| Phonology |
|---|
|
Consonant Inventories
|
Average |
|
|
Vowel Quality Inventories
|
Large (7-14) |
|
|
Consonant-Vowel Ratio
|
Average |
|
|
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives
|
In both plosives and fricatives |
|
|
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems
|
None missing in /p t k b d g/ |
|
|
Uvular Consonants
|
None |
|
|
Glottalized Consonants
|
Implosives only |
|
|
Lateral Consonants
|
/l/, no obstruent laterals |
|
|
Vowel Nasalization
|
Contrast present |
|
|
Front Rounded Vowels
|
None |
|
|
Syllable Structure
|
Complex |
|
|
Tone
|
Complex tone system |
|
|
Absence of Common Consonants
|
All present |
|
|
Presence of Uncommon Consonants
|
Labial-velars |
|
| Morphology |
|---|
|
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology
|
Strongly suffixing |
|
| Nominal Categories |
|---|
|
Coding of Nominal Plurality
|
Plural suffix |
|
|
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality
|
All nouns, optional in inanimates |
|
|
Definite Articles
|
Demonstrative word used as definite article |
|
|
Indefinite Articles
|
No indefinite, but definite article |
|
|
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns
|
No gender distinctions |
|
|
Indefinite Pronouns
|
Generic-noun-based |
|
|
Person Marking on Adpositions
|
No person marking |
|
|
Position of Case Affixes
|
No case affixes or adpositional clitics |
|
|
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes
|
Possessive suffixes |
|
| Nominal Syntax |
|---|
|
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction
|
Differentiation |
|
| Verbal Categories |
|---|
|
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes
|
Tense-aspect tone |
|
| Word Order |
|---|
|
Order of Subject, Object and Verb
|
SVO |
|
|
Order of Subject and Verb
|
SV |
|
|
Order of Object and Verb
|
VO |
|
|
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase
|
No dominant order |
|
|
Order of Genitive and Noun
|
Genitive-Noun |
|
|
Order of Adjective and Noun
|
Noun-Adjective |
|
|
Order of Numeral and Noun
|
Noun-Numeral |
|
|
Order of Relative Clause and Noun
|
Noun-Relative clause |
|
|
Position of Polar Question Particles
|
Final |
|
|
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions
|
Not initial interrogative phrase |
|
|
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase
|
Other |
|
|
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Relative Clause and Noun
|
VO and NRel |
|
|
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adjective and Noun
|
VO and NAdj |
|
| Simple Clauses |
|---|
|
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking
|
Accusative |
|
|
Expression of Pronominal Subjects
|
Mixed |
|
|
Verbal Person Marking
|
Both the A and P arguments |
|
|
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking
|
Zero in all 3sg forms |
|
|
Order of Person Markers on the Verb
|
A precedes P |
|
|
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'
|
Double-object construction |
|
|
Passive Constructions
|
Present |
|
|
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions
|
Morphological but no compound |
|
|
Negative Morphemes
|
Double negation |
|
|
Polar Questions
|
Question particle |
|
