Flexible word order: Latin

Constituent order plays a more important role in determining argument structure in English than in many other languages. In Latin, for example, a rich system of case marking on nouns allowed for much freer order of subject and object NPs and VPs. The default or unmarked word order was subject–object–verb (SOV), but other orders, conveying the same information but with slightly different emphasis, were also possible.

In the examples below, the subject lupus (‘wolf’) is marked as nominative (subject), and the object gallinam (‘hen’) is marked as accusative (direct object), which allows the simple sentence ‘The wolf sees the hen’ to be expressed in six different orders:

1 Lupus gallinam videt. (SOV)

2 Gallinam lupus videt. (OSV)

3 Videt lupus gallinam. (VSO)

4 Videt gallinam lupus. (VOS)

5 Gallinam videt lupus. (OVS)

6 Lupus videt gallinam. (SVO)