The Na-Dene languages
Language family · North America
WALS includes 24 Na-Dene languages in 3 branches; all of them are in North America.
The most solid shared trait: all 9 members coded for Order of Demonstrative and Noun have demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN).
Of these, 4 have a full page on this site.
Word order against the world
Members with at least 30 coded features, compared with every language WALS codes for each pairing.
dependent before the headboth or otherafter the head
- Subject and verbNa-Dene80% · none of 5All WALS80% · 13% of 1,496
- Object and verbNa-Dene80% · none of 5All WALS47% · 46% of 1,518
- Noun phrase and adpositionNa-Dene100% · none of 5All WALS49% · 43% of 1,184
- Demonstrative and nounNa-Dene100% · none of 5All WALS45% · 48% of 1,225
- Numeral and nounNa-Dene80% · 20% of 5All WALS42% · 53% of 1,154
- Relative clause and nounNa-Dene20% · 40% of 5All WALS17% · 70% of 824
Shared and split traits
| Feature | Most frequent value | Members |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 9 of 9 |
| Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase | Postpositions | 8 of 8 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 8 of 9 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object precedes verb (OV) | 8 of 9 |
| Hand and Arm | Different | 14 of 17 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 14 of 17 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 6 of 8 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 7 of 10 |
| Feature | Largest group | Members |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly prefixing | 4 of 8 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect prefixes | 5 of 8 |
| Order of Numeral and Noun | Numeral precedes noun (NumN) | 5 of 8 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 7 of 10 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 7 of 10 |