Word Order Facts
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Azerbaijani

Altaic family · Turkic branch · Eurasia

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

On Front Rounded Vowels, WALS codes Azerbaijani as “High and mid”, a value held by 23 of the 562 languages coded, Turkish and Chuvash among them.

Of its word-order pairings, the one Azerbaijani shares with the fewest languages is Order of Adjective and Noun: “Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)”, the value of 373 of the 1,367 languages coded.

The least common value coded for Azerbaijani is “Inflectional optative present” on The Optative, held by 48 of the 319 languages coded.

Its closest grammar profile in the atlas is that of Turkish: the two agree on 35 of the 40 features both have coded.

Azerbaijani: order of head and dependent in 5 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 precedes verb (OV). Of 1,518 languages coded, 712 put the object before the verb and 705 after it.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Genitive-noun (GenN). 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 precedes noun (AdjN). Of 1,367 languages coded, 373 put the adjective before the noun and 879 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.
The order Azerbaijani uses in 5 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Azerbaijani with Turkish or with any other language

Inside the Altaic family

Azerbaijani matches the most frequent Altaic value on 31 of the 40 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (78%). Among the 15 Altaic languages profiled here, that rate ranks ninth from the top.

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Azerbaijani for 40 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 36 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Azerbaijani shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 13

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Consonant-Vowel RatioModerately low101 of 564
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives158 of 567
Vowel Quality InventoriesLarge vowel inventory (7-14)184 of 564
Consonant InventoriesAverage201 of 563
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems/p t k b d g/255 of 567
The Velar NasalNo velar nasal235 of 469
Syllable StructureModerately complex syllable structure274 of 486
ToneNo tones307 of 527
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Presence of Uncommon ConsonantsNone449 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 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are optional62 of 400
Ordinal NumeralsFirst/one-th, two-th, three-th54 of 321
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesPossessive suffixes355 of 902
Position of Case AffixesCase suffixes452 of 1,031
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural suffix513 of 1,066
Indefinite PronounsInterrogative-based indefinites194 of 326

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
The PerfectOther perfect80 of 222
The Past TensePast/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction94 of 222
Perfective/Imperfective AspectGrammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction101 of 222
The Future TenseInflectional marking of future/non-future distinction110 of 222
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect suffixes667 of 1,131

Word order 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle at end of sentence314 of 884
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral precedes noun (NumN)479 of 1,154
Order of Object and VerbObject precedes verb (OV)712 of 1,518
Order of Genitive and NounGenitive-noun (GenN)685 of 1,249
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases not obligatorily initial615 of 902
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Negative MorphemesNegative affix395 of 1,157
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955

Vocabulary 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Hand and ArmIdentity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm'228 of 617
TeaWords derived from Sinitic cha110 of 230
Finger and HandDifferent521 of 593