Word Order Facts

Acehnese

Austronesian family · Malayo-Sumbawan branch · Eurasia

WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Acehnese, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.

On Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions, WALS codes Acehnese as “Mixed, some interrogative phrases obligatorily initial, some not”, a value held by 23 of the 902 languages coded, Indonesian and Tukang Besi among them.

On Position of Polar Question Particles, WALS codes Acehnese as “Question particle in either of two positions”, a value held by 26 of the 884 languages coded, Indonesian and Malagasy among them.

Acehnese: order of head and dependent in 9 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubjectsubjectno dominant order80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Both orders with neither order dominant. Of 1,496 languages coded, 1,192 put the subject before the verb and 194 after it.verbobjectobjectno dominant order47%46%Order of Object and Verb: Both orders with neither order dominant. 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: Noun-genitive (NGen). 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 precedes noun (NumN). 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 worddegree wordno dominant order47%40%Order of Degree Word and Adjective: Both orders occur with neither order dominant. Of 481 languages coded, 227 put the degree word before the adjective and 192 after it.
The order Acehnese uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Acehnese with Fijian or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Austronesian family

Acehnese matches the most frequent Austronesian value on 42 of the 67 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (63%). Among the 38 Austronesian languages profiled here, that rate ranks 28th from the top.

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Acehnese for 67 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 57 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Acehnese shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Fixed Stress LocationsUltimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable51 of 502
Rhythm TypesTrochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong153 of 323
Weight-Sensitive StressFixed stress (no weight-sensitivity)281 of 500

Word structure 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyLittle or no inflectional morphology141 of 969
Locus of Marking: Whole-language TypologyConsistently head-marking47 of 236
Locus of Marking in the ClauseP is head-marked71 of 236
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun PhrasesPossessor is head-marked78 of 236
Zero Marking of A and P ArgumentsNon-zero marking219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 9

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesNo possessive affixes260 of 902
Definite ArticlesNeither definite nor indefinite article198 of 620
Position of Case AffixesNeither case affixes nor adpositional clitics379 of 1,031
Indefinite ArticlesNeither indefinite nor definite198 of 534
Distance Contrasts in DemonstrativesThree-way contrast88 of 234
Person Marking on AdpositionsAdpositions without person marking209 of 378
Indefinite PronounsInterrogative-based indefinites194 of 326
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsNo gender distinctions254 of 378
Pronominal and Adnominal DemonstrativesSame forms143 of 201

Noun phrases 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Noun Phrase ConjunctionWITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical103 of 234
Nominal and Verbal ConjunctionNominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical161 of 301

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesNo tense-aspect inflection152 of 1,131
The Morphological ImperativeNo second-person imperatives122 of 548
Epistemic PossibilityVerbal constructions65 of 240
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal MarkingOverlap for either possibility or necessity66 of 207
The ProhibitiveNormal imperative + special negative182 of 496
Situational PossibilityVerbal constructions158 of 234

Word order 9

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Degree Word and AdjectiveBoth orders occur with neither order dominant62 of 481
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbMore than one order with none dominant167 of 500
Order of Genitive and NounNoun-genitive (NGen)468 of 1,249
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral precedes noun (NumN)479 of 1,154
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePrepositions511 of 1,184
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word follows noun (NDem)562 of 1,225
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseInitial subordinator word398 of 659
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)879 of 1,367
Order of Relative Clause and NounRelative clause follows noun (NRel)579 of 824

Simple clauses 11

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'Mixed40 of 378
Predicative PossessionTopic Possessive48 of 240
Order of Person Markers on the VerbA precedes P96 of 379
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have verbal encoding151 of 386
Zero Copula for Predicate NominalsZero copula is possible175 of 386
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of both the A and P arguments193 of 378
Passive ConstructionsThere is no passive construction211 of 373
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Nominal and Locational PredicationDifferent269 of 386
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsMorphological type but no compound type254 of 310
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate NegationNegative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation170 of 206

Complex sentences 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Purpose ClausesBalanced38 of 170
'When' ClausesBalanced84 of 174
Relativization on ObliquesGap Strategy55 of 112
'Want' Complement SubjectsThe complement subject is left implicit144 of 283
Reason ClausesBalanced90 of 169
Relativization on SubjectsGap125 of 166
Utterance Complement ClausesBalanced114 of 143

Vocabulary 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
TeaWords derived from Min Nan Chinese te84 of 230
M in Second Person SingularNo m in second person singular152 of 230
M in First Person SingularNo m in first person singular177 of 230
N-M PronounsNo N-M pronouns194 of 230
M-T PronounsNo M-T pronouns200 of 230