Editing Lycian language (section)

==== Subject-verb-object hypothesis ====
Kim McCone proposed in the 1970s that Lycian's unmarked word order was instead [[subject-verb-object]]. The apparent VSO and OVS orders come from various frontings and [[Dislocation (syntax)|dislocation]]s of a basic SVO structure.

Lycian's SVO is itself a shift from the typical Anatolian [[subject-object-verb]] order, of which Lycian preverbal object pronouns like ''ẽ'' "him/her/it" would be a relic.<ref>{{cite book |last=McCone|first=Kim|section=The Diachronic Possibilities of the IE "Amplified" Sentence| editor-first=Bela | editor-last=Brogyanyi | title=Studies in Diachronic, Synchronic, and Typological Linguistics: Festschrift for Oswald Szemerényi on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday | publisher=John Benjamins | series=Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science | year=1979 | isbn=978-90-272-3504-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_drSeCMfIkEC | access-date=May 9, 2022 | page=}}</ref>

{{interlinear
| indent = 1.6|mexisttẽn ẽ-ep[i]tuwe-te|Megasthenes.NOM it-set.up.PRET-3sg|Megasthenes set it up…
}}

In spite of McCone's alternative analysis, the assumption that [[verb-subject-object]] was Lycian's unmarked word order went unchallenged until the 2010s, when [[Alwin Kloekhorst]] independently formulated and adopted the SVO hypothesis. This led to other linguists like Heiner Eichner and H. Craig Melchert to adopt the SVO hypothesis after him.<ref name="Melchert 2021">{{cite journal|last=Melchert|first=H. Craig|title=Lycian relative clauses|journal=Hungarian Assyriological Review|volume=2|issue=1|year=2021|pages=65–75 |doi=10.52093/hara-202101-00013-000|location=Budapest|s2cid=249356921 |url=https://harjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/harassets/har202101-00013.pdf}}</ref> The principal unmarked example cited by SVO supporters comes from the following sentence:<ref>Inscription TL 40 from Xanthos.</ref>

{{interlinear|indent=1.6
|pajawa m[a]n[ax]ine: prñnawa-te: prñnaw-ã ebẽ-ñnẽ:
|Pajawa.NOM Manaxine build.PRET-3sg building-ACC this-ACC
|Pajawa Manaxine built this building. (Note the absence of the initial particle cluster.)
}}

Further examples of subject-initial unmarked clauses cited by Melchert include:<ref name="Melchert 2021"/>

{{interlinear|indent=1.6
|tebursseli prñnawa-te lusñ[tr]e ẽti waziss-e
|Tebursseli.NOM build.PRET-3sg Lysander.GEN at leadership-LOC
|Tebursseli built (this tomb) under Lysander's leadership.<ref>Inscription TL 104 from Limyra.</ref>
}}
{{interlinear|indent=1.6
|upazij ẽne-prñnawa-te hrppi prñnezi ehbi
|Upazij.NOM it-build.PRET-3sg for household his.DAT
|Upazij built it for his household.<ref>Inscription TL 31 from Kadyanda.</ref>
}}