We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from III - Theory
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
9.1 Preliminaries
A language can be characterized as a VO or an OV language based on its dominant surface word order or based on the order of elements in its hypothesized deep structure. As we saw in chapter 4, Dutch surface word order can be both VO (in finite main clauses) and OV (elsewhere), or in fact SVOV (in finite clauses with an auxiliary–verb combination). The characterization of Dutch as a VO or an OV language, therefore, is not straightforward.
Typological surveys typically characterize Dutch as an SVO language, based on the unmarked main clause word order (e.g. Čermák 1978: 99). In line with this, adpositions in Dutch are (mostly) prepositions and adjectives precede the noun, which Greenberg (1963: 77) finds to be atypical properties of SOV languages. In addition, auxiliaries do not invariably follow the main verb (not even in the OV embedded clauses), as they should in an SOV language by Greenberg’s Universal 16 (Greenberg 1963: 85). Also, Dutch has clause-initial complementizers, and embedded clauses follow the verb (even the verb in final position).
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
