Apurinã

Arawakan family · Purus branch · South America

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

On The Morphological Imperative, WALS codes Apurinã as “Second plural”, a value held by 2 of the 548 languages coded, the other being Latvian.

The closest grammar profile to Apurinã in the atlas belongs to Karok, a Hokan language: the two agree on 60 of the 91 features both have coded.

On Syllable Structure, all 5 other Arawakan languages coded have the value “Moderately complex syllable structure”; Apurinã has “Simple syllable structure”.

The order Apurinã uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Apurinã with Karok or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Nominal and Verbal ConjunctionBoth expressed by juxtaposition15 of 301
Order of Object and VerbBoth orders with neither order dominant101 of 1,518
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingActive alignment26 of 380
Number of CasesExclusively borderline morphological case-marking24 of 261
Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson-number affixes25 of 261

Inside the Arawakan family

Apurinã matches the most frequent Arawakan value on 38 of the 55 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (69%). Among the 5 Arawakan languages profiled here, that rate ranks first from the top.

Where Apurinã breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Apurinã	Most relatives
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	Long vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress	No weight, or weight factor unknown (5 of 5)
Weight-Sensitive Stress	Right-edge: Stress on ultimate or penultimate syllable	Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity) (4 of 5)

Closest profiles

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

Seneca Iroquoian29 of 41
Luiseño Uto-Aztecan29 of 42
Yagua Peba-Yaguan62 of 102
Ainu family of its own60 of 103

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Apurinã for 115 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 105 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Apurinã shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Consonant Inventories	Small	89 of 563
Lateral Consonants	No laterals	95 of 567
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels present	64 of 244
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	No voicing contrast	182 of 567
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Average	234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
Rhythm Types	Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong	153 of 323
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
Tone	No tones	307 of 527
Glottalized Consonants	No glottalized consonants	409 of 567
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 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Reduplication	No productive reduplication	55 of 368
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Approximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing	147 of 969
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Consistently head-marking	47 of 236
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	6-7 categories per word	31 of 145
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is head-marked	71 of 236
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is head-marked	78 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is never syncretic	81 of 198
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	No case	75 of 162
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
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
Ordinal Numerals	Zero: Ordinal numerals do not exist	33 of 321
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related by gender markers	24 of 225
Position of Case Affixes	Postpositional clitics	123 of 1,031
The Associative Plural	Associative plural absent	37 of 236
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only	61 of 378
Person Marking on Adpositions	No adpositions	63 of 378
Number of Genders	Two	50 of 257
Systems of Gender Assignment	Semantic and formal assignment	59 of 257
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive prefixes	255 of 902
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Symmetrical case-marking	79 of 261
Definite Articles	Neither definite nor indefinite article	198 of 620
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	Sex-based gender system	84 of 257
Indefinite Articles	Neither indefinite nor definite	198 of 534
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated	74 of 168
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always obligatory	133 of 291
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Two-way contrast	126 of 234
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
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Same forms	143 of 201

Noun phrases 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Sentential	25 of 168
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
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
Coding of Evidentiality	Verbal affix or clitic	131 of 418
Epistemic Possibility	Affixes on verbs	84 of 240
The Past Tense	No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction	88 of 222
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Only indirect evidentials	166 of 418
The Future Tense	Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	110 of 222
The Perfect	No perfect	114 of 222
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system	201 of 375
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	121 of 222
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Tense-aspect suffixes	667 of 1,131
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	No suppletion in tense or aspect	123 of 193
Situational Possibility	Verbal constructions	158 of 234
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 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial	264 of 902
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	More than one order with none dominant	167 of 500
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 Adposition and Noun Phrase	Postpositions	577 of 1,184
Order of Genitive and Noun	Genitive-noun (GenN)	685 of 1,249
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Initial subordinator word	398 of 659
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)	879 of 1,367
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause follows noun (NRel)	579 of 824
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'	Mixed	40 of 378
Polar Questions	Interrogative intonation only	173 of 955
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A precedes P	96 of 379
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric standard negation only: Type Sym	114 of 297
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	Non-assignable (no asymmetry found)	114 of 297
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	502 of 1,157
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Neutral	79 of 172
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
Applicative Constructions	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Reciprocal Constructions	Distinct from reflexive	99 of 175
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs	437 of 711
Antipassive Constructions	No antipassive	146 of 194
Productivity of the Antipassive Construction	no antipassive	146 of 186
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions	Morphological type but no compound type	254 of 310

Complex sentences 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
'Want' Complement Subjects	'Want' is expressed as a desiderative verbal affix	45 of 283
'When' Clauses	Balanced	84 of 174
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
M in Second Person Singular	m in second person singular	78 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