>Before we get an incomprehensible discussion going over a common
>misunderstanding of markedness theory, let me point out that what is the
>most COMMON order may in fact NOT be the UNMARKED order.
>
>The unmarked order is that order which reflects no particular attempted to
>give special prominence to any particular element in the sentence. In a
>text which is argumentative in style, or one where particularly emphatic
>statements are regularly used to highten suspense or tension in a
>narrative, it may turn out that a MARKED order is most common.
I'd be interested in any good discussions of markedness in this regard.
There is a helpful article in Encyl. of Linguistics, but I don't remember
quite this emphasis (i.e., on markedness not necessarily being the most
common form/pattern). Any suggestions for determining what is marked if it
is not frequency? (Or is that to variable to establish general principles?)
I'm more interested in markedness as applied to verb forms (aka, 'tenses')
than word order, but I'd assume some commonality in principle here.
Re. word order I think I remember correctly that Bruce Terry's dissertation
on 1 Cor. (now published by SIL/U.TX Arlington) dealt extensively with one
aspect of this question.
Thanks,
Rod
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Rodney J. Decker, Asst. Prof./NT Baptist Bible Seminary
rdecker@bbc.edu Clarks Summit, PA
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