| Phonology |
|---|
|
Consonant Inventories
|
Moderately large |
|
|
Vowel Quality Inventories
|
Average (5-6) |
|
|
Consonant-Vowel Ratio
|
Moderately high |
|
|
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives
|
In plosives alone |
|
|
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems
|
None missing in /p t k b d g/ |
|
|
Uvular Consonants
|
None |
|
|
Glottalized Consonants
|
No glottalized consonants |
|
|
Lateral Consonants
|
/l/, no obstruent laterals |
|
|
Front Rounded Vowels
|
None |
|
|
Tone
|
No tones |
|
|
Fixed Stress Locations
|
No fixed stress |
|
|
Weight-Sensitive Stress
|
Left-edge: First or second |
|
|
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems
|
Long vowel |
|
|
Absence of Common Consonants
|
All present |
|
|
Presence of Uncommon Consonants
|
None |
|
| Morphology |
|---|
|
Locus of Marking in the Clause
|
Dependent marking |
|
|
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases
|
Dependent marking |
|
|
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology
|
Dependent-marking |
|
|
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology
|
Strongly suffixing |
|
| Nominal Categories |
|---|
|
Coding of Nominal Plurality
|
Plural suffix |
|
|
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality
|
All nouns, always optional |
|
|
The Associative Plural
|
Associative same as additive plural |
|
|
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns
|
Multiple politeness distinctions |
|
|
Position of Case Affixes
|
Case suffixes |
|
| Nominal Syntax |
|---|
|
Action Nominal Constructions
|
Sentential |
|
|
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction
|
Identity |
|
| Verbal Categories |
|---|
|
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes
|
Tense-aspect suffixes |
|
|
Imperative-Hortative Systems
|
Maximal system |
|
|
The Optative
|
Inflectional optative present |
|
|
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality
|
Indirect only |
|
|
Coding of Evidentiality
|
Verbal affix or clitic |
|
| 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 Adjective and Noun
|
Adjective-Noun |
|
|
Order of Demonstrative and Noun
|
Demonstrative-Noun |
|
|
Order of Numeral and Noun
|
Numeral-Noun |
|
|
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions
|
Not initial interrogative phrase |
|
|
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause
|
Final subordinator word |
|
|
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 AdjN |
|
| Simple Clauses |
|---|
|
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'
|
Indirect-object construction |
|
|
Negative Morphemes
|
Negative affix |
|
|
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation
|
Predicate negation also present |
|
|
Polar Questions
|
Question particle |
|
|
Predicative Possession
|
Genitive |
|
|
Predicative Adjectives
|
Nonverbal encoding |
|
|
Nominal and Locational Predication
|
Different |
|
|
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals
|
Impossible |
|
| Lexicon |
|---|
|
Hand and Arm
|
Different |
|
|
Finger and Hand
|
Different |
|
|
Tea
|
Words derived from Sinitic cha |
|
