Order of Subject and Verb
Word order · one world map for each value
WALS codes 1,496 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Subject precedes verb (SV)”, covers 1,192 of them (80%); the least frequent, “Both orders with neither order dominant”, covers 110.
That value is most frequent in Eurasia (93% of the 337 languages coded there) and least frequent in North America (45% of 190).
All 120 Sino-Tibetan languages coded have “Subject precedes verb (SV)”.
Penutian is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 6 of 16.
Subject precedes verb (SV)1,192 languages · 80%
Subject follows verb (VS)194 languages · 13%
Both orders with neither order dominant110 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject precedes verb (SV) | 334 | 313 | 275 | 77 | 86 | 107 |
| Subject follows verb (VS) | 25 | 10 | 56 | 6 | 72 | 25 |
| Both orders with neither order dominant | 12 | 14 | 14 | 24 | 32 | 14 |
| All values | 371 | 337 | 345 | 107 | 190 | 146 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niger-Congo | 190 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 97% |
| Austronesian | 179 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 61% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 120 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 100% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 73 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 100% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 72 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 76% |
| Indo-European | 71 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 79% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 58 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 76% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 37 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 62% |
| Altaic | 31 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 100% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 29 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 62% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 25 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 88% |
| Central Sudanic | 24 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 100% |
| Oto-Manguean | 22 | Subject follows verb (VS) | 86% |
| Arawakan | 17 | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 47% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Subject precedes verb (SV): English, French, Russian, Finnish, Turkish, Indonesian
- Subject follows verb (VS): Tagalog, Malagasy, Maori, Hixkaryana, Tukang Besi, Chamorro
- Both orders with neither order dominant: Spanish, Greek (Modern), Latvian, Wichita, Nunggubuyu, Cree (Plains)