| Phonology |
|---|
|
Consonant Inventories
|
Moderately large |
|
|
Vowel Quality Inventories
|
Average (5-6) |
|
|
Consonant-Vowel Ratio
|
Moderately high |
|
|
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives
|
In both plosives and fricatives |
|
|
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems
|
Missing /p/ |
|
|
Uvular Consonants
|
None |
|
|
Glottalized Consonants
|
Ejectives and implosives |
|
|
Lateral Consonants
|
/l/, no obstruent laterals |
|
|
The Velar Nasal
|
No velar nasal |
|
|
Vowel Nasalization
|
Contrast absent |
|
|
Front Rounded Vowels
|
None |
|
|
Syllable Structure
|
Moderately complex |
|
|
Tone
|
Complex tone system |
|
|
Absence of Common Consonants
|
All present |
|
|
Presence of Uncommon Consonants
|
None |
|
| Morphology |
|---|
|
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives
|
Exclusively concatenative |
|
|
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives
|
Monoexponential case |
|
|
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb
|
6-7 categories per word |
|
|
Locus of Marking in the Clause
|
No marking |
|
|
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases
|
Other |
|
|
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology
|
Inconsistent or other |
|
|
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology
|
Strongly suffixing |
|
|
Reduplication
|
Productive full and partial reduplication |
|
|
Case Syncretism
|
Core cases only |
|
|
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking
|
Syncretic |
|
| Nominal Categories |
|---|
|
Number of Genders
|
Two |
|
|
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems
|
Sex-based |
|
|
Systems of Gender Assignment
|
Semantic and formal |
|
|
Coding of Nominal Plurality
|
No plural |
|
|
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality
|
Only human nouns, optional |
|
|
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns
|
Person-number stem |
|
|
Definite Articles
|
No definite or indefinite article |
|
|
Indefinite Articles
|
No definite or indefinite article |
|
|
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns
|
No inclusive/exclusive |
|
|
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection
|
No inclusive/exclusive |
|
|
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives
|
Two-way contrast |
|
|
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives
|
Identical |
|
|
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives
|
Unrelated |
|
|
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns
|
3rd person singular only |
|
|
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns
|
No politeness distinction |
|
|
Indefinite Pronouns
|
Generic-noun-based |
|
|
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns
|
Differentiated |
|
|
Person Marking on Adpositions
|
No person marking |
|
|
Number of Cases
|
6-7 cases |
|
|
Asymmetrical Case-Marking
|
Subtractive-quantitatively asymmetrical |
|
|
Position of Case Affixes
|
Case suffixes |
|
|
Comitatives and Instrumentals
|
Differentiation |
|
|
Ordinal Numerals
|
First, two-th, three-th |
|
|
Numeral Classifiers
|
Absent |
|
|
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes
|
No possessive affixes |
|
| Nominal Syntax |
|---|
|
Obligatory Possessive Inflection
|
Absent |
|
|
Possessive Classification
|
Two classes |
|
|
Action Nominal Constructions
|
Possessive-Accusative |
|
|
Noun Phrase Conjunction
|
'And' different from 'with' |
|
|
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction
|
Differentiation |
|
| Verbal Categories |
|---|
|
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect
|
Grammatical marking |
|
|
The Past Tense
|
Present, no remoteness distinctions |
|
|
The Future Tense
|
No inflectional future |
|
|
The Perfect
|
Other perfect |
|
|
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes
|
Tense-aspect suffixes |
|
|
The Morphological Imperative
|
Second singular and second plural |
|
|
The Prohibitive
|
Normal imperative + special negative |
|
|
Imperative-Hortative Systems
|
Neither type of system |
|
|
The Optative
|
Inflectional optative absent |
|
|
Situational Possibility
|
Verbal constructions |
|
|
Epistemic Possibility
|
Verbal constructions |
|
|
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking
|
Overlap for either possibility or necessity |
|
|
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality
|
No grammatical evidentials |
|
|
Coding of Evidentiality
|
No grammatical evidentials |
|
|
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect
|
Tense |
|
|
Verbal Number and Suppletion
|
None |
|
| Word Order |
|---|
|
Order of Subject, Object and Verb
|
SOV |
|
|
Order of Subject and Verb
|
SV |
|
|
Order of Object and Verb
|
OV |
|
|
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb
|
XOV |
|
|
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase
|
Postpositions |
|
|
Order of Genitive and Noun
|
Noun-Genitive |
|
|
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 |
|
|
Order of Degree Word and Adjective
|
Degree word-Adjective |
|
|
Position of Polar Question Particles
|
No question particle |
|
|
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
|
OV and Postpositions |
|
|
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Relative Clause and Noun
|
OV and NRel |
|
|
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
|
Nominative - accusative (marked nominative) |
|
|
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns
|
Nominative - accusative (standard) |
|
|
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking
|
Accusative |
|
|
Expression of Pronominal Subjects
|
Subject affixes on verb |
|
|
Verbal Person Marking
|
Only the A argument |
|
|
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking
|
Zero in some 3sg forms |
|
|
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'
|
Indirect-object construction |
|
|
Reciprocal Constructions
|
Distinct from reflexive |
|
|
Passive Constructions
|
Absent |
|
|
Antipassive Constructions
|
No antipassive |
|
|
Applicative Constructions
|
No applicative construction |
|
|
Periphrastic Causative Constructions
|
Purposive but no sequential |
|
|
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions
|
Morphological but no compound |
|
|
Negative Morphemes
|
Double negation |
|
|
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation
|
Both |
|
|
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation
|
A/Fin and A/Cat |
|
|
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation
|
Predicate negation also present |
|
|
Polar Questions
|
Interrogative intonation only |
|
|
Predicative Possession
|
'Have' |
|
|
Predicative Adjectives
|
Mixed |
|
|
Nominal and Locational Predication
|
Identical |
|
|
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals
|
Possible |
|
| Complex Sentences |
|---|
|
Relativization on Subjects
|
Gap |
|
|
Relativization on Obliques
|
Gap |
|
|
'Want' Complement Subjects
|
Both construction types exist |
|
|
Purpose Clauses
|
Deranked |
|
|
'When' Clauses
|
Balanced |
|
|
Reason Clauses
|
Balanced |
|
| Lexicon |
|---|
|
Numeral Bases
|
Decimal |
|
|
M-T Pronouns
|
No M-T pronouns |
|
|
N-M Pronouns
|
No N-M pronouns |
|
|
Tea
|
Words derived from Sinitic cha |
|
