ABSTRACT
Dahlgren’s study confirms that SVO is the most frequently occurring order across the contexts featured in his study, but statistical frequency in itself does not confirm the case for SVO as the basic order, as we are left with the question of how frequent is frequent enough. From a grammatical perspective, SVO represents the most neutral order, in that this order is found with all types of subjects, and all types of verbs. SVO is also pragmatically and informationally the least marked order, in that it does not in itself assign a particular informational status to any constituent, and is the order typically used to initiate a discourse. The other putative contender for basic order status, namely VSO, is found mainly when either or both of two conditions obtain, namely that the verb is intransitive, or the subject indefinite. These conditions favor, but neither require nor predict VS order.
