Object verb subject

Object verb subject, usually expressed with its abbreviation OVS, is a term used in linguistic typology to designate a certain type of language taking into account the unmarked or neutral sequence of a language.

This sequence is the least common of all. Examples of this type of language are Selk'nam, Guarijío and Hishkaryana. Klingon, an artificial language invented for the science fiction series Star Trek, also uses this order. This language is spoken by extraterrestrial beings called "Klingons" and was created with this sequence in order to make it sound deliberately non-intuitive to the audience of the series.

Even so, many other languages, including Spanish, use this order on certain occasions and in a more or less forced way. For example, as a literary figure (see hyperbaton) or in sentences in which a pronoun is used as an object: (the letter) was written by Miguel.

Other permutations

Here are the other permutations in order from most common to least:

• Subject verb object (e.g. Latin, Basque, Japanese, Korean and Persian)
• Subject object verb (e.g. English, German, Kiswahili, Chinese)
• Subject verb object (e.g., Welsh, Mixtec, Tagile and Arabic)
• Subject object verb (e.g., Fijian, Malagasy)
• Subject object verb (e.g. xavante, urarina)