Word Order Facts
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The Tupian languages

Language family · South America

WALS includes 23 Tupian languages in 7 branches; all of them are in South America.

Basic word order: SOV in 10 of the 14 members coded, then SVO in 2, VSO in 1, OVS in 1.

The most solid shared trait: all 13 members coded for Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes have possessive prefixes.

Of these, 2 have a full page on this site.

Every Tupian language in WALS, placed at the point the atlas gives for it.

Shared and split traits

Where the family agrees most
FeatureMost frequent valueMembers
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesPossessive prefixes13 of 13
Order of Genitive and NounGenitive-noun (GenN)13 of 13
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)11 of 11
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)11 of 11
Hand and ArmDifferent9 of 9
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePostpositions14 of 15
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases obligatorily initial13 of 14
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle10 of 11
Where it is most divided
FeatureLargest groupMembers
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyApproximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing3 of 9
Negative MorphemesNegative affix4 of 11
Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle at end of sentence4 of 10
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural suffix5 of 10
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbObject-verb-oblique (OVX)5 of 10

Members

LanguageBranchBasic orderFeatures coded
CocamaMaweti-Guaraninot coded27
GuajajaraMaweti-Guaraninot coded23
GuaraníMaweti-GuaraniSVO123
KamaiuráMaweti-GuaraniSOV32
Karó (Arára)Ramaramanot coded22
SirionóMaweti-GuaraniSOV42
Urubú-KaaporMaweti-GuaraniSOV94
WayampiMaweti-Guaraninot coded25
ÉmérillonMaweti-Guaraninot coded21

Not listed: 14 further Tupian languages with fewer than 20 coded features.