Word Order Facts
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Abun

a family of its own in WALS · Papunesia

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

WALS lists no other language in the family it assigns to Abun.

The closest grammar profile to Abun in the atlas belongs to Thai, a Tai-Kadai language: the two agree on 28 of the 40 features both have coded.

Abun: order of head and dependent in 9 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.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Genitive-noun (GenN). Of 1,249 languages coded, 685 put the genitive before the noun and 468 after it.nounadjective27%64%Order of Adjective and Noun: Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj). 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 follows noun (NDem). Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounnumeral42%53%Order of Numeral and Noun: Numeral follows noun (NNum). Of 1,154 languages coded, 479 put the numeral before the noun and 608 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 follows adjective (AdjDeg). Of 481 languages coded, 227 put the degree word before the adjective and 192 after it.
The order Abun uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Abun with Thai or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Abun for 46 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 43 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Abun shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Word structure 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyLittle or no inflectional morphology141 of 969

Nouns and pronouns 9

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Definite ArticlesDemonstrative word used as marker of definiteness69 of 620
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsGender distinctions in 3rd person singular only61 of 378
Indefinite ArticlesIndefinite word distinct from numeral for 'one'102 of 534
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are obligatory78 of 400
Indefinite PronounsGeneric-noun-based indefinites85 of 326
Conjunctions and Universal QuantifiersFormally similar, not involving interrogative expression33 of 116
Position of Case AffixesNeither case affixes nor adpositional clitics379 of 1,031
Person Marking on AdpositionsAdpositions without person marking209 of 378
Politeness Distinctions in PronounsSecond person pronouns encode no politeness distinction136 of 207

Noun phrases 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Nominal and Verbal ConjunctionNominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical161 of 301
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative ClausesHighly differentiated77 of 138

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesNo tense-aspect inflection152 of 1,131
The Morphological ImperativeNo second-person imperatives122 of 548

Word order 13

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseMore than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominant93 of 659
Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle at end of sentence314 of 884
Order of Degree Word and AdjectiveDegree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)192 of 481
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 follows noun (NDem)562 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject follows verb (VO)705 of 1,518
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral follows noun (NNum)608 of 1,154
Order of Genitive and NounGenitive-noun (GenN)685 of 1,249
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)879 of 1,367
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases not obligatorily initial615 of 902
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 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Negative MorphemesDouble negation119 of 1,157
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsObligatory pronouns in subject position82 of 711
Verbal Person MarkingNo person marking of any argument82 of 378
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingNeutral alignment (no verbal person marking)84 of 380
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingNo person marking of the S96 of 380
Order of Person Markers on the VerbA and P do not or do not both occur on the verb187 of 379
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'Indirect-object construction189 of 378
Passive ConstructionsThere is no passive construction211 of 373
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate NegationNegative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation170 of 206

Complex sentences 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
'Want' Complement SubjectsThe complement subject is expressed overtly72 of 283
'When' ClausesBalanced84 of 174
Reason ClausesBalanced90 of 169
Purpose ClausesDeranked102 of 170
Utterance Complement ClausesBalanced114 of 143

Vocabulary 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Numeral BasesDecimal125 of 196