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That is interesting contrast to czech (and probably other slavic languages). In czech almost any ordering is grammatically correct and does not sound unnatural,
by dfox 14y ago
That is interesting contrast to czech (and probably other slavic languages). In czech almost any ordering is grammatically correct and does not sound unnatural, but the meaning is changed (usually only sightly). But because of slightly changed meaning the whole sentence often sounds weird in itself. And what is interesting for this contrast is that these slight changes in meaning are not readily conveyable in english, probably because of this fixed ordering of words and phrases in sentence.
- nollidge 14y agoThis is often true in English as well. See the above example of "Chinese vegetarian lawyer" vs. "vegetarian Chinese lawyer". Both sound fine, but the former means a lawyer who represents Chinese vegetarians or maybe a Chinese lawyer who represents vegetarians, and the latter means a lawyer who is both Chinese and a vegetarian. But then look at "great Chinese lawer" and "Chinese great lawyer". The latter doesn't make any sense.