09_Object Subject Verb
| Definition |
|---|
| The property Object Subject Verb has the value "yes" when the order Object Subject Verb 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. 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 Object Subject Verb 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. Nadëb is "yes" for Object Subject Verb: awad kalapéé hapúh jaguar child see.IND "The child sees the jaguar." Reference: Dryer, Matthew S. 2008. Order of Subject, Object and Verb. In Haspelmath et al., chapter 81. Available online at http://wals.info/feature/81. Accessed on 2009-03-09. 2. English does have Object Subject Verb word orders, but they are not used in neutral contexts. Therefore, the property Object Subject Verb has the value "no" in English: A: What happened? B: I dropped the mug. B': #The mug, I dropped. (# stands for grammatical but not appropriate) 3. Japanese is "yes" for Object Subject Verb: A: nani-ga at-ta no? what-NON happen-PST C "What happened?" B: dareka-ga koppu-o otosi-ta no someone-NOM cup-ACC drop-PST COMP B': koppu-o dareka-ga otosi-ta no cup-ACC someone-NOM drop-PST COMP "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 | Since Afrikaans is obligatorily V2 in main clauses and object-fronting is essentially impossible in embedded clauses, this structure is not standardly permitted. Where the object is separated from the rest of the structure by comma intonation and the following clause contains a resumptive, OSV orders are, however, marginally possible in spoken Afrikaans. Thus: Daardie boek, ek het dit geweldig geniet! that book, I have it tremendously enjoyed, i.e. "That book - I tremendously enjoyed it!". |
| + Agni indénié | Yes | Amoikon Dyhié ASSANVO | |
| + Albanian | No | Dalina Kallulli | |
| American Sign Language | No | Natasha Abner | |
| + Amharic | Yes | Girma Demeke | |
| + Ancient Greek | Yes | Richard Faure | |
| + Arabic, Gulf | No | Dimitrios Ntelitheos | |
| Atayal (Squliq) | No | Sihwei Chen | |
| Bajau, West Coast | No | Mark Miller | |
| Bambara | No | Bryan Villa | |
| 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 | OK under contrastive focus interpretation. |
| Bole | No | Alhaji Gimba | |
| Brazilian Portuguese | No | Bruna Moreira | |
| Breton | No | Steve Hewitt | |
| Bulgarian | No | Ljuba Veselinova | This is a pragmattically marked order; it's possble but the object has to be marked by an object clitic, that is it cannot be a bare noun or simple NP |
| Burgenland-Romani | Yes | Michelle McComb | |
| Burmese | No | Timothy Ho | |
| Calabrian (Northern) | No | Giuseppina Silvestri | |
| Catalan | No | Txuss Martin | |
| Chalcatongo Mixtec | No | Jess Combs | |
| Chichewa | No | Sam Mchombo | |
| Chickasaw | Yes | Pam Munro | |
| Chol | No | Jessica Coon | |
| + Czech | No | Pavel Caha | |
| Dagaare | No | Adams Bodomo | |
| + Dholuo | Yes | Hilda Koopman | Yes, fits the definition (neutral context, no passive) cf example |
| + 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 | No | Naír García | |
| Garifuna | No | Teresa O'Neill (contributor till 2012) | |
| georgian | Yes | Lea Nash | |
| German | No | Chris Collins | |
| + Greek | No | Arhonto Terzi | |
| + Greenlandic, West (Kalaallisut) | No | Stephen Mayeaux | # by the example indicates grammatical but not in a neutral context (object thematization only) |
| Gungbe (Porto-Novo) | No | Enoch Oladé Aboh | |
| Gurene | No | Samuel Atintono | |
| Haitian | No | Michel DeGraff | |
| Hakka | No | Iris Wu | |
| + Hanga | Yes | Geoffrey Hunt | |
| Hausa | No | Russell Schuh | |
| + Hebrew | No | Ur Shlonsky | |
| Hindi | No | Gurprit Bains | |
| + 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 | No | Jeremy Rafal | |
| imbabura quichua | No | UCLA Linguistics 210 | |
| Indonesian | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Irish | No | Bridget Nixdorf | |
| Iron Ossetic | Yes | David Erschler | |
| Isbukun Bunun | No | Iris Wu | |
| Italian | No | Andrea Cattaneo | |
| Jamaican Creole English | No | Tonjes Veenstra | |
| + Japanese | Yes | Ken Hiraiwa | |
| Jarawara | Yes | Alan Vogel | |
| Jingulu | Yes | Rob Pensalfini | |
| Karachay | Yes | 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 | Yes | Chung-hye Han | |
| Kuot | No | Eva Lindström | |
| Kurdish (Sorani) | No | Yadgar Karimi | |
| Kusunda | Yes | Mark Donohue | |
| Laal | No | Florian Lionnet | |
| Lango | No | Arwa Rangwala | |
| Lani | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Lao | No | Alif Silpachai | Possible only when object is under focus via topicalization. |
| Lebanese Arabic | No | Lina Choueiri | |
| Lubukusu | No | Aggrey Wasike | |
| Maasai (Kisongo) | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| Malagasy | No | 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 | Yes | Jessica Chen | |
| Mbuko | No | Richard Gravina | |
| Medumba | No | KEUPDJIO HERMANN SIDOINE | |
| Middle Dutch | No | Gertjan Postma | |
| Miya | No | Michael A. Estrada | |
| N|u | No | Chris Collins | |
| Nahuatl (Central Huasteca) | No | John Garcia | |
| + Nahuatl (Classical) | No | 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 | Possible only when object is under focus via topicalization. |
| Norwegian | No | Marit Julien | |
| + Nupe | No | Jason Kandybowicz | |
| Nweh | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| Occitan | No | Patrick Sauzet | |
| Okinawan | Yes | Ken Hiraiwa | |
| Old English | No | Steve Seegmiller | |
| One | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Palue | Yes | 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 | No | Oana Savescu | |
| + Russian | No | Stephanie Harves | |
| Salasaca Quichua | No | Pieter Muysken | |
| Samoan | No | Vincent Homer | |
| San Dionisio Ocotepec Zapotec | No | George Aaron Broadwell | |
| Sandawe | No | Helen Eaton | |
| Saweru | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Scottish Gaelic | No | Andrew Carnie | |
| Senaya | No | Laura McPherson | |
| Shan | No | Alif Silpachai | Possible only when object is under focus via topicalization. |
| Shupamem | No | Abdoulaye Laziz Nchare | |
| Skou | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Slovenian | No | Franc Marušič | |
| + Spanish | No | Violeta Vazquez-Rojas | |
| St'át'imcets | No | Lisa Matthewson | |
| + Swedish | No | fredrik heinat | |
| Swiss German | No | Cecile Meier | |
| Tagalog | No | Edith Aldridge | |
| Taiwanese Southern Min | No | Arthur Wang | |
| Thai | Yes | Peter Jenks | |
| Tigre | No | Zhenyu Sun | |
| Titan | No | Claire Bowern | |
| Tiwa | No | Virginia Dawson | |
| + Tlingit | Yes | James Crippen | |
| Tommo-So | No | Laura McPherson | |
| Tongan | No | Hilda Koopman | |
| Triqui, Copala | No | George Aaron Broadwell | |
| Tukang Besi | No | Mark Donohue | |
| Tuki (Tukombo) | No | Edmond Biloa | This ordering is only possible if the object is topicalized. |
| Turkish | Yes | Volkan Tümer | |
| 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 |