Steven Pinker says the structure of language is there to tell "who did what to whom?".
So we have sentences with a subject and an object and the very important (Pinkers favourite) verb. So far, so good.
But reading Jane Austen makes me wonder: if people really spoke like that, did anyone care about what happened in the end of the sentence, or did they just speak to enjoy a quirky syntax?
Here is a sentence and some questions:
“Real, long-standing regard brought the Westons and Mr. Knightley; and by Mr. Elton, a young man living alone without liking it, the privilege of exchanging any vacant evening of his own blank solitude for the elegancies and society of Mr. Woodhouse`s drawing-room, and the smiles of his lovely daughter, was in no danger of being thrown away.”
So
What did the smiles do?
Who liked the privilege?
Who threw away the elegancies?
Was the drawing-room in danger?
Do you speak Austen?
