Re: Question words and word order

From: Manuel M Campagna (fa192_at_FreeNet.Carleton.CA)
Date: 03/10/05 

Date: 10 Mar 2005 20:58:08 GMT

"Aslan Kral" (aslanski2002@yahoo.com) writes:
> Take an example with many elements in it.
> I saw some people walking by talking in the park yesterday.
> In English you need to change the order to query the various elements.
> What did I do to some people...? I saw.
> Who(m) did I see walking...) Some people.
> "Doing what"/How did I see some people in the park yesterday? Walking by
> talking.
> Where did I see some people walking by talking yesterday? In the park.
> When did I see some people walking by talking in the park? Yesterday.
> Who saw some people ...? I did.
> Except for the last one you need to modify word order. How many languages
> you know of use this technique? (I think IE languages all use this one
> right?)
> Another techique is used by Turkish in which the word order stays the same
> but the question word replaces the queried element.
> Is there any other languages using this technique? I wouldn't be surprised
> if it is the same in Uralic languages, I don't know for sure but naturally
> other Altaic ones also.
> I think the technique used by Turkish is easier and more logical. So I am
> especially curious about artificial languages. Which technique is used in
> Esperanto for example?

In Esperanto the basic general sentence structure is SVO, and adjectives
are basically placed before their nouns. However, by changing this order
you change the emphasis.

French : C'est lui que j'ai vu hier.
Esperanto : Lin mi vidis hieravx.
(French : Je l'ai vu hier.)
(Esperanto : Mi vidis lin hieravx.)

In principle, you ask a yes-no question just the same way as Russian,
Ukrainian, and Polish, by adding the question word "cxu" at the beginning
of a sentence (or in a strategic position to emphasize something).

Esperanto : Cxu mi vidis lin hieravx ?

If you ask
Kiam (when) sxi venis ?
you emphasize the time factor.

If you ask
Sxi venis kiam ?
you emphasize your surprize at the time.

Manuel

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