| Phonology |
|---|
|
Consonant Inventories
|
Large |
|
|
Vowel Quality Inventories
|
Small (2-4) |
|
|
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
|
Uvular stops and continuants |
|
|
Glottalized Consonants
|
Implosives only |
|
|
Lateral Consonants
|
No /l/, but lateral obstruents |
|
|
The Velar Nasal
|
No velar nasal |
|
|
Front Rounded Vowels
|
None |
|
|
Tone
|
No tones |
|
|
Absence of Common Consonants
|
All present |
|
|
Presence of Uncommon Consonants
|
Pharyngeals and "th" |
|
| Morphology |
|---|
|
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology
|
Equal prefixing and suffixing |
|
| Nominal Categories |
|---|
|
Coding of Nominal Plurality
|
Plural suffix |
|
|
The Associative Plural
|
Associative same as additive plural |
|
|
Definite Articles
|
Definite affix |
|
|
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives
|
Two-way contrast |
|
|
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives
|
Different inflection |
|
|
Position of Case Affixes
|
Case suffixes |
|
|
Distributive Numerals
|
Marked by mixed or other strategies |
|
| Verbal Categories |
|---|
|
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes
|
Mixed type |
|
|
The Optative
|
Inflectional optative present |
|
| 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 Genitive and Noun
|
Genitive-Noun |
|
|
Order of Demonstrative and Noun
|
Demonstrative-Noun |
|
|
Order of Relative Clause and Noun
|
Relative clause-Noun |
|
|
Position of Polar Question Particles
|
No question particle |
|
|
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 Relative Clause and Noun
|
OV and RelN |
|
| Simple Clauses |
|---|
|
Expression of Pronominal Subjects
|
Subject affixes on verb |
|
|
Reciprocal Constructions
|
Distinct from reflexive |
|
|
Antipassive Constructions
|
Oblique patient |
|
|
Negative Morphemes
|
Negative affix |
|
|
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation
|
Both |
|
|
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation
|
A/NonReal and A/Cat |
|
|
Polar Questions
|
Absence of declarative morphemes |
|
|
Predicative Adjectives
|
Verbal encoding |
|
|
Nominal and Locational Predication
|
Different |
|
|
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals
|
Impossible |
|
| Lexicon |
|---|
|
Numeral Bases
|
Decimal |
|
|
Tea
|
Words derived from Sinitic cha |
|
