Word order universals
This is a table from Youtuber Artefexian's video on word order titled "WORD ORDER | This Video Enjoyed You". I didn't like some of the formatting in the table, so I made the following table in HTML.
The table comes from an expanded formula from Hawkin's Universals, which in turn was a reworking of Greenberg's Universals. Joseph Greenberg identified a number of different word order types, and proposed some relationships, such as if a language has A, it will be likely to have B:
Prep ⊃ ((NDem ∨ NNum ∨ NPoss ⊃ NAdj) & (NAdj ⊃ NGen) & (NGen ⊃ NRel)) Posp ⊃ ((AdjN ∨ RelN ⊃ DemN & NumN & PossN) & (DemN ∨ NumN ∨ PossN ⊃ GenN))
Where 'N' means noun, 'Prep' means preposition, 'Posp' means postposition, 'Dem' means demonstrative, 'Num' means numeral, 'Poss' means possessive, 'Adj' means adjective, 'Gen' means genitive and 'Rel' means relative clause.
Notes:
- Prep N languages have prepositions; these languages tend to have Verb-object (VO) word order. Furthermore, languages with verb-object word order are primarily right-branching, or head-initial: heads are often found at the beginning of their phrases
- N Posp languages have postposions; these languages tend to have object-verb (OV) word order. Furthermore, languages with object-verb word order are primarily left-branching, or head-final: heads are often found at the end of their phrases
- Each row is a separate 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.
