Language Learners' Library

American Sign Language has some interesting syntax that allows a lot of structural variations. From the Wikipedia article:

Syntax

ASL is a subject–verb–object (SVO) language, but various phenomena affect that basic word order.[51] Basic SVO sentences are signed without any pauses:[27]

FATHER – LOVE – CHILD

“The father loves the child.”[27]

However, other word orders may also occur since ASL allows the topic of a sentence to be moved to sentence-initial position, a phenomenon known as topicalization.[52] In object-subject-verb (OSV) sentences, the object is topicalized, marked by a forward head-tilt and a pause:[53]

CHILD(topic), FATHER – LOVE

“The father loves the child.”[53]

Besides, word orders can be obtained through the phenomenon of subject copy in which the subject is repeated at the end of the sentence, accompanied by head nodding for clarification or emphasis:[27]

FATHER – LOVE – CHILD – FATHER(copy)

“The father loves the child.”[27]

ASL also allows null subject sentences whose subject is implied, rather than stated explicitly. Subjects can be copied even in a null subject sentence, and the subject is then omitted from its original position, yielding a verb–object–subject (VOS) construction:[53]

LOVE – CHILD – FATHER(copy)

“The father loves the child.”[53]

Topicalization, accompanied with a null subject and a subject copy, can produce yet another word order, object–verb–subject (OVS).

CHILD(topic), LOVE – FATHER(copy)

“The father loves the child.”

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