Asmat
Asmat-Kamrau Bay family · Papunesia
Asmat is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Applicative Constructions, WALS codes Asmat as “Benefactive object only; transitive base only”, a value held by 4 of the 183 languages coded, Indonesian and Una among them.
On Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase, WALS codes Asmat as “No adpositions”, a value held by 30 of the 1,184 languages coded, Kayardild and Ngiyambaa among them.
The closest grammar profile to Asmat in the atlas belongs to Ekari, a Trans-New Guinea language: the two agree on 45 of the 62 features both have coded.
Contrast Asmat with Ekari or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Asmat, rarest first.
- Distance Contrasts in DemonstrativesFour-way contrast9 of 234
- N-M PronounsN-M pronouns, non-paradigmatic11 of 230
- Third Person Pronouns and DemonstrativesRelated to non-remote demonstratives14 of 225
- Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationIn reality status: Subtype A/NonReal20 of 297
- Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsLexical: lexical stress, diacritic weight38 of 500
- Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson stem with a pronominal plural affix23 of 261
- Rhythm TypesIambic: right-hand syllable in the foot is strong31 of 323
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Asmat; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Asmat for 108 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 98 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Asmat shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 17
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Stress Locations | Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable | 51 of 502 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Low | 58 of 564 |
| Consonant Inventories | Small | 89 of 563 |
| Lateral Consonants | No laterals | 95 of 567 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | No voicing contrast | 182 of 567 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| The Velar Nasal | No velar nasal | 235 of 469 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Average vowel inventory (5-6) | 287 of 564 |
| Weight-Sensitive Stress | Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity) | 281 of 500 |
| Syllable Structure | Moderately complex syllable structure | 274 of 486 |
| 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 12
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases | Possessor has no marking | 32 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P is head-marked | 71 of 236 |
| Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb | 4-5 categories per word | 52 of 145 |
| Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking | Subject person/number marking is never syncretic | 81 of 198 |
| 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 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Definite Articles | Demonstrative word used as marker of definiteness | 69 of 620 |
| The Associative Plural | Special non-bound associative plural marker | 47 of 236 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | No morphological case-marking | 81 of 261 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics | 379 of 1,031 |
| Number of Cases | No morphological case-marking | 100 of 261 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 79 of 200 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural suffix | 513 of 1,066 |
| 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 |
| Number of Genders | None | 145 of 257 |
| Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems | No gender system | 145 of 257 |
| Systems of Gender Assignment | No gender system | 145 of 257 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 120 of 200 |
| Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns | Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction | 136 of 207 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Noun phrases 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Obligatory Possessive Inflection | Obligatorily possessed nouns exist | 43 of 244 |
| Possessive Classification | Two classes | 94 of 243 |
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical | 131 of 234 |
| Number of Possessive Nouns | None reported | 233 of 243 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Morphological Imperative | Second person number-neutral | 89 of 548 |
| The Past Tense | Present, 2-3 remoteness distinctions | 38 of 222 |
| Situational Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 63 of 234 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 131 of 418 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 84 of 240 |
| The Perfect | Other perfect | 80 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 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | No overlap | 105 of 207 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | Final subordinator word | 96 of 659 |
| Order of Relative Clause and Noun | Relative clause precedes noun (RelN) | 141 of 824 |
| Position of Polar Question Particles | Question particle at end of sentence | 314 of 884 |
| Order of Degree Word and Adjective | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 192 of 481 |
| 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 Numeral and Noun | Numeral follows noun (NNum) | 608 of 1,154 |
| Order of Genitive and Noun | Genitive-noun (GenN) | 685 of 1,249 |
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj) | 879 of 1,367 |
| 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 19
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking | Zero realization of all third person singular S forms | 45 of 380 |
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | P precedes A | 57 of 379 |
| Other Roles of Applied Objects | No other roles (= Only benefactive) | 36 of 183 |
| Predicative Possession | Topic Possessive | 48 of 240 |
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Identical | 117 of 386 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding | 132 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 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is possible | 175 of 386 |
| 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 |
| Alignment of Verbal Person Marking | Accusative alignment | 212 of 380 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
| Reciprocal Constructions | Distinct from reflexive | 99 of 175 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
| 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 |
Vocabulary 3
| 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 |
| M-T Pronouns | No M-T pronouns | 200 of 230 |