Constituent order in NPs 219
In (173a) the prepositional phrase or relative clause precedes the demonstrative
rowa, and in (173b) the same constituent follows rowa. The sentences in (174)
provide additional examples.
(174) a. Sengko' la maca buku (se) bab basa Madura rowa.
I already AV.read book REL about language Madura that
‘I read that book about Madurese.’
b. Sengko' la maca buku rowa (se) bab basa Madura.
I already AV.read book that REL about language Madura
‘I read that book about Madurese.’
Having adjectival, PP, and demonstrative modifiers presents an array of
possible combinations of orders. (Some speakers prefer to pause where there are
commas in the following examples.)
(175) a. Mored penter dhari Batam rowa noles buku reya.
student smart from Batam that AV.write book this
‘That smart student from Batam wrote the book.’
b. Mored penter rowa, (se) dhari Batam noles buku reya.
student smart that REL from Batam AV.write book this
‘That smart student from Batam wrote the book.’
c. Mored dhari Batam se penter rowa noles buku reya.
student from Batam REL smart that AV.write book this
‘That smart student from Batam wrote the book.’
d. Mored rowa se penter bi' se dhari Batam noles buku reya.
student that REL smart and REL from Batam AV.write book this
‘That smart student from Batam wrote the book.’
In (175a) the order of elements in the NP is N (mored ‘student’), adjective (pen-
ter ‘smart’), PP (dhari Batam ‘from Batam’), demonstrative (rowa ‘that’). In
(175b), the demonstrative precedes the PP, which optionally occurs in a relative
clause (se dhari Batam). In (175c), the PP modifier directly follows the head N
and precedes a relative clause containing the adjective (se penter), followed by
the demonstrative. In (175d), the adjective and the PP occur in separate coordi-
nated relative clauses (se penter bi' se dhari Batam) following the demonstra-
tive. For some speakers, the structure in (175d) forces an interpretation of there
being two different students, ‘the one who is smart and the one who is from
Batam’.
A number of other possible combinations of modifiers and their possible