Object Verb Agent (OVA) or Object Verb Subject (OVS) is one of the permutations of expression used in linguistic typology. OVA denotes the sequence 'Object Verb Agent' in unmarked expressions: Oranges ate Sam, Thorns have roses. While these sentences remain grammatically correct in English, unlike those written in Agent Object Verb, their meaning is lost. But English and other Agent Verb Object languages frequently use an Object-Verb-Agent type sentence order when writing in the passive voice, for example The oranges were eaten by Sam. Linguistic typology is the typology that classifies languages by their features. ... Morphological typology was developed by brothers Friedrich and August von Schlegel. ... An analytic language (or isolating language) is a language in which the vast majority of morphemes are free morphemes and considered to be full-fledged words. By contrast, in a synthetic language, a word is composed of agglutinated or fused morphemes that denote its syntactic meanings. ... A synthetic language, in linguistic typology, is a language with a high morpheme-to-word ratio. ... A fusional language is a type of synthetic language, distinguished from agglutinative languages by its tendency to squish together many morphemes in a way which can be difficult to segment. ... It has been suggested that Agglutination be merged into this article or section. ... Polysynthetic languages are highly synthetic languages, i. ... Morphology is a subdiscipline of linguistics that studies word structure. ... In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the system used to distinguish between the arguments of transitive verbs and intransitive verbs. ... A nominative-accusative language (or simply accusative language) is one that marks the direct object of transitive verbs distinguishing them from the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs. ... An ergative-absolutive language (or simply ergative) is one that treats the subject of transitive verbs distinctly from the subject of intransitive verbs and the object of transitive verbs. ... An active language is one where the only argument of an intransitive verb (that is, the subject) is marked sometimes in the same way as the subject of a transitive verb, and some other times in the same way as the direct object of a transitive verb. ... A tripartite language is one that marks the agent, experiencer, and patient verb arguments each in different ways. ... A direct-inverse language is one where morphosyntactic markers vary according to compliance or non-compliance with normal rules governing the neutral order of verb arguments with respect to the position of each on the animacy hierarchy, similar to the way that Indo-European neuters were not originally regarded as... The syntactic pivot is the verb argument around which sentences revolve, in a given language. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Thematic role. ... Word order, in linguistic typology, refers to the order in which words appear in sentences across different languages. ... In linguistic typology, agent-verb-object (AVO), commonly called subject-verb-object (SVO), is a sentence structure where the agent comes first, the verb second, and the object third. ... In linguistics, an OV language is a language in which the object comes before the verb. ... In linguistic typology, Agent Object Verb (AOV) or Subject Object Verb (SOV) is the type of languages in which the agent, object, and verb of a sentence appear (usually) in that order. ... Object Agent Verb (OAV) or Object Subject Verb (OSV) is one of the permutations of expression used in Linguistic typology. ... Time Manner Place is a term used in linguistic typology to state the general order of adpositional phrases in a languages sentences: yesterday by car to the store. It is common among SOV languages. ... Place Manner Time is a term used in linguistic typology to state the general order of adpositional phrases in a languages sentences: to the store by car yesterday. It would seem that it is common among SVO languages. ... In mathematics, especially in abstract algebra and related areas, a permutation is a bijection from a finite set X onto itself. ... Linguistic typology is the typology that classifies languages by their features. ... An object in grammar is a sentence element and part of the sentence predicate. ... A verb is a part of speech that usually denotes action (bring, read), occurrence (decompose, glitter), or a state of being (exist, stand). Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its tense, aspect, mood and voice. ... In linguistics, a grammatical agent is an entity that carries out an action. ... In linguistic typology, Agent Object Verb (AOV) or Subject Object Verb (SOV) is the type of languages in which the agent, object, and verb of a sentence appear (usually) in that order. ... In linguistic typology, agent-verb-object (AVO), commonly called subject-verb-object (SVO), is a sentence structure where the agent comes first, the verb second, and the object third. ... In grammar, voice is the relationship between the action or state expressed by a verb, and its arguments (subject, object, etc. ...

OVA is a class of languages used in the classification of languages according to the dominant sequence of these constituents. In this case the sequence of the constituents is Object Verb Agent. This sequence is the rarest of the six possible orderings of Agent, Verb, and Object. Examples of human languages that use it include Guarijio, Hixkaryana, and to some extent also Tapirapé. Guarijio is a language spoken by less than 500 people in Mexico, related to the Southern Uto-Aztecan subfamily. ... Hixkaryana is one of the Carib languages, spoken by just over 500 people on the Nhamundá river, a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil. ...

Although not dominant, this sequence is also possible when the object is stressed in languages that have relatively free word order due to case marking. Romanian, Basque, Esperanto, and, to some extent, German are examples. Some languages, such as Swedish, which normally lack any extensive case marking, allow such structures when pronouns (which are marked for case) are involved. Basque (in Basque: Euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France. ... Esperanto flag Esperanto is a constructed international auxiliary language. ... In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun phrase. ...

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. Thus, Klingon uses the rarest permutation of expression, which is expected given the designers' goals. An artificial or constructed language (known colloquially as a conlang among aficionados), is a language whose vocabulary and grammar were specifically devised by an individual or small group, rather than having naturally evolved as part of a culture as with natural languages. ... The Klingon language or Klingonese (tlhIngan Hol in Klingon) is a constructed language – an artistic language created by Marc Okrand for Paramount Pictures and spoken by Klingons in the fictional Star Trek universe. ... Extraterrestrial, as an adjective, refers to something that originates, occurs, or is located outside Earth or its atmosphere. ... Klingons (tlhIngan in the Klingon language) are a race of humanoids in the fictional Star Trek universe. ... Star Trek collectively refers to a science-fiction franchise spanning six unique television series (which comprise 726 episodes) and ten feature films, in addition to hundreds of novels, computer and video games, fan stories, and other works of fiction — all of which are set within the same fictional universe created...

See also

• Word order in Latin