Concept

Verb–subject–object word order

In linguistic typology, a verb–subject–object (VSO) language has its most typical sentences arrange their elements in that order, as in Ate Sam oranges (Sam ate oranges). VSO is the third-most common word order among the world's languages, after SOV (as in Hindi and Japanese) and SVO (as in English and Mandarin Chinese). Language families in which all or many of their members are VSO include the following: the Insular Celtic languages (including Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton) the Afroasiatic languages (including Berber, Assyrian, Egyptian, Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, and Ge'ez) the Austronesian languages (including Tagalog, Visayan, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Kadazan Dusun, Hawaiian, Māori, and Tongan). the Salishan languages many Mesoamerican languages, such as the Mayan languages and Oto-Manguean languages many Nilotic languages (including Nandi and Maasai) Many languages, such as Greek, have relatively free word order, where VSO is one of many possible orders. Other languages, such as Spanish and Romanian, allow rather free subject-verb inversion. However, the most basic, common, and unmarked form in these languages is SVO, so they are classified as SVO languages. Standard Arabic is an example of a language that uses VSO: Arabic script is written right-to-left Another Semitic language, Biblical Hebrew, uses VSO, as in Genesis 1:1, which is seen here, and many other places in the Tanakh: et is a particle marking the direct object of the verb. The Hebrew script is written from right to left. VSO is one of six possible word orders in Latin. The order can appear in French and Spanish but not Italian. Word order is rather flexible in Spanish, and VSO word order is allowed in practically all situations, but it is particularly common if some element other than the subject or the direct object functions as the subject of predication. Some sentences resemble V2 word order, with an adverb or oblique argument at the front: Todos los días compra Juan el diario.

Official source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verb–subject–object_word_order

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Related concepts (12)

Subject–object–verb word order

In linguistic typology, a subject–object–verb (SOV) language is one in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence always or usually appear in that order. If English were SOV, "Sam beer drank" would be an ordinary sentence, as opposed to the actual Standard English "Sam drank beer" which is subject–verb–object (SVO). The term is often loosely used for ergative languages like Adyghe and Basque that really have agents instead of subjects.

Interrogative

An interrogative clause is a clause whose form is typically associated with question-like meanings. For instance, the English sentence "Is Hannah sick?" has interrogative syntax which distinguishes it from its declarative counterpart "Hannah is sick". Also, the additional question mark closing the statement assures that the reader is informed of the interrogative mood. Interrogative clauses may sometimes be embedded within a phrase, for example: "Paul knows who is sick", where the interrogative clause "who is sick" serves as complement of the embedding verb "know".

Object–subject–verb word order

In linguistic typology, object–subject–verb (OSV) or object–agent–verb (OAV) is a classification of languages, based on whether the structure predominates in pragmatically neutral expressions. An example of this would be "Oranges Sam ate." OSV is rarely used in unmarked sentences, which use a normal word order without emphasis. Most languages that use OSV as their default word order come from the Amazon basin, such as Xavante, Jamamadi, Apurinã, Warao, Kayabí and Nadëb.