some cases, the pairing is obligatory, as is the case with far an which only surfaces as far an. Particles which end in a vowel and which take the relative particle a regularly swallow up the a if they're next to each other. Some examples:
Particles | Example |
---|---|
cuin + a | cuin a bha thu an-seo? |
có + a | có tha seo? |
có + a | có fon ghréin a tha seo? |
dé + a | dé ghabhas tu? |
dé + a | dé an t-aran a dh'itheas tu? |
So your average sentence will look like this:
Preverbial particle(s) | Verb | Subject | Predicate/Object |
---|---|---|---|
- | Tha | Calum | an-seo. |
A | bheil | Calum | an-seo? |
Nach | eil | Calum | an-seo? |
Chan | eil | Calum | an-seo. |
- | Bha | Calum | an-seo. |
An | robh | Calum | an-seo? |
Nach | robh | Calum | an-seo? |
Cha | robh | Calum | an-seo. |
- | Bhuail | do mhàthair | mi. |
An do | bhuail | do mhàthair | mi? |
Nach do | bhuail | do mhàthair | mi? |
Cha | bhuail | do mhàthair | mi. |
- | Chitheadh | tu | iad. |
Am | facadh | tu | iad? |
Nach | fhacadh | tu | iad? |
Chan | fhacadh | tu | iad. |
Càit an | robh | thu | nuair a thuit mi? |
For example:
am Pre-verbial particle |
bi V |
mi S |
ag ithe ùbhlan a-màireach, a bhalaich? Predicate (aka the rest) |
ø Pre-verbial particle |
chunnaic V |
mo mhàthair S |
cù aig an doras Predicate (aka the rest) |
dh' Pre-verbial particle |
fhàg V |
mo mhàthair S |
cù aig an doras Predicate (aka the rest) |
cha Pre-verbial particle |
bhiodh V |
m' athair S |
ag obair air càraichean nuair a bha mi òg Predicate (aka the rest) |
Chunnaic is in the list because there is one of those famous linguistic zeroes (= ø)in front of it. A linguistic zero is a marker for something that used-to-be-there/would-occupy-this-position-if-it-were-marked. In Old Irish, the past tense was quite regularly marked by sticking a particle in front of the verb (don't ask, it was messy). Curiously, one dialect of Irish still preserves this paradigm and that dialect also has a largely synthetic verb structure, meaning it uses endings as opposed to individual words to designate the subject pronouns:
Munster Irish | Standard Irish | Scottish Gaelic |
---|---|---|
do dhúnas do dhúnais do dhún sé/sí do dhúnamair do dhúnabhair do dhúnadar |
dhún mé dhún tú dhún sé/sí dhún muid dhún sibh dhún siad |
dhùn mi dhùn thu dhùn e/i dhùn sinn dhùn sibh dhùn iad |
That's why chunnaic is in the list. In Irish, the do then got reduced to d' before vowels and f (e.g. d'ith mé) and in Scottish Gaelic it became dh' (e.g. dh'ith mi). Anyway, it doesn't really matter if you ignore this particular one.
It certainly gets more complicated than that. But for now, it will do nicely to remember that Gaelic is a VSO language. Watch this space as there is lots more on syntax to come, including a lovely tree diagram even though we're definitely not generativists.
Beagan gràmair | ||||||||||||
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