User:Bukkia/sandboxVIII

Main article: Biwdiw

This page gives an extensive description of Biwdiw syntactical features.

Main clause and word order

Biwdiw is a mainly SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) language, but there are clear traces hinting to a previous underlying SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) order.

wīruliw līlušɛc subɛ 
the man sees the dog

The quite rich case system allows every other possible word order, but most of them prove to be very marked and infrequently used. SVO order is essentially used in the main clause. Other orders with a clear role and a frequent usage are:

• OSV (Object-Subject-Verbs), which marks the so-called passive construct.

subɛ līluš wīruliw
the dog is seen by the man

The other elements in the sentence are usually placed in the order “time-cause-manner-place”, although they are basically freer than the main elements, as they are conveyed by the case system or by the prepositions. These elements can be emphasized by placing them at the beginning of the sentence. The indirect object tends to be placed after the direct object of the sentence.