ABSTRACT
Ca ta l an shares w i t h Eng l i sh the basic word-order pattern, i n transitive ma in clauses, o f subject + verb + object + remainder. However, in general, word order i n Ca ta l an is freer, and it is by no means unusual to deviate f rom the pattern ment ioned. A n impor tan t reason for this is that, i n Ca ta lan , it is the end pos i t ion in a sentence that carries the informat ion focus; it is the place where the major p i tch movement takes place in speech, and it is the place where the most informative element o f the sentence goes. Elements o f the basic word-order sequence may have to be dislocated to achieve this. (In Eng l i sh , in format ion focus is often indicated, i n the spoken language, at least, by a special in tonat ion con tour placed on the focused word or phrase, wh ich need not be at the end o f a clause, as it must i n Catalan.)
The n o r m a l unmarked word order o f Ca ta l an has elements (when present) in the fo l lowing order
'frame' o r sentential adjunct subject no 'not ' verb short adverbial direct object or predicative phrase indirect object o r other complement phrase adverbial adjunct
A s regards radio, the journal is ts have today given notice to the management about the strike p lanned for Wednesday.
