Basic SV word order (Northern Mansi)

SV: The basic word order is SV, no additional word order exists.


(1) ńawram tēγ.
child eat.prs.3sg
’The child is eating.’ (S. D.)


(2) mātāpriś ōli.
mouse be.prs.3sg
’There is a mouse.’ (Kálmán 1976: 75)


(3) lēŋǝn χāľ-t ūnli.
squirrel birch-loc sit.prs.3sg
’The squirrel is sitting on the birch tree.’ (S. D.)


The basic verb order is SV (1) in Northern Mansi, which is equally true of medial verbs (2) and even when the sentence entails a nominal adjunct (3) (Csernyecov–Csernyecova 1936, Székely 1994, Riese 2001). The word order, however, is not fixed: it can be changed depending on the information structure of the clause (cf. Rombandeeva 1979).

Author: 

Szilvia Németh