In linguistics , an object is any of several types of arguments .[1] nominative-accusative languages such as English , a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but are not limited to direct objects,[2] [3] prepositions or postpositions ); the latter are more accurately termed oblique arguments , thus including other arguments not covered by core grammatical roles, such as those governed by case morphology (as in languages such as Latin ) or relational nouns (as is typical for members of the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area ).
In ergative-absolutive languages, for example most Australian Aboriginal languages , the term "subject" is ambiguous, and thus the term "agent " is often used instead to contrast with "object", such that basic word order is often spoken of in terms such as Agent-Object-Verb (AOV) instead of Subject-Object-Verb (SOV).[4] Topic-prominent languages , such as Mandarin , focus their grammars less on the subject-object or agent-object dichotomies but rather on the pragmatic dichotomy of topic and comment .[5]
Grammatical concept
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