| Phonology |
|---|
|
Consonant Inventories
|
Large |
|
|
Vowel Quality Inventories
|
Average (5-6) |
|
|
Consonant-Vowel Ratio
|
High |
|
|
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
|
Ejectives only |
|
|
Lateral Consonants
|
/l/, no obstruent laterals |
|
|
The Velar Nasal
|
No initial velar nasal |
|
|
Front Rounded Vowels
|
None |
|
|
Syllable Structure
|
Simple |
|
|
Tone
|
Complex tone system |
|
|
Absence of Common Consonants
|
All present |
|
|
Presence of Uncommon Consonants
|
Clicks |
|
| Morphology |
|---|
|
Locus of Marking in the Clause
|
No marking |
|
|
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases
|
No marking |
|
|
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology
|
Zero-marking |
|
|
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology
|
Little affixation |
|
|
Case Syncretism
|
No case marking |
|
|
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking
|
No subject person/number marking |
|
| Nominal Categories |
|---|
|
Number of Genders
|
Five or more |
|
|
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems
|
Non-sex-based |
|
|
Systems of Gender Assignment
|
Semantic and formal |
|
|
Coding of Nominal Plurality
|
Plural clitic |
|
|
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality
|
All nouns, always obligatory |
|
|
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns
|
Person-number stem + pronominal plural affix |
|
|
Definite Articles
|
Definite word distinct from demonstrative |
|
|
Indefinite Articles
|
Indefinite word distinct from 'one' |
|
|
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns
|
Inclusive/exclusive |
|
|
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection
|
No person marking |
|
|
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives
|
Three-way contrast |
|
|
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives
|
Related by gender markers |
|
|
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns
|
3rd person only, but also non-singular |
|
|
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns
|
No politeness distinction |
|
|
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns
|
Identical |
|
|
Person Marking on Adpositions
|
No person marking |
|
|
Number of Cases
|
No morphological case-marking |
|
|
Asymmetrical Case-Marking
|
No case-marking |
|
|
Position of Case Affixes
|
No case affixes or adpositional clitics |
|
|
Comitatives and Instrumentals
|
Identity |
|
|
Numeral Classifiers
|
Absent |
|
|
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes
|
No possessive affixes |
|
| Nominal Syntax |
|---|
|
Obligatory Possessive Inflection
|
Absent |
|
|
Possessive Classification
|
Three to five classes |
|
|
Noun Phrase Conjunction
|
'And' different from 'with' |
|
|
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
|
No perfect |
|
|
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes
|
No tense-aspect inflection |
|
|
The Morphological Imperative
|
No second-person imperatives |
|
|
The Prohibitive
|
Normal imperative + special negative |
|
|
Imperative-Hortative Systems
|
Maximal system |
|
|
The Optative
|
Inflectional optative absent |
|
|
Epistemic Possibility
|
Other |
|
|
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality
|
No grammatical evidentials |
|
|
Coding of Evidentiality
|
No grammatical evidentials |
|
| 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
|
Postpositions |
|
|
Order of Genitive and Noun
|
Genitive-Noun |
|
|
Order of Adjective and Noun
|
Noun-Adjective |
|
|
Order of Demonstrative and Noun
|
Noun-Demonstrative |
|
|
Order of Numeral and Noun
|
Noun-Numeral |
|
|
Order of Relative Clause and Noun
|
Noun-Relative clause |
|
|
Position of Polar Question Particles
|
Second position |
|
|
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions
|
Not initial interrogative phrase |
|
|
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause
|
Initial subordinator word |
|
|
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase
|
VO and Postpositions |
|
|
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 Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases
|
Neutral |
|
|
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns
|
Neutral |
|
|
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking
|
Neutral |
|
|
Expression of Pronominal Subjects
|
Obligatory pronouns in subject position |
|
|
Verbal Person Marking
|
No person marking |
|
|
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking
|
No person marking |
|
|
Order of Person Markers on the Verb
|
A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb |
|
|
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'
|
Secondary-object construction |
|
|
Passive Constructions
|
Absent |
|
|
Antipassive Constructions
|
No antipassive |
|
|
Applicative Constructions
|
Non-benefactive object; both bases |
|
|
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions
|
Compound but no morphological |
|
|
Negative Morphemes
|
Negative word, unclear if verb or particle |
|
|
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation
|
Symmetric |
|
|
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation
|
Non-assignable |
|
|
Polar Questions
|
Question particle |
|
|
Predicative Possession
|
'Have' |
|
|
Predicative Adjectives
|
Verbal encoding |
|
|
Nominal and Locational Predication
|
Identical |
|
|
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals
|
Impossible |
|
| Complex Sentences |
|---|
|
'Want' Complement Subjects
|
Both construction types exist |
|
|
Purpose Clauses
|
Balanced |
|
|
'When' Clauses
|
Balanced |
|
|
Reason Clauses
|
Balanced |
|
|
Utterance Complement Clauses
|
Balanced |
|
| Lexicon |
|---|
|
Hand and Arm
|
Different |
|
|
Finger and Hand
|
Different |
|
|
M-T Pronouns
|
No M-T pronouns |
|
|
N-M Pronouns
|
No N-M pronouns |
|
|
Tea
|
Words derived from Min Nan Chinese te |
|
