Object Verb Subject
Object Verb Subject (OVS) is one of the permutations of expression used in linguistic typology. OVS denotes the sequence 'Object Verb Subject' in sequence of these constituents. In this case the sequence of the constituents Object Verb Subject. This sequence is the rarest. Examples of human languages that actually use it include Guarijio and Hixkaryana.
This sequence was chosen for the artificial language Klingon, a language spoken by the extraterrestrial Klingon race in the fictional universe of the Star Trek series, in order to make the language sound deliberately alien and counterintuitive to the human mind.
The other permutations of expression in the order of most common to languages to rarest to languages:
- Subject Object Verb (SOV) Sam oranges ate. (e.g., Persian, Latin, Turkish, Korean, Japanese)
- Subject Verb Object (SVO) Sam ate oranges. (e.g., English, German, Kiswahili, Chinese)
- Verb Subject Object (VSO) Ate Sam oranges. (e.g., Welsh, Hawaiian, and Arabic)
- Verb Object Subject (VOS) Ate oranges Sam. (e.g., Fijian)
- Object Subject Verb (OSV) Oranges Sam ate. (e.g., Xavante)
- Object Verb Subject (OVS) Oranges ate Sam. (e.g., the artificial language Klingon)
Thus, Klingon uses the rarest permutation of expression, which is expected given the designers' goals.
See also
