Word-order and the Interpretation of Nominals in Plains Cree

Until recently, Algonquian linguistic research has not considered word order and phrase structure to be particularly important components of these languages. The decision to exclude phrase structure from discussion is based on the seemingly erratic distribution of constituents in an Algonquian utterance when the traditional Algonquianist categories of noun, verb, and particle (i.e. everything that is not a noun or a verb) are the sole focus of study. This characterization is born out when a typical sentence is tested with native speakers (from Déchaine 1997).