Word order universals
This is a table from Youtuber Artefexian's video on word order titled "WORD ORDER | This Video Enjoyed You". I really didn't like some of the formatting in the Google Sheets table, so I made this.
Notes:
- Prep N languages have prepositions; these languages tend to have Verb-object (VO) word order
- N Posp languages have postposions; these languages tend to have object-verb (OV) word order
- Each row is a seperate language
| A | Prep N "of goat" |
N Dem "goat this" |
N Num "goat one" |
N Poss "goat my" |
N Adj "goat big" |
N Gen "bell of goat" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| B | Prep N "of goat" |
Dem N "this goat" |
N Num "goat one" |
N Poss "goat my" |
N Adj "goat big" |
N Gen "bell of goat" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| C | Prep N "of goat" |
N Dem "goat this" |
Num N "one goat" |
N Poss "goat my" |
N Adj "goat big" |
N Gen "bell of goat" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| D | Prep N "of goat" |
N Dem "goat this" |
N Num "goat one" |
Poss N "my goat" |
N Adj "goat big" |
N Gen "bell of goat" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| E | Prep N "of goat" |
N Dem "goat this" |
Num N "one goat" |
Poss N "my goat" |
N Adj "goat big" |
N Gen "bell of goat" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| F | Prep N "of goat" |
Dem N "this goat" |
N Num "goat one" |
Poss N "my goat" |
N Adj "goat big" |
N Gen "bell of goat" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| G | Prep N "of goat" |
Dem N "this goat" |
Num N "one goat" |
N Poss "goat my" |
N Adj "goat big" |
N Gen "bell of goat" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| H | Prep N "of goat" |
Dem N "this goat" |
Num N "one goat" |
Poss N "my goat" |
N Adj "goat big" |
N Gen "bell of goat" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| I | Prep N "of goat" |
Dem N "this goat" |
Num N "one goat" |
Poss N "my goat" |
Adj N "big goat" |
N Gen "bell of goat" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| J | Prep N "of goat" |
Dem N "this goat" |
Num N "one goat" |
Poss N "my goat" |
Adj N "big goat" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| K | Prep N "of goat" |
Dem N "this goat" |
Num N "one goat" |
Poss N "my goat" |
Adj N "big goat" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
Rel N "who rings bell, goat" |
| L | N Posp "goat of" |
Dem N "this goat" |
Num N "one goat" |
Poss N "my goat" |
Adj N "big goat" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
Rel N "who rings bell, goat" |
| M | N Posp "goat of" |
Dem N "this goat" |
Num N "one goat" |
Poss N "my goat" |
N Adj "goat big" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
Rel N "who rings bell, goat" |
| N | N Posp "goat of" |
Dem N "this goat" |
Num N "one goat" |
Poss N "my goat" |
Adj N "big goat" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| O | N Posp "goat of" |
Dem N "this goat" |
Num N "one goat" |
Poss N "my goat" |
N Adj "goat big" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| P | N Posp "goat of" |
N Dem "goat this" |
Num N "one goat" |
Poss N "my goat" |
N Adj "goat big" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| Q | N Posp "goat of" |
Dem N "this goat" |
N Num "goat one" |
Poss N "my goat" |
N Adj "goat big" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| R | N Posp "goat of" |
Dem N "this goat" |
Num N "one goat" |
N Poss "goat my" |
N Adj "goat big" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| S | N Posp "goat of" |
Dem N "this goat" |
N Num "goat one" |
N Poss "goat my" |
N Adj "goat big" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| T | N Posp "goat of" |
N Dem "goat this" |
Num N "one goat" |
N Poss "goat my" |
N Adj "goat big" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| U | N Posp "goat of" |
N Dem "goat this" |
N Num "goat one" |
Poss N "my goat" |
N Adj "goat big" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| V | N Posp "goat of" |
N Dem "goat this" |
N Num "goat one" |
N Poss "goat my" |
N Adj "goat big" |
Gen N "goat's bell" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
| W | N Posp "goat of" |
N Dem "goat this" |
N Num "goat one" |
N Poss "goat my" |
N Adj "goat big" |
N Gen "bell of goat" |
N Rel "goat, who rings bell" |
This is a diagram made by Reddit user blakethegecko. It shows which transformations are possible.
