Timeline for What is word order used for in "free word order" languages?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
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| Mar 10, 2013 at 18:55 | comment | added | Anixx | In Russian you can use emphasis as well to convey focus. ВЕРА любит орехи. Вера ЛЮБИТ орехи. Вера любит ОРЕХИ. (Vera likes nuts). You can use any word order and still reach any focus via emphasis. Yet I would say some word order would convey "epic", "poetic" sence, while in some other cases it can change the meaning. "Вчера бы написал" "You better would write it yesterday rather than in another day" - "Вчера написал бы" "You better were writing yesterday rather than doing something else". | |
| Mar 10, 2013 at 18:45 | comment | added | Anixx | The first thing you mentioned is called "topicalization". It is rare in Russian, some people even would object it is grammatically correct. It is not for what the word order is most often used. | |
| Feb 27, 2012 at 5:22 | history | edited | Leah Velleman | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
deleted 12 characters in body
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| Feb 24, 2012 at 17:19 | history | edited | Alenanno | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Please avoid using informal or urban slang. Avoid using html for links, prefer MarkDown.
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| Feb 24, 2012 at 17:08 | comment | added | kamil-s | Well, 'answers a specific question' is a little too strong a description. It just sounds more natural in this context but I'd say in the great majority of cases, 1. it's not the only option and 2. using an ordering which is more associated with some other context, would not even be noticed by other speakers. Like in the article you refer to, intonation is relevant, but word order -- not really. | |
| Feb 24, 2012 at 15:20 | history | answered | Leah Velleman | CC BY-SA 3.0 |