In linguistics, shifting occurs when two or more constituents appearing on the same side of their common head in a sense exchange positions, so that non-canonical order obtains. The most well-known type of shifting is heavy NP shift, although heavy NP shift is but one particular manifestation of shifting. Shifting occurs in most if not all European languages, and it may in fact possible in all natural languages. Shifting is not inversion, and inversion is not shifting, but the two mechanisms are similar insofar as they are both present in languages like English that have relatively strict word order.