Order of Object and Verb
Word order · one world map for each value
WALS codes 1,518 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Object precedes verb (OV)”, covers 712 of them (47%); the least frequent, “Both orders with neither order dominant”, covers 101.
That value is most frequent in Eurasia (72% of the 346 languages coded there) and least frequent in Africa (19% of 380).
All 73 Trans-New Guinea languages coded have “Object precedes verb (OV)”.
Penutian is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 6 of 15.
Object precedes verb (OV)712 languages · 47%
Object follows verb (VO)705 languages · 46%
Both orders with neither order dominant101 languages · 7%
One map per value; each dot is a language WALS codes with that value.
By macro-area
| Value | Africa | Eurasia | Papunesia | Australia | North America | South America |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Object precedes verb (OV) | 72 | 249 | 165 | 54 | 74 | 98 |
| Object follows verb (VO) | 286 | 91 | 177 | 20 | 90 | 41 |
| Both orders with neither order dominant | 22 | 6 | 4 | 33 | 26 | 10 |
| All values | 380 | 346 | 346 | 107 | 190 | 149 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niger-Congo | 194 | Object follows verb (VO) | 93% |
| Austronesian | 178 | Object follows verb (VO) | 89% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 124 | Object precedes verb (OV) | 94% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 76 | Object follows verb (VO) | 70% |
| Indo-European | 75 | Object precedes verb (OV) | 48% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 73 | Object precedes verb (OV) | 100% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 58 | Object precedes verb (OV) | 55% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 37 | Object follows verb (VO) | 68% |
| Altaic | 31 | Object precedes verb (OV) | 100% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 29 | Object precedes verb (OV) | 55% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 26 | Object follows verb (VO) | 73% |
| Central Sudanic | 24 | Object follows verb (VO) | 67% |
| Oto-Manguean | 22 | Object follows verb (VO) | 95% |
| Arawakan | 17 | Object follows verb (VO) | 76% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.