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Abipón

Guaicuruan family · Abipon branch · South America

Abipón is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

The closest grammar profile to Abipón in the atlas belongs to Wichí, a Matacoan language: the two agree on 44 of the 61 features both have coded.

On Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes, WALS codes Abipón as “Prefixes and suffixes”, a value held by 32 of the 902 languages coded, Paumarí and Trumai among them.

Abipón: order of head and dependent in 8 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubject80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Subject precedes verb (SV). Of 1,496 languages coded, 1,192 put the subject before the verb and 194 after it.verbobject47%46%Order of Object and Verb: Object follows verb (VO). Of 1,518 languages coded, 712 put the object before the verb and 705 after it.adpositionnoun phrase49%43%Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase: Prepositions. Of 1,184 languages coded, 577 put the noun phrase before the adposition and 511 after it.noungenitivegenitiveno dominant order55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Both orders occur with neither order dominant. Of 1,249 languages coded, 685 put the genitive before the noun and 468 after it.nounadjectiveadjectiveno dominant order27%64%Order of Adjective and Noun: No dominant order. Of 1,367 languages coded, 373 put the adjective before the noun and 879 after it.noundemonstrative45%48%Order of Demonstrative and Noun: Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN). Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounrelative clause17%70%Order of Relative Clause and Noun: Relative clause follows noun (NRel). Of 824 languages coded, 141 put the relative clause before the noun and 579 after it.adjectivedegree word47%40%Order of Degree Word and Adjective: Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj). Of 481 languages coded, 227 put the degree word before the adjective and 192 after it.
The order Abipón uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Abipón with Wichí or with any other language

Uncommon values

Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Abipón, rarest first.

Inside the Guaicuruan family

Abipón matches the most frequent Guaicuruan value on 7 of the 13 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (54%).

Closest profiles

Languages that share the most coded values with Abipón; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Abipón for 63 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 56 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Abipón shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 13

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Consonant InventoriesModerately small122 of 563
Syllable StructureComplex syllable structure151 of 486
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesNo voicing contrast182 of 567
Consonant-Vowel RatioAverage234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive SystemsOther242 of 567
The Velar NasalNo velar nasal235 of 469
Vowel Quality InventoriesAverage vowel inventory (5-6)287 of 564
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Vowel NasalizationContrastive nasal vowels absent180 of 244
Presence of Uncommon ConsonantsNone449 of 567
Absence of Common ConsonantsAll present503 of 567
Front Rounded VowelsNone525 of 562

Word structure 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number MarkingSubject person/number marking is syncretic60 of 198
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyPredominantly suffixing406 of 969
Exponence of Selected Inflectional FormativesNo case75 of 162
Case SyncretismInflectional case marking is absent or minimal123 of 198
Fusion of Selected Inflectional FormativesExclusively concatenative125 of 165
Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflectionmonoexponential TAM127 of 160

Nouns and pronouns 8

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingNo morphological case-marking81 of 261
Position of Case AffixesNeither case affixes nor adpositional clitics379 of 1,031
Number of CasesNo morphological case-marking100 of 261
Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson-number stem114 of 261
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural suffix513 of 1,066
Person Marking on AdpositionsAdpositions without person marking209 of 378
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent PronounsNo inclusive/exclusive opposition120 of 200
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsNo gender distinctions254 of 378

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
The Past TenseNo grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction88 of 222
Semantic Distinctions of EvidentialityNo grammatical evidentials181 of 418
Coding of EvidentialityNo grammatical evidentials181 of 418
The Future TenseNo inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction112 of 222
The PerfectNo perfect114 of 222
Perfective/Imperfective AspectNo grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction121 of 222
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect suffixes667 of 1,131

Word order 9

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases obligatorily initial264 of 902
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbVerb-object-oblique (VOX)210 of 500
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePrepositions511 of 1,184
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)542 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject follows verb (VO)705 of 1,518
Order of Degree Word and AdjectiveDegree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)227 of 481
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseInitial subordinator word398 of 659
Order of Relative Clause and NounRelative clause follows noun (NRel)579 of 824
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 11

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Comparative ConstructionsConjoined Comparative34 of 167
Order of Person Markers on the VerbA precedes P96 of 379
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationIn other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat82 of 297
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard NegationSymmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy130 of 297
Alignment of Case Marking of PronounsNeutral79 of 172
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of both the A and P arguments193 of 378
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun PhrasesNeutral98 of 190
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingAccusative alignment212 of 380
Passive ConstructionsThere is no passive construction211 of 373
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsMorphological type but no compound type254 of 310

Vocabulary 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Hand and ArmDifferent389 of 617
Finger and HandDifferent521 of 593