Verb Agent Object

Verb Agent Object (VAO) or Verb Subject Object (VSO) is a term in linguistic typology. It represents one type of languages when classifying languages according to the sequence of these constitutents in neutral expressions: Ate Sam oranges. The word order roughly corresponds to the order of symbols in (non-reverse) Polish notation or the S-expressions of the Lisp programming language.

Examples of languages with VAO word order include the Gaelic branch of the Celtic language family (namely Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx), related Welsh (the only VSO Brythonic language), Ancient Egyptian, Aramaic, Biblical Hebrew, Phoenician, Canaanite, Ge'ez, Classic Maya, Tagalog, Hawaiian, Maori, and Tongan.

Even though Arabic originally had VAO word order, it is now usually more understood with AVO, especially Egyptian Arabic and Moroccan Arabic.

Inversion into VAO

There are many languages which switch from AVO (Subject Verb Object) order to VAO order with different constructions, usually for emphasis. For example, sentences in English poetry can sometimes be found to have a VAO order; French and Spanish questions may reverse the order of the subject and verb into the VAO order (although this is not required); and Arabic sentences use a AVO order or a VAO order depending on whether the subject or the verb is more important.

Non-VAO languages that use VAO word order in questions include Dutch and many Germanic languages, French, and Spanish.

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Inversion into VAO

See also