Siouan languages
Authors who call the entire family "Siouan" distinguish the two branches as "Western Siouan" and "Eastern Siouan" or as "Siouan-proper" and "Catawban". Others restrict the name "Siouan" to the western branch and use the name "Siouan–Catawban" for the entire family. Generally, however, the name "Siouan" is used without distinction.
Winnebago language
Like other Siouan languages, Ho-Chunk's basic word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV).An example of a typical sentence is "Hinųkra wažątirehižą ruwį" 'The woman bought a car.' In a sentence with two objects, such as "Hinųkiža hocįcįhižą wiiwagaxhižą hok'ų" 'A girl gave a boy a pencil,' the canonical word order is Subject-Indirect Object-Direct Object-Verb. Word order is relatively free in Ho-Chunk; however, while a word order such as "Wažątirehižą, hinųkra ruwį" 'The woman bought a car' is permissabie, the change from the basic neutral word order of SOV requires a prosodic pause indicated by a comma. Without this pause, an interpretation 'A car bought the woman' is possible, though highly unlikely.