Perhaps I've misunderstood Cap Kiwi's point, but it seems to me that the word order is more important in languages that don't have variable word endings. In Latin, the word order can vary tremendously and the meaning can still be gleaned from the endings on the words, which make clear which word is the subject, which the direct object, etc. To a lesser degree, in Spanish and Italian you can do this, as there are different pronouns for various things, such as direct vs. indirect object.
As an example (dusting off some long-ago-stashed Latin learning) "Puella agricolam amat" is "The girl loves the farmer" and can only be that because puella is the nominative (i.e. subject of the verb), but "Amat puella agricolam" and even "Agricolam amat puella" also mean that she loves him, not the other way around. This kind of mixing in English would completely change the meaning of the sentence, implying that the farmer also loves the girl, which would be begging the question, no?
