Word order of demonstratives

Demonstratives are independent words that appear with a noun and meet at least one of the following criteria:

  1. They define the noun in terms of its proximity to the speaker so that there is at least a two-way contrast (proximal–distal).
  2. They direct the hearer’s attention towards some entity in the physical environment.

There are two primary types of demonstrative: pronominal, which replace the noun, and adnominal, which accompany the noun. This parameter considers the word order of adnominal demonstratives relative to the noun they modify. In addition to the noun, this word order also considers the relative position of the article[1] or classifier, if applicable.

Types:

NoDem: The language does not have independent demonstratives.

DemN: The adnominal demonstrative appears directly preceding the noun; neither an article nor classifier appears in the phrase.

NDem: The adnominal demonstrative appears directly following the noun; neither an article nor classifier appears in the phrase.

DemNArt: The adnominal demonstrative appears directly before the noun with an obligatory article after the noun.

DemArtN: The adnominal demonstrative appears directly before the obligatory article and noun.

DemNClsfr: The adnominal demonstrative appears before the noun with an obligatory classifier after the noun.

DemClsfrN: The adnominal demonstrative appears before the classifier and the noun.

NArtDem: The adnominal demonstrative appears after the noun and article.

NDemArt: The adnominal demonstrative appears after the noun, before the article.

NClsfrDem: The adnominal demonstrative appears after the noun and the classifier.

NDemClsfr: The adnominal demonstrative appears after the noun, before the classifier.

ArtNDem: The adnominal demonstrative appears after the article and noun.

 ArtDemN: The adnominal demonstrative appears after the article and before the noun.

ClsfrNDem: The adnominal demonstrative appears after the classifier and noun.

ClsfrDemN: The adnominal demonstrative appears after the classifier and before the noun.

 

[1] Articles may appear as either independent words preceding or following the noun or affixes attaching to an element of the NP. Whether the article appears as an independent word or an affix is not relevant to this parameter.