8.2. Basic word order
| kʷənáŋətəŋ cə swéʔwəs ʔaʔ cə q̓áʔŋi. | ‘The boy was helped by the girl.’ |
| kʷənáŋətəŋ ʔaʔ cə q̓áʔŋi cə swéʔwəs. | ‘The boy was helped by the girl.’ |
| kʷənáŋəts cə q̓áʔŋi cə swéʔwəs. | ‘The girl helped the boy.’ |
| kʷənáŋəts cə swéʔwəs cə q̓áʔŋi. | ‘The boy helped the girl.’ |
| kʷənáŋəts cə swéʔwəs cə táns. | ‘The boy helped his mother.’ |
| kʷənáŋəts cə táns cə swéʔwəs. | ‘The boy helped his mother.’ |
| ččáts cə nəcə́t cə súɬ. | ‘My father built the road.’ |
| ččáts cə súɬ cə nəcə́t. | ‘My father built the road.’ |
► 1 The first model here is the same as the first model in §8.1. Take a look now and compare them.
► 2 Now compare the first and second models here. Notice first that the two sentences have exactly the same English translation.
► 3 Now notice that the first two models here have exactly the same words in Klallam, but the order of the words is different.
► 4 In the first Klallam sentence the noun phrase cə swéʔwəs comes before the prepositional phrase ʔaʔ cə q̓áʔŋi. In the second model the noun phrase comes after the prepositional phrase.
► 5 In a simple Klallam sentence the order of a single noun phrase and prepositional phrase makes no apparent difference in meaning. You have your choice.
► 6 Now compare the second pair of models. These both have two noun phrases and no prepositional phrases.
► 7 Note that the order of the two noun phrases makes a big difference. In a basic active sentence with two noun phrases in Klallam, the word order usually has the verb followed by the subject and then the object. Compare this with English:
kʷənáŋəts cə q̓áʔŋi cə swéʔwəs. ‘The girl helped the boy.’
verb subject object subject verb object
► 8 Now consider the third pair of models. Both of these mean ‘the boy helped his mother.’ In this pair of sentences the order of the noun phrases doesn’t matter.
► 9 The last pair of models both mean ‘My father built the road.’ Again the order of the noun phrases makes no difference. What is the rule here?
► 10 There are two rules for word order. Here is the first rule:
► 2 Now compare the first and second models here. Notice first that the two sentences have exactly the same English translation.
► 3 Now notice that the first two models here have exactly the same words in Klallam, but the order of the words is different.
► 4 In the first Klallam sentence the noun phrase cə swéʔwəs comes before the prepositional phrase ʔaʔ cə q̓áʔŋi. In the second model the noun phrase comes after the prepositional phrase.
► 5 In a simple Klallam sentence the order of a single noun phrase and prepositional phrase makes no apparent difference in meaning. You have your choice.
► 6 Now compare the second pair of models. These both have two noun phrases and no prepositional phrases.
► 7 Note that the order of the two noun phrases makes a big difference. In a basic active sentence with two noun phrases in Klallam, the word order usually has the verb followed by the subject and then the object. Compare this with English:
kʷənáŋəts cə q̓áʔŋi cə swéʔwəs. ‘The girl helped the boy.’
verb subject object subject verb object
► 8 Now consider the third pair of models. Both of these mean ‘the boy helped his mother.’ In this pair of sentences the order of the noun phrases doesn’t matter.
► 9 The last pair of models both mean ‘My father built the road.’ Again the order of the noun phrases makes no difference. What is the rule here?
► 10 There are two rules for word order. Here is the first rule:
If it is obvious what noun phrase must be the subject,
then you can put them in either order.
The most common obvious situation is where one participant is human and the other is not. In such situations the human is the subject and the nonhuman is the object. In the last pair of examples, ‘The road built my father’ would make no sense, so the order does not matter. Either way it must mean ‘My father built the road.’
► 11 Here is the second rule:
► 11 Here is the second rule:
If both participants are human and one possesses the other,
then you can put the noun phrases in either order.
In the sentence ‘The boy helped his mother’ the boy possesses ‘his’ mother. So the possessor must be the subject and the order does not matter.
► 12 In general, when in doubt, you can’t go wrong if you put the subject noun phrase before the object noun phrase.
► 13 It is an important characteristic of Klallam that sentences with two noun phrases like those in the last six model sentences are rare.
► 14 New vocabulary: ččát ‘build it’; čáy ‘work’; sɬániʔ ‘woman’; swəy̓qaʔ ‘man’; ŋə́naʔ ‘son’ or ‘daughter’
► 12 In general, when in doubt, you can’t go wrong if you put the subject noun phrase before the object noun phrase.
► 13 It is an important characteristic of Klallam that sentences with two noun phrases like those in the last six model sentences are rare.
► 14 New vocabulary: ččát ‘build it’; čáy ‘work’; sɬániʔ ‘woman’; swəy̓qaʔ ‘man’; ŋə́naʔ ‘son’ or ‘daughter’
 | sáʔət caʔn cə nəsnə́xʷɬ. | ‘I’m going to lift my canoe.’ |
 | kʷənáŋətəŋ u caʔ cxʷ ʔaʔ cə nəcə́t. | ‘Will my father help you?’ |
| sáʔəts u caʔ cə ʔən̓cə́t cə nəsnə́xʷɬ. | ‘Will your father lift my canoe?’ |
| ʔáwə. nəcə́t ʔiʔ ʔə́c ʔiʔ nə́kʷ. | ‘No. My father and me and you.’ |