This feature focuses on whether the basic word order(s) of main clauses are possible in subordinate clauses. A ‘yes’ response for this feature indicates that subjects, verbs, and objects occur in the same order in subordinate clauses as in main clauses. For example, the order between ‘woman’, ‘man’, and ‘chases’ is the same in the simple clause the woman chases the man as in the subordinate clause of I think that the woman chases the man in English, and this feature asks if it is the same in target languages. In languages with flexible word order it is sufficient for a 1 if all pragmatically unmarked main clause orders are possible in subordinate clauses, even if there are additional word order alternatives in subordinate clauses that are not available in main clauses. Subordinate clauses involving reported speech (e.g. He said that the woman chases the man.) should be disregarded.
Balantak (ISO 639-3: blz, Glottolog: bala1315)
Relative clauses are the only clear type of subordination in Balantak. According to van den Berg and Busenitz (2012: 221), "Verb morphology and word order are the same [for relative clauses] as for main clauses." This can be seen in the examples below.
Main Clause
utus-ku balaki'-na ning-intoni-mo lima-ngku ka' … sibling-1SG big-3SG AV.REAL-hold-PFV hand-1SG and ‘My older brother shook my hand and …’ (Van den Berg & Busenitz 2012: 219)
Relative Clause
mian [men mang-asok rombia'] … person REL AV.IRR-plant sago.tree ‘People who plant sago trees …’ (Van den Berg & Busenitz 2012: 222)
Balantak is coded 1.
English (ISO 639-3: eng, Glottolog: stan1293)
In English the core constituent order in pragmatically unmarked main clauses is SVO, as in The boy ate the cake.
The same order is possible in gapped relative clauses, regardless of which constituent is relativized. This is shown in the NPs: The dog that ate the cake and The cake that the dog ate.
This is sufficient to trigger a 1, regardless of the fact that wh-movement in some English subordinate clauses introduces additional orders (as in The friend whom I called). English would be coded 1.
Batak Karo (ISO 639-3: btx, Glottolog: bata1293)
In Batak Karo the unmarked order for intransitive clauses is S-V, but in subordinate clauses the opposite order (V-S) is preferred (Woollams 1996: 277). This is demonstrated in the following example, where ‘the hunter went’ occurs first as a main clause, and then as a subordinate clause.
(a) é maka lawes perburu é nadingken raja and so go hunter that ACT.leave chief ‘And so the hunter went, leaving the chief.’ (Woollams 1996: 277) (b) kenca perburu é lawes rēh Simbelang Pinggel after hunter that go come Simbelang Pinggel ‘After the hunter went, along came Simbelang Pinggel.’ (Woollams 1996: 277)
Batak Karo is coded 0.
German (ISO 639-3: deu, Glottolog: stan1295)
German is an example of a language that changes its word order in subordinate clauses in that the main verb invariably comes at the end in subordinate clauses while in main clauses it may appear as the second constituent. German would be coded 0.
Dryer, Matthew S. 1992. Adverbial subordinators and word order asymmetries. In John A. Hawkins & Anna Siewerska (eds), Performance principles of word order, 50–67. European Science Foundation: EUROTYP Working Papers.
van den Berg, René & Robert L. Busenitz. 2012. A grammar of Balantak, a language of Eastern Sulawesi. (SIL e-Books, 40.) SIL International.
Woollams, Geoff. 1996. A grammar of Karo Batak, Sumatra. (Pacific Linguistics: Series C, 130.) Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
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| 0 | absent | 104 | |
| 1 | present | 1644 | |
| ? | Not known | 613 |
| Name | Glottocode | Family | Macroarea | Contributor | Value | Source | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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