LINGUIST List 11.398

Fri Feb 25 2000

Qs: Lang Sorting Resources, "Missing" Lang Types

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Trish O'Grady, Looking for resources for sorting languages
2. Frederick Newmeyer, 'missing' language types

Hello:

My name is Trish O'Grady.

I work for a software company named SAS Institute in Cary, North
Carolina . I am wondering if anyone on this listserv could assist me
in finding some information that I need. I am looking for information
(this could be a book, a web site, etc.) on the way in which different
languages sort their alphabets. We are interested in Asian languages
(Korean, Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese) as well as
Eastern and Western European (Latin1 and Latin2) languages.

We have looked at sorting programs, but they do not meet our needs.
We are working on developing an internal sorting program and need to
know sorting "rules" for the languages that we support. We will be
sorting the index of a help system for software products.

Any information or leads that you can provide me regarding resources
on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, 

Trish O'Grady
SAS Institute Inc.
R&D Trainer
sasprownt.sas.com
919-677-8000 x6739

Dear Listers,

There are 16 ways that languages can divide up according to the following
4 criteria:

1. VO vs. OV word order
2. Prepositions vs. postpositions
3. N-Genitive order vs. Genitive-N order
4. N-Relative clause vs. Relative clause-N order

In Jack Hawkins' sample of 149 languages, 6 of the 16 possible
combinations did not occur:

VO	Pr	NG	RelN
VO	Pr	GN	RelN
VO	Po	NG	NRel
VO	Po	NG	RelN
OV	Po	NG	RelN
OV	Pr	NG	RelN

(Notice that 4 of the 6 missing languages have NG & RelN).

Does anybody know of existing languages that have any of the 6 orders
missing from Hawkins' sample?

Thanks!

Fritz Newmeyer
fjnu.washington.edu