Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb
Word order · one world map for each value
WALS codes 500 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Verb-object-oblique (VOX)”, covers 210 of them (42%); the least frequent, “Oblique-verb-object (XVO)”, covers 3.
That value is most frequent in Africa (64% of the 132 languages coded there) and least frequent in Australia (8% of 65).
All 11 Mande languages coded have “Object-verb-oblique (OVX)”.
Sino-Tibetan is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 6 of 18.
Verb-object-oblique (VOX)210 languages · 42%
Oblique-verb-object (XVO)3 languages · 1%
Oblique-object-verb (XOV)48 languages · 10%
Object-oblique-verb (OXV)27 languages · 5%
Object-verb-oblique (OVX)45 languages · 9%
More than one order with none dominant167 languages · 33%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 85 | 27 | 57 | 5 | 28 | 8 |
| Oblique-verb-object (XVO) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oblique-object-verb (XOV) | 3 | 20 | 11 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| Object-oblique-verb (OXV) | 3 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Object-verb-oblique (OVX) | 16 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 9 |
| More than one order with none dominant | 25 | 13 | 12 | 52 | 47 | 18 |
| All values | 132 | 73 | 97 | 65 | 88 | 45 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austronesian | 56 | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 82% |
| Niger-Congo | 53 | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 81% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 32 | More than one order with none dominant | 78% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 31 | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 77% |
| Indo-European | 21 | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 48% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 18 | Oblique-object-verb (XOV) | 33% |
| Oto-Manguean | 15 | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 93% |
| Central Sudanic | 14 | More than one order with none dominant | 57% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 14 | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 64% |
| Mande | 11 | Object-verb-oblique (OVX) | 100% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 11 | More than one order with none dominant | 73% |
| Tupian | 10 | Object-verb-oblique (OVX) | 50% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 9 | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 78% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 9 | Oblique-object-verb (XOV) | 78% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Verb-object-oblique (VOX): English, French, Finnish, Spanish, Indonesian, Hausa
- Oblique-verb-object (XVO): Mandarin, Cantonese
- Oblique-object-verb (XOV): Turkish, Japanese, Amele, Basque, Abkhaz, Slave
- Object-oblique-verb (OXV): Greenlandic (West), Kanuri, Barasano, Navajo, Bawm, Pomo (Southeastern)
- Object-verb-oblique (OVX): Supyire, Hixkaryana, Koasati, Epena Pedee, Yidiny, Koyraboro Senni
- More than one order with none dominant: German, Fijian, Mapudungun, Kayardild, Burmese, Ngiyambaa