08_Verb Object Subject
| Definition |
|---|
The property Verb Object Subject has the value "yes" when the order Verb Object Subject can be used in a neutral context. The clause in this property is an active (non-passive) declarative (non-interrogative) clause. In this property, the subject and object are not pronouns. Furthermore, the verb must be clause initial. As with all word order properties, we restrict our attention to productive word order patterns. Definition of Subject Definition of Object General Note on Word Order Properties: A "yes" value for Verb Object Subject does not exclude a "yes" value for any other order of these categories. NA (Not Applicable): All known languages have subjects and objects in the defined sense, so this property is always defined and never has the value NA. Examples: 1. Malagasy is "Yes" for Verb Object Subject (AT = Agent Topic): Manasa ny lamba amin' ny savony ny reny. PRS.AT.wash the clothes with the soap the mother.NOM 'The mother washes the clothes with the soap.' (Sabel 2002) Reference Sabel, J. 2002. Wh-questions and extraction asymmetries in Malagasy. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 44:309-323. 2. English is "no" for the property Verb Object Subject since this order is always ungrammatical: *sees the airplane John (* means ungrammatical) 3. Japanese is "no" for Verb Object Subject, since this order is always ungrammatical: *otosi-ta koppu-o dareka-ga. drop-PST scup-ACC someone-NOM 'Someone dropped a cup.' |
| Contributed by: Andrea Cattaneo, Chris Collins, Jim Wood |
| Language | Value | Contributor | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| =Hoan | No | Chris Collins | |
| Acehnese | No | Julie Legate | |
| Afrikaans | No | Theresa Biberauer | |
| Agni indénié | No | Amoikon Dyhié ASSANVO | |
| + Albanian | Yes | Dalina Kallulli | |
| American Sign Language | Yes | Natasha Abner | |
| Amharic | No | Girma Demeke | |
| + Ancient Greek | Yes | Richard Faure | |
| Arabic, Gulf | No | Dimitrios Ntelitheos | |
| Bajau, West Coast | Yes | Mark Miller | |
| Bambara | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| Bardi | Yes | Claire Bowern | |
| Basaa | No | Paul Roger Bassong | |
| Basque | No | Karlos Arregi | |
| + Bellinzonese | No | Andrea Cattaneo | |
| Beng | No | Denis Paperno | |
| Bengali | No | Priyanka Biswas | |
| Bole | No | Alhaji Gimba | |
| Brazilian Portuguese | No | Bruna Moreira | |
| Breton | No | Steve Hewitt | |
| Bulgarian | No | Ljuba Veselinova | |
| Burgenland-Romani | No | Michelle McComb | |
| Burmese | No | Timothy Ho | |
| + Calabrian (Northern) | Yes | Giuseppina Silvestri | |
| Catalan | Yes | Txuss Martin | |
| Chalcatongo Mixtec | No | Jess Combs | |
| + Chichewa | Yes | Sam Mchombo | |
| Chickasaw | No | Pam Munro | |
| Chol | Yes | Jessica Coon | |
| + Czech | No | Pavel Caha | |
| Dagaare | No | Adams Bodomo | |
| Dholuo | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| + Digo | Yes | Steve Nicolle | |
| + Digor Ossetic | Yes | David Erschler | |
| Dutch | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| + Eastern Armenian | Yes | Karine Megerdoomian | |
| Egyptian Arabic | No | Arwa Rangwala | |
| English | No | Chris Collins | |
| English (Singapore) | No | Adam Chong | |
| European Portuguese | No | Salvador Mascarenhas | |
| Ewe | No | Chris Collins | |
| Farefari | No | Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu | |
| Faroese | No | Gunnar Hrafn Hrafnbjargarson | |
| Finnish | No | Anders Holmberg | |
| French | No | Chris Collins | |
| Frisian (West Frisian) | No | Jarich Hoekstra | |
| Ga | No | Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu | |
| galician | Yes | Naír García | |
| Garifuna | No | Teresa O'Neill (contributor till 2012) | |
| georgian | Yes | Lea Nash | |
| German | No | Chris Collins | |
| Greek | Yes | Arhonto Terzi | |
| Greenlandic, West (Kalaallisut) | No | Stephen Mayeaux | |
| Gungbe (Porto-Novo) | No | Enoch Oladé Aboh | |
| Gurene | No | Samuel Atintono | |
| Haitian | No | Michel DeGraff | |
| Hakka | No | Iris Wu | |
| Hanga | No | Geoffrey Hunt | |
| Hausa | No | Russell Schuh | |
| + Hebrew | No | Ur Shlonsky | |
| Hindi | No | Anoop Mahajan | |
| Hittite | No | Mattyas Huggard | |
| Hixkaryana | No | Laura Kalin | |
| Hungarian | No | Anna Szabolcsi | |
| Ibibio | No | Willie Willie | |
| Icelandic | No | Jim Wood | |
| Igala | No | Johnson Folorunso Ilori | |
| Iha | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Ilokano | Yes | Jeremy Rafal | |
