Word Order

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语序

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Potential content

  • Basic order: topic + subject + predicate
    • SVO language, but unusually has modifiers preceding the modified
      • e.g. 那两个喝醉的人打起来了。
      • In many cases uses many postpositions rather than prepositions
  • English vs Mandarin word order
    • English: Who, What, Where, When
    • Mandarin: Who, When, Where, What
  • Mandarin biggest to smallest units sequence
  • In-situ question words
  • Topic-comment structure
  • Topic and subject can sometimes be omitted
  • Time, manner place (TMP) adverb sequence
  • More detailed word order:
    • Subject, verb, direct object
    • Subject, verb, indirect object, direct object
    • Subject, prepositional phrase, verb, direct object
    • Subject, location phrase, verb phrase
    • Subject, time, manner, place, predicate

Sources and further reading