word order
Let an agent explain word order and its typology, relay the basic orders, their distribution and correlations from linguistic sources with attribution, describe language-specific patterns such as English, Dutch and Esperanto, and distinguish word order from morphology, information structure and syntax in general.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent explain word order and its typology, relay the basic orders, their distribution and correlations from linguistic sources with attribution, describe language-specific patterns such as English, Dutch and Esperanto, and distinguish word order from morphology, information structure and syntax in general.
The arrangement of words and constituents in a sentence, studied in linguistic typology by the relative order of subject, verb and object, with English and most European languages using subject-verb-object, many others verb-final or verb-initial, rare verb-subject-object and object-subject-verb orders, constructed languages such as Esperanto allowing free order, and language-specific rules such as the placement of finite and infinite verbs in Dutch; word order also covers phenomena such as tmesis, the splitting of a compound by other words.
What it is for: Not applicable; a grammatical property.
It can be explain the concept and typology; relay distribution and correlations; describe specific languages; distinguish related concepts.
Distinguishing features
Typological parameter
Six basic orders
Correlations with other features
Language-specific rules
What it looks like
Not a visible object; the sequence of words in sentences.
Physical character
SOV languages: about 41 percent - WALS
SVO languages: about 35 percent - WALS
OSV languages: very rare, under 1 percent
Greenberg universals: 1963 year
How it is recognised
Arrangement of subject, verb and object
SVO, SOV, VSO, VOS, OVS, OSV; English, Dutch verb placement, Esperanto free order, tmesis
Morphology concerns word forms; information structure concerns topic and focus; syntax is the whole system
Related models
is a kind of - in registry terms
is studied in - as a parameter
is described by - in correlations
is contrasted with - the form of words
In practice
Families and kinds
SOV languages such as Japanese and Turkish
SVO languages such as English and Mandarin
VSO languages such as Irish and Classical Arabic
VOS, OVS and OSV languages
free and flexible word order languages including Esperanto
specific phenomena such as Dutch verb placement and tmesis
Standards and regulation
No regulation; WALS and typological databases as reference
Failure modes and hazards
Treating one order as the norm
Confusing dominant order with rigid order
Registry aliases mixing orders, languages and a rhetorical figure
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Understand What word order is.
Science.
Definition
Definition.
Definition
Definition.
- What is word order, and how does it differ from morphology, information structure and syntax in general? definition
- Is the question about typology, a specific language or a specific phenomenon? boundary
Orders
The basic orders.
Orders
Orders.
- What are SVO, SOV, VSO, VOS, OVS and OSV, and how common is each? definition
- Which entry fits the specific order? action
Typology Typology.
Attribution.
Correlations
Correlations.
Correlations
Correlations.
- How does basic order correlate with adpositions, adjectives and other features, as Greenberg and later typologists describe? provenance
- Which references are standard? provenance
Flexibility
Flexibility.
Flexibility
Flexibility.
- How do case marking and information structure allow flexible order in languages such as Latin, Russian and Esperanto? provenance
- Which sources are cited? provenance
Languages Specific languages.
Sources.
English
English and Dutch.
English
English.
- How does word order work in English, and what are the Dutch rules for finite and infinite verbs? provenance
- Which entry fits English grammar? action
Phenomena
Phenomena.
Phenomena
Phenomena.
- What is tmesis, and what other word order phenomena such as inversion and scrambling exist? provenance
- Which entry fits tmesis? action
Context Change and acquisition.
Context.
Change
Historical change.
Change
Change.
- How does word order change over time, as in the shift from Old to Modern English? provenance
- Which entry fits syntactic change? action
Acquisition
Acquisition and processing.
Acquisition
Acquisition.
- How do children acquire word order, and how does it affect processing? provenance
- Which entry fits language acquisition? action
What the second pass must settle
- Should the six basic orders be separate entries?
- How should typological databases be linked?
- The registry entry has merged aliases naming specific orders, languages and tmesis; should they be split off?