An Examination of Word Order Typology and the Role it Plays in Second Language Acquisition

Abstract

Classifying languages based on their structural types is referred to as language typology. Unlike traditional classifications, language typology pays keen attention to the practical uses of languages. This paper examines the nature of word order typology. Languages can be grouped by their basic sentence structures. SVO, SOV and VSO are common while VOS, OSV and OVS occur rarely. When it comes to second language acquisition, this word order plays a great role. As subconscious language acquisition is more powerful when learning a second language, word order errors may occur due to the influence of the first language. On the other hand, learning a language which belongs to the same category according to the word order typology will be easier than learning a language with a different sentence structure. When teaching and learning a second language, it’s important to identify the role of word order typology. Finally, it is suggested that word order typology should be identified when teaching and learning Tamil language as a second language by Sinhalese.