Word Order Facts
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Albanian

Indo-European family · Albanian branch · Eurasia

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

On Front Rounded Vowels, WALS codes Albanian as “High only”, a value held by 8 of the 562 languages coded, Mandarin and Lezgian among them.

On Number of Cases, WALS codes Albanian as “4 case categories”, a value held by 9 of the 261 languages coded, German and Kashmiri among them.

Albanian: 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: 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 precedes noun (DemN). 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 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 Albanian uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Albanian with Greek (Modern) or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Indo-European family

Albanian matches the most frequent Indo-European value on 50 of the 75 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (67%). Among the 39 Indo-European languages profiled here, that rate ranks 27th from the top.

Closest profiles

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

Outside the Indo-European family, the best match is Otomí (Mezquital) (Oto-Manguean), with 35 of 59 features alike.

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Albanian for 75 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 68 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Albanian shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 12

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives158 of 567
Syllable StructureComplex syllable structure151 of 486
Vowel Quality InventoriesLarge vowel inventory (7-14)184 of 564
Consonant InventoriesAverage201 of 563
Consonant-Vowel RatioAverage234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems/p t k b d g/255 of 567
The Velar NasalNo velar nasal235 of 469
ToneNo tones307 of 527
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Uvular ConsonantsNo uvulars470 of 567
Absence of Common ConsonantsAll present503 of 567

Word structure 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyPredominantly suffixing406 of 969

Nouns and pronouns 12

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns3rd person only, but also non-singular42 of 378
Definite ArticlesDefinite affix on noun92 of 620
The Associative PluralAssociative plural absent37 of 236
Indefinite ArticlesIndefinite word distinct from numeral for 'one'102 of 534
Comitatives and InstrumentalsIdentity76 of 322
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesNo possessive affixes260 of 902
Ordinal NumeralsFirst, two-th, three-th110 of 321
Position of Case AffixesCase suffixes452 of 1,031
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural suffix513 of 1,066
Person Marking on AdpositionsAdpositions without person marking209 of 378
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are absent260 of 400
Politeness Distinctions in PronounsSecond person pronouns encode no politeness distinction136 of 207

Noun phrases 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Action Nominal ConstructionsErgative-Possessive21 of 168
Adjectives without NounsMarked by preceding word18 of 124
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative ClausesHighly differentiated77 of 138
Noun Phrase ConjunctionAND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical131 of 234

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 9

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
The OptativeInflectional optative present48 of 319
Epistemic PossibilityVerbal constructions65 of 240
Coding of EvidentialityVerbal affix or clitic131 of 418
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal MarkingOverlap for either possibility or necessity66 of 207
Imperative-Hortative SystemsThe language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one133 of 375
The ProhibitiveNormal imperative + special negative182 of 496
Semantic Distinctions of EvidentialityOnly indirect evidentials166 of 418
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect suffixes667 of 1,131
Situational PossibilityVerbal constructions158 of 234

Word order 11

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle at beginning of sentence129 of 884
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 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 Adjective and NounModifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)879 of 1,367
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 15

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Comparative ConstructionsParticle Comparative22 of 167
Order of Person Markers on the VerbP precedes A57 of 379
Predicative PossessionHave-Possessive63 of 240
Nominal and Locational PredicationIdentical117 of 386
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding132 of 386
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard NegationSymmetric standard negation only: Type Sym114 of 297
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationNon-assignable (no asymmetry found)114 of 297
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Passive ConstructionsThere is a passive construction162 of 373
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingNo zero realization of third person S forms181 of 380
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of both the A and P arguments193 of 378
Zero Copula for Predicate NominalsZero copula is impossible211 of 386
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingAccusative alignment212 of 380
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsPronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs437 of 711

Complex sentences 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
'Want' Complement SubjectsThe complement subject is expressed overtly72 of 283

Vocabulary 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
TeaWords derived from Sinitic cha110 of 230
Numeral BasesDecimal125 of 196

Other 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Para-Linguistic Usages of ClicksClicks may express logical meanings ('yes' and/or 'no')47 of 143