Hamtai

WALS coordinates: 7° 30′ S, 146° 15′ E

spoken in Papua New Guinea

Alternative Names

Ethnologue:
Ruhlen:
  • Hamtai
Routledge:
  • Hamtai (Kapau)
Other:
  • Hamtai (=Kapau),
  • Kapau
ISO 639-3:

Features

Feature Value References
Phonology
Consonant Inventories Small
Vowel Quality Inventories Large (7-14)
Consonant-Vowel Ratio Low
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives No voicing constrast
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems Other
Uvular Consonants Uvular stops only
Glottalized Consonants Ejectives only
Lateral Consonants No laterals
The Velar Nasal Initial velar nasal
Front Rounded Vowels None
Syllable Structure Complex
Tone Simple tone system
Absence of Common Consonants All present
Presence of Uncommon Consonants None
Morphology
Reduplication Productive full and partial reduplication
Case Syncretism No case marking
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking Syncretic
Nominal Categories
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns Person-number stem
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns No inclusive/exclusive
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection No inclusive/exclusive
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns 3rd person only, but also non-singular
Person Marking on Adpositions No adpositions
Number of Cases 10 or more cases
Asymmetrical Case-Marking Syncretism in relevant NP-types
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes Possessive prefixes
Nominal Syntax
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction Differentiation
Verbal Categories
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes Mixed type
The Morphological Imperative Second singular and second plural
The Prohibitive Normal imperative + normal negative
Imperative-Hortative Systems Maximal system
The Optative Inflectional optative absent
Situational Possibility Affixes on verbs
Epistemic Possibility Affixes on verbs
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking No overlap
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality Indirect only
Coding of Evidentiality Separate particle
Word Order
Order of Subject, Object and Verb SOV
Order of Subject and Verb SV
Order of Object and Verb OV
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase Postpositions
Order of Adjective and Noun Noun-Adjective
Order of Demonstrative and Noun Noun-Demonstrative
Order of Numeral and Noun Noun-Numeral
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
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase OV and Postpositions
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adjective and Noun OV and NAdj
Simple Clauses
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases Neutral
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns Neutral
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking Accusative
Expression of Pronominal Subjects Subject affixes on verb
Verbal Person Marking Both the A and P arguments
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking No zero realization
Order of Person Markers on the Verb A precedes P
Passive Constructions Absent
Negative Morphemes Double negation
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation Asymmetric
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation A/Fin
Polar Questions Question particle
Complex Sentences
Purpose Clauses Deranked
'When' Clauses Deranked
Reason Clauses Deranked