Object–subject–verb word order

In linguistic typology, object–subject–verb (OSV) or object–agent–verb (OAV) is a classification of languages, based on whether the structure predominates in pragmatically neutral expressions. An example of this would be "Oranges Sam ate" (meaning, Sam ate oranges).

Natural languages
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. Here is an example from Apurinã:

anana nota apa

pineapple I fetch

I fetch a pineapple

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

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

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

English
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.''

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

2SG.PTV 1SG.NOM 1SG.love.PRS.IND

"I love you!"

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).

Suklaata se kyllä suostuu syömään

chocolate.PTV 3.SG INT 3SG.consent.PRS.IND eat.ILL

"He instead consents to eating chocolate."

Hebrew
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". 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.

Hungarian
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
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:

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

Portuguese
OSV is possible in Portuguese to emphasize the object.

De maçã eu não gosto

of apple I NEG like-1SG

{} Object Subject {} Verb

I do not like apple

Turkish
OSV is used in Turkish to emphasize the subject:

yemeğ-i ben pişir-di-m

meal-ACC I cook-PST-1SG

It was I, not somebody else, who cooked the meal.