Hi,

I have sometimes claimed that Pandunia has free word order. I'm not sure
is it entirely true. Pandunia has freer word order than some other
languages, but not absolutely free word order. Certainly it doesn't have
fixed word order!

Usually free word order requires some grammatical marking, but how it is
done and how often it has to be done is up to the language design. In
Pandunia I have aimed for free word order with minimal marking, which
naturally requires unconventional language design.

For one thing, Pandunia doesn't employ fixed SVO or SOV word order, but it
employs them both in a way. Usually the subject comes first and it is
followed by a number of VO or OV pairs.

Example:
S+VO+VO: reza kan se na mira.
S+OV+OV: reza se kan mira na.
S+OV+VO: reza se kan na mira.
= Reza sees himself in the mirror.

(kan = to see. se = (him)self. na = at, in, on. mira = mirror.)

Pandunia's grammar can produce a wide selection of sentences from the same
material. The speakers are free to select the word order that pleases
them. This freedom comes at a very low cost because the pairing principle
is simple and it doesn't require any markers.

Pandunia's grammar also makes interesting poetic expressions possible,
such as:

se kan na mira reza.
= Himself sees in the mirror, Reza.

In this example the subject comes last. However this will probably be an
uncommon usage restricted only to poetry.

-- Risto Kupsala