In Japanese, you can mix word order freely as well---nouns are marked with particles ("ha" = topic marker; "wo" subject; etc etc). You can think of it as the n

In Japanese, you can mix word order freely as well---nouns are marked with particles ("ha" = topic marker; "wo" subject; etc etc). You can think of it as the nouns being declined, but with the declensions being completely regular. These sentnces all mean the same thing ("Jim ate an apple"): Jim-ha ringo-wo tabeta. Tabeta ringo-wo Jim-ha. Ringo-wo tabeta Jim-ha. Jim-ha tabeta ringo-wo. Ringo-wo Jim-ha tabeta. Tabeta Jim-ha ringo-wo. However, putting the sentences in a non-SOV order changes which which get emphasized (the same thing happens in Latin and Greek, which were also both verb-final languages by default). The SVO form of the sentence is the most neutral, plainly informative version of the sentence.