The Uralic languages
Language family · Eurasia
WALS includes 27 Uralic languages in 7 branches; all of them are in Eurasia.
Basic word order: SOV in 8 of the 14 members coded, then SVO in 5, no dominant order in 1.
The most solid shared trait: all 16 members coded for Position of Case Affixes have case suffixes.
Of these, 7 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 verbUralic100% · none of 11All WALS80% · 13% of 1,496
- Object and verbUralic58% · 42% of 12All WALS47% · 46% of 1,518
- Noun phrase and adpositionUralic100% · none of 10All WALS49% · 43% of 1,184
- Genitive and nounUralic100% · none of 11All WALS55% · 37% of 1,249
- Adjective and nounUralic100% · none of 12All WALS27% · 64% of 1,367
- Demonstrative and nounUralic100% · none of 8All WALS45% · 48% of 1,225
- Numeral and nounUralic100% · none of 9All WALS42% · 53% of 1,154
- Relative clause and nounUralic40% · 40% of 5All WALS17% · 70% of 824
- Degree word and adjectiveUralic100% · none of 6All WALS47% · 40% of 481
Shared and split traits
| Feature | Most frequent value | Members |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 16 of 16 |
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN) | 16 of 16 |
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | 15 of 15 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 15 of 15 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural suffix | 14 of 14 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive suffixes | 14 of 14 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 14 of 14 |
| Order of Genitive and Noun | Genitive-noun (GenN) | 13 of 13 |
| Feature | Largest group | Members |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant Inventories | Moderately small | 3 of 9 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 3 of 9 |
| Distributive Numerals | Marked by suffix | 3 of 9 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 5 of 13 |
| Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems | Long vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress | 6 of 15 |
Members
| Language | Branch | Basic order | Features coded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estonian | Finnic | SVO | 45 |
| Finnish | Finnic | SVO | 140 |
| Hungarian | Ugric | no dominant order | 137 |
| Khanty | Ugric | SOV | 57 |
| Komi-Zyrian | Permic | SVO | 38 |
| Mansi | Ugric | SOV | 48 |
| Mari (Meadow) | Mari | not coded | 39 |
| Mordvin (Erzya) | Mordvin | not coded | 29 |
| Nenets | Samoyedic | SOV | 101 |
| Nganasan | Samoyedic | SOV | 33 |
| Saami (Northern) | Saami | SVO | 39 |
| Selkup | Samoyedic | SOV | 41 |
| Udmurt | Permic | SOV | 33 |
Not listed: 14 further Uralic languages with fewer than 20 coded features.