What’s on the Word Order poster
A 5-row table: Order · Share · Languages.
Basic order in a simple declarative sentence.
- SOV — ~45% — Japanese, Turkish, Hindi, Korean
- SVO — ~42% — English, Chinese, Spanish, Swahili
- VSO — ~9% — Arabic, Irish, Welsh
- VOS — ~3% — Malagasy, Fijian
- OVS / OSV — <1% — Very rare
Languages with rich case marking can afford freer order, because the endings carry the roles. Latin and Russian both do.
Questions about the Word Order poster
- What’s on the Word Order poster?
- A 5-row table: Order · Share · Languages. Basic order in a simple declarative sentence. SOV — ~45% — Japanese, Turkish, Hindi, Korean; SVO — ~42% — English, Chinese, Spanish, Swahili; VSO — ~9% — Arabic, Irish, Welsh; VOS — ~3% — Malagasy, Fijian; OVS / OSV — <1% — Very rare. Languages with rich case marking can afford freer order, because the endings carry the roles. Latin and Russian both do.
- Who is the Word Order poster for?
- Word Order belongs to the Languages section rather than to a school year, because languages is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning how languages work can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Word Order poster?
- Two orders cover the large majority of languages. English is in the smaller of the two. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Word Order belongs on the wall where that languages work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Word Order?
- Bilingualism, Grammatical Case and Code-Switching sit alongside Word Order in the Languages section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.BilingualismGrammatical CaseCode-Switching
- Is the Word Order poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Word Order downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Languages section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Word Order poster print at?
- Word Order is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Word Order loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Word Order on the same wall.
Browse every Languages poster, or start from the full catalogue.