Object–subject–verb word order

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In linguistic typology, the object–subject–verb (OSV) or object–agent–verb (OAV) word order is a structure where the object of a sentence precedes both the subject and the verb. Although this word order is rarely found as the default in most languages, it does occur as the unmarked or neutral order in a few Amazonian languages, including Xavante and Apurinã. In many other languages, OSV can be used in marked sentences to convey emphasis or focus, often as a stylistic device rather than a normative structure. OSV constructions appear in languages as diverse as Chinese, Finnish, and British Sign Language, typically to emphasize or topicalize the object. Examples of OSV structures can also be found in certain contexts within English, Hebrew, and other languages through the use of syntactic inversion for emphasis or rhetorical effect. The OSV order is also culturally recognizable through its use by the character Yoda in Star Wars.

An example of this word order in English would be "Oranges Sam ate" (meaning, Sam ate oranges).

OSV is rarely used in unmarked sentences, which use a normal word order without emphasis. Most languages that use OSV as their default word order come from the Amazon basin, such as Xavante, Jamamadi, Apurinã, Warao, Kayabí and Nadëb.^[1] Mizo language also uses OSV in unmarked sentences. Here is an example from Apurinã:^[1]

British Sign Language (BSL) normally uses topic–comment structure, but its default word order when topic–comment structure is not used is OSV.

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Various languages allow OSV word order but only in marked sentences, which emphasise part or all of the sentence.

Passive constructions in Chinese follow an OSV (OAV) pattern through the use of the particle 被:

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In English, object-subject-verb order is atypical but can be used for contrastive focus, as in: That car we bought at least five years ago. The other one we only bought last year.^[2]

Finnish has a remarkably lax word order^[3] and so emphasis on the object is often marked simply by putting it first in the sentence.^[4] The word by word translation in example (1) would be "you I love!" and expresses a contrast to maybe loving someone else.

This word order is totally natural and quite often used for emphasis. Example (2) expresses the contrast of refusing to eat something else (like something more healthy).

In Modern Hebrew, OSV is often used instead of the normal SVO to emphasise the object. אני אוהב אותה would mean "I love her", but "אותה אני אוהב" would mean "It is she whom I love".^[5] Possibly an influence of Germanic (via Yiddish), as Jewish English uses a similar construction ("You, I like, kid") much more than many other varieties of English and often with the "it is" left implicit.

In Hungarian, OSV emphasises the subject:

A szócikket én szerkesztettem = The article/I/edited (It was I, not somebody else, who edited the article).

Korean and Japanese have SOV by default, but since they are topic-prominent languages, they often seem to be OSV when the object is topicalized. Here is an example in Korean:

An almost identical syntax is possible in Japanese:

OSV is one of the permissible word orders in Malayalam, the other being SOV.

OSV is possible in Portuguese to emphasize the object.

OSV is used in Turkish to emphasize the subject:

• Yoda, a popular Star Wars character who speaks in the object–subject–verb word order
• Yoda conditions - a style of writing conditionals in computer programming languages