A computational study on preverbal and postverbal accusative object nouns and pronouns in Ancient Greek

Many studies try to determine whether Ancient Greek is an OV or VO language. All of them, however, fail to conduct a research whose method is entirely clear. This paper presents the first attempt to quantify the number of verbs governing preverbal or postverbal accusative object nouns or pronouns in single or coordinate independent clauses in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Herodotus’ Histories, and the New Testament, by providing results which are fully verifiable and reproducible. I prove that as for the parameter OV vs. VO there is great variation in the texts, which suggests a change over time fromOVorder inHomer to VO order in theNew Testament. The figures for Herodotus’ Greek prove a quasi-exact match between OV order and VO order.