A computational grammar and lexicon for Maltese

2.3.6 Clauses
The RGL covers three kinds of clauses: declarative, question and relative clauses, encoded
with the categories Cl, QCl and RCl respectively. They are all implemented in similar ways:
oper
Clause : Type = {
s : Tense => Anteriority => Polarity => Order => Str
} ;
QClause : Type = {
s : Tense => Anteriority => Polarity => QForm => Str
} ;
RClause : Type = {
s : Tense => Anteriority => Polarity => Agr => Str
} ;
param
Order = ODir | OQuest ;
QForm = QDir | QIndir ;
In each case, the clause needs to contain versions of the underlying statement for all tense and
polarity combinations. Since question clauses and relative clauses can be made from declarative
clauses, the Clause type needs to contain all possible word orders. This is the purpose of
the Order parameter. Question clauses can also be linearised in different orders depending on
whether they are direct or indirect.
Variable word order
Intonation in spoken Maltese can be very important in determining whether a statement is a
declaration or a question. As a result of this, word order is relatively free and a phrase is a given
order can be interpreted in different ways. Similarly, the same kind of phrase can be linearised
in different word orders. Table 2.19 gives some examples of this variation.
Table 2.19: Examples of variable word order
Form Order Maltese English gloss
Declarative SVO Mary marret tgħum ‘Mary went swimming’
Declarative VOS marret tgħum Mary ‘went swimming Mary’
Declarative OVS tgħum marret Mary ‘swimming went Mary’
Question SVO Mary marret tgħum? ‘Mary went swimming?’
Question VOS marret tgħum Mary? ‘went swimming Mary?’
Question OVS tgħum marret Mary? ‘swimming went Mary?’
Notwithstanding this, in the resource grammar we take a simpler approach and handle only
one word order in each case: SVO for declaratives and VOS for questions. These are arguably
38