| Phonology |
|---|
|
Consonant Inventories
|
Average |
|
|
Vowel Quality Inventories
|
Large (7-14) |
|
|
Consonant-Vowel Ratio
|
Moderately low |
|
|
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives
|
No voicing constrast |
|
|
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems
|
Other |
|
|
Uvular Consonants
|
None |
|
|
Glottalized Consonants
|
No glottalized consonants |
|
|
Lateral Consonants
|
/l/, no obstruent laterals |
|
|
The Velar Nasal
|
Initial velar nasal |
|
|
Front Rounded Vowels
|
High and mid |
|
|
Syllable Structure
|
Moderately complex |
|
|
Tone
|
Complex tone system |
|
|
Absence of Common Consonants
|
All present |
|
|
Presence of Uncommon Consonants
|
None |
|
| Morphology |
|---|
|
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology
|
Little affixation |
|
| Nominal Categories |
|---|
|
Number of Genders
|
None |
|
|
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems
|
No gender |
|
|
Systems of Gender Assignment
|
No gender |
|
|
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns
|
Person stem + nominal plural affix |
|
|
The Associative Plural
|
Unique affixal associative plural |
|
|
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives
|
Two-way contrast |
|
|
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives
|
Identical |
|
|
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives
|
Unrelated |
|
|
Indefinite Pronouns
|
Special |
|
|
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns
|
Identical |
|
|
Ordinal Numerals
|
One-th, two-th, three-th |
|
|
Distributive Numerals
|
No distributive numerals |
|
|
Numeral Classifiers
|
Obligatory |
|
|
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers
|
Formally similar, with interrogative |
|
| Nominal Syntax |
|---|
|
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses
|
Weakly differentiated |
|
|
Adjectives without Nouns
|
Marked by following word |
|
|
Action Nominal Constructions
|
No action nominals |
|
|
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction
|
Differentiation |
|
| Verbal Categories |
|---|
|
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect
|
Grammatical marking |
|
|
The Past Tense
|
No past tense |
|
|
The Future Tense
|
No inflectional future |
|
|
The Perfect
|
Other perfect |
|
|
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes
|
Tense-aspect suffixes |
|
|
The Morphological Imperative
|
No second-person imperatives |
|
|
The Prohibitive
|
Normal imperative + special negative |
|
|
Situational Possibility
|
Verbal constructions |
|
|
Epistemic Possibility
|
Other |
|
|
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking
|
Overlap for either possibility or necessity |
|
|
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality
|
Indirect only |
|
|
Coding of Evidentiality
|
Separate particle |
|
|
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect
|
None |
|
|
Verbal Number and Suppletion
|
None |
|
| Word Order |
|---|
|
Order of Subject, Object and Verb
|
SVO |
|
|
Order of Subject and Verb
|
SV |
|
|
Order of Object and Verb
|
VO |
|
|
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb
|
XVO |
|
|
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase
|
Prepositions |
|
|
Order of Genitive and Noun
|
Genitive-Noun |
|
|
Order of Adjective and Noun
|
Adjective-Noun |
|
|
Order of Demonstrative and Noun
|
Demonstrative-Noun |
|
|
Order of Numeral and Noun
|
Numeral-Noun |
|
|
Order of Relative Clause and Noun
|
Relative clause-Noun |
|
|
Order of Degree Word and Adjective
|
Degree word-Adjective |
|
|
Position of Polar Question Particles
|
Final |
|
|
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions
|
Not initial interrogative phrase |
|
|
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause
|
Mixed |
|
|
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase
|
VO and Prepositions |
|
|
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Relative Clause and Noun
|
VO and RelN |
|
|
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adjective and Noun
|
VO and AdjN |
|
| Simple Clauses |
|---|
|
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'
|
Double-object construction |
|
|
Reciprocal Constructions
|
Distinct from reflexive |
|
|
Negative Morphemes
|
Negative particle |
|
|
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation
|
Both |
|
|
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation
|
A/Cat |
|
|
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation
|
Predicate negation also present |
|
|
Polar Questions
|
Question particle |
|
| Complex Sentences |
|---|
|
'Want' Complement Subjects
|
Subject is left implicit |
|
| Lexicon |
|---|
|
Hand and Arm
|
Different |
|
|
Finger and Hand
|
Different |
|
|
Tea
|
Words derived from Sinitic cha |
|
| Other |
|---|
|
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks
|
Affective meanings |
|
