Arbitrary word order (linguistics)

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A property of languages where word order within a sentence doesn't matter. It can express slight differences in meaning, the mood of the speaker, emphasis or other things.

[edit] Languages with arbitrary word order

• Hungarian language - It is made possible in Hungarian by the -t postfix indicating that the word is the object of the sentence.

[edit] Examples

[edit] Hungarian

• English: "Kate ate a cake", Hungarian:
  • "Emese megevett egy szeletet" (same word order as English)
  • "Meg Emese evett egy szeletet" (emphasis on her)
  • "Egy szeletet Emese evett meg" (same emphasis as above)
  • "Emese egy szeletet evett meg" (emphasis on cake)
  • "Egy szeletet evett meg Emese" (emphasis on one)
  • "Megevett egy szeletet Emese"
  • "Megevett Emese egy szeletet"