| imbabura quichua | No | UCLA Linguistics 210 | |
| Indonesian | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Irish | No | Bridget Nixdorf | |
| Iron Ossetic | Yes | David Erschler | |
| Italian | No | Andrea Cattaneo | |
| Jamaican Creole English | No | Tonjes Veenstra | |
| Japanese | No | Ken Hiraiwa | |
| Jarawara | No | Alan Vogel | |
| Jingulu | Yes | Rob Pensalfini | |
| Karachay | No | Steve Seegmiller | |
| Kayan | No | Ken Manson | |
| Khasi | No | Gracious Temsen | |
| KiLega | No | Kasangati Kinyalolo | |
| Kiswahili | No | Aggrey Wasike | |
| Kiyaka | Yes | Lukowa Kidima | |
| Konni | No | Michael Cahill | |
| Korean | No | Chung-hye Han | |
| Kuot | No | Eva Lindström | |
| Kurdish (Sorani) | No | Yadgar Karimi | |
| Kusunda | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Laal | No | Florian Lionnet | |
| Lango | No | Arwa Rangwala | |
| Lani | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Lao | No | Alif Silpachai | |
| Lebanese Arabic | Yes | Lina Choueiri | |
| Lubukusu | No | Aggrey Wasike | |
| Maasai (Kisongo) | Yes | Hilda Koopman | |
| + Malagasy | Yes | Ed Keenan and Laura Kalin | |
| Malayalam | No | Mythili Menon | |
| Mandarin | No | Arthur Wang | |
| Mankanya | No | Tim Gaved | |
| Maori | No | Ray Harlow | |
| + Marshallese | No | Heather Willson Sturman | |
| Masarak | No | Jessica Chen | |
| Mbuko | No | Richard Gravina | |
| Medumba | No | KEUPDJIO HERMANN SIDOINE | |
| Middle Dutch | No | Gertjan Postma | |
| + Miya | Yes | Michael A. Estrada | |
| N|u | No | Chris Collins | |
| Nahuatl (Central Huasteca) | No | John Garcia | |
| Nahuatl (Classical) | Yes | John Garcia | |
| Naki | No | Jeff Good | |
| Nawdm | No | Hannah Kim | |
| Ndut | No | Daniel Morgan | |
| Nepali | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Niuean | No | Diane Massam | |
| Northern Thai | No | Alif Silpachai | |
| Norwegian | No | Marit Julien | |
| + Nupe | No | Jason Kandybowicz | |
| Nweh | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| Okinawan | No | Ken Hiraiwa | |
| Old English | No | Steve Seegmiller | |
| Old French | No | Heather Burnett | |
| One | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Palue | No | Mark Donohue | |
| panjabi | No | Gurprit Bains | |
| Papuan Malay | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Pashto | No | Taylor Roberts | |
| Pima | Yes | Marcus Smith | |
| + Polish | No | Barbara Tomaszewicz | |
| Q'anjob'al | No | Kathleen O'Flynn | |
| + Romanian | Yes | Oana Savescu | |
| + Russian | No | Stephanie Harves | |
| Salasaca Quichua | No | Pieter Muysken | |
| Samoan | Yes | Vincent Homer | |
| San Dionisio Ocotepec Zapotec | No | George Aaron Broadwell | |
| Sandawe | No | Helen Eaton | |
| Saramaccan | No | Tonjes Veenstra | |
| Saweru | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Scottish Gaelic | No | Andrew Carnie | |
| Senaya | No | Laura McPherson | |
| Shan | No | Alif Silpachai | |
| Shupamem | No | Abdoulaye Laziz Nchare | |
| Skou | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Slovenian | No | Franc Marušič | |
| + Spanish | No | Violeta Vazquez-Rojas | |
| St'át'imcets | Yes | Lisa Matthewson | |
| + Swedish | No | fredrik heinat | |
| Swiss German | No | Cecile Meier | |
| + Tagalog | Yes | Edith Aldridge | |
| Taiwanese Southern Min | No | Arthur Wang | |
| Thai | No | Peter Jenks | |
| Tigre | No | Zhenyu Sun | |
| Titan | No | Claire Bowern | |
| Tiwa | No | Virginia Dawson | |
| + Tlingit | Yes | James Crippen | |
| Tommo-So | No | Laura McPherson | |
| Tongan | Yes | Hilda Koopman | |
| Triqui, Copala | No | George Aaron Broadwell | |
| + Tukang Besi | Yes | Mark Donohue | |
| Tuki (Tukombo) | No | Edmond Biloa | |
| Turkish | Yes | Murat Kural | |
| Tuvan | No | Brian Hsu | |
| Twi | No | Chris Collins | |
| Udmurt | No | Orsolya Tanczos | |
| Ukrainian | No | Roksolana Mykhaylyk | possible in certain non neutral contexts |
| Vata | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| Vietnamese | No | Binh Ngo | |
| Vlaški-Žejanski-Istro-Romanian | No | Zvjezdana Vrzic | |
| Wan | No | Tatiana Nikitina | |
| Warlpiri | Yes | Margit Bowler | |
| Welsh | No | David Willis | |
| West Flemish | No | Liliane Haegeman | |
| Wolof | No | Harold Torrence | |
| Yan-nhaŋu | Yes | Claire Bowern | |
| Yawa | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Yiddish | No | Shannon Mooney | |
| Yoruba | No | Johnson Folorunso Ilori | |
| Zulu | No | Claire Halpert |