3 Tragic Ways of Dying: Word Order in the Clause

Abstract

Abstract This chapter surveys word order in clauses, with a focus on tragic dialogue. In what is essentially a random sample for the purposes of word order and pragmatics, the large majority of cases discussed appears to conform well to an account assuming that pragmatically marked constituents precede the verb. It is shown that the structure of the clauses studied in these samples show important similarities with Greek prose, and strengthens the presumption that knowledge of the rules of Greek word order in prose should not be discarded when reading tragic dialogue.