Alamblak

Sepik family · Sepik Hill branch · Papunesia

Alamblak is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

On Weight-Sensitive Stress, WALS codes Alamblak as “Combined: Both Right-edge and unbounded”, a value held by 8 of the 500 languages coded, Iraqw and Carib among them.

The closest grammar profile to Alamblak in the atlas belongs to Arapesh (Mountain), a Torricelli language: the two agree on 65 of the 102 features both have coded.

On Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb, WALS codes Alamblak as “10-11 categories per word”, a value held by 7 of the 145 languages coded, Abkhaz and Lakhota among them.

The order Alamblak uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Alamblak with Arapesh (Mountain) or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationIn reality status: Subtype A/NonReal20 of 297
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural clitic81 of 1,066
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsBoth morphological type and compound type24 of 310
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsProminence: other factors are heavy for stress41 of 500
Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson-number stem with a nominal plural affix22 of 261
Applicative ConstructionsBenefactive object only; both bases16 of 183
Number of Cases8-9 case categories23 of 261

Inside the Sepik family

Alamblak matches the most frequent Sepik value on 25 of the 39 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (64%).

Closest profiles

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

Hua Trans-New Guinea29 of 42
Sentani Sentanic47 of 73
Tunica family of its own47 of 73
Kiwai (Southern) Trans-New Guinea27 of 40

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Alamblak for 119 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 109 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Alamblak shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Lateral Consonants	No laterals	95 of 567
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately low	101 of 564
Consonant Inventories	Moderately small	122 of 563
Syllable Structure	Complex syllable structure	151 of 486
Vowel Quality Inventories	Large vowel inventory (7-14)	184 of 564
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in plosives alone	189 of 567
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	/p t k b d g/	255 of 567
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
Tone	No tones	307 of 527
Glottalized Consonants	No glottalized consonants	409 of 567
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels absent	180 of 244
Presence of Uncommon Consonants	None	449 of 567
Uvular Consonants	No uvulars	470 of 567
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is head-marked	71 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is never syncretic	81 of 198
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is dependent-marked	98 of 236
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Predominantly suffixing	406 of 969
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	No case	75 of 162
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Inconsistent marking or other type	121 of 236
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
Reduplication	Productive full and partial reduplication	278 of 368
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Exclusively concatenative	125 of 165
Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection	monoexponential TAM	127 of 160
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 22

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related by gender markers	24 of 225
Position of Case Affixes	Postpositional clitics	123 of 1,031
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only	61 of 378
Indefinite Articles	No indefinite article but definite article	98 of 534
Number of Genders	Two	50 of 257
The Associative Plural	Special non-bound associative plural marker	47 of 236
Systems of Gender Assignment	Semantic assignment	53 of 257
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Symmetrical case-marking	79 of 261
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	Sex-based gender system	84 of 257
Ordinal Numerals	First, two-th, three-th	110 of 321
Definite Articles	Definite word distinct from demonstrative	216 of 620
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always obligatory	133 of 291
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Two-way contrast	126 of 234
Person Marking on Adpositions	Adpositions without person marking	209 of 378
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical	94 of 168
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction	136 of 207
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Differentiation	213 of 322
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Same forms	143 of 201

Noun phrases 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	No action nominals	42 of 168
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are different	125 of 301
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Noun Phrase Conjunction	AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical	131 of 234
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 14

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Past Tense	Present, 2-3 remoteness distinctions	38 of 222
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion according to tense	36 of 193
The Prohibitive	Special imperative + special negative	146 of 496
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one	133 of 375
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	101 of 222
The Future Tense	Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	110 of 222
The Perfect	No perfect	114 of 222
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular and second plural	292 of 548
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Tense-aspect suffixes	667 of 1,131
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)	153 of 193
Verbal Number and Suppletion	No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples	159 of 193
The Optative	Inflectional optative absent	271 of 319

Word order 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause precedes noun (RelN)	141 of 824
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)	373 of 1,367
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	More than one order with none dominant	167 of 500
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)	192 of 481
Position of Polar Question Particles	No question particle	355 of 884
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral precedes noun (NumN)	479 of 1,154
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)	542 of 1,225
Order of Object and Verb	Object precedes verb (OV)	712 of 1,518
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase	Postpositions	577 of 1,184
Order of Genitive and Noun	Genitive-noun (GenN)	685 of 1,249
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial	615 of 902
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 18

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Secondary-object construction	65 of 378
Polar Questions	Interrogative intonation only	173 of 955
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No other roles (= Only benefactive)	36 of 183
Predicative Possession	Conjunctional Possessive	59 of 240
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A precedes P	96 of 379
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have mixed encoding	103 of 386
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	502 of 1,157
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy	130 of 297
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No zero realization of third person S forms	181 of 380
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of both the A and P arguments	193 of 378
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Neutral	98 of 190
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is impossible	211 of 386
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Passive Constructions	There is no passive construction	211 of 373
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs	437 of 711
Nominal and Locational Predication	Different	269 of 386
Antipassive Constructions	No antipassive	146 of 194
Productivity of the Antipassive Construction	no antipassive	146 of 186

Complex sentences 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Reason Clauses	Deranked	42 of 169
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 of 174
Relativization on Obliques	Gap Strategy	55 of 112
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166

Vocabulary 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Bases	Pure vigesimal	20 of 196
M in Second Person Singular	No m in second person singular	152 of 230
M in First Person Singular	No m in first person singular	177 of 230
N-M Pronouns	No N-M pronouns	194 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230