Bambara
Mande family · Western Mande branch · Africa
Bambara is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Order of Relative Clause and Noun, WALS codes Bambara as “Correlative relative clause”, a value held by 7 of the 824 languages coded, Supyire and Hindi among them.
The closest grammar profile to Bambara in the atlas belongs to Bribri, a Chibchan language: the two agree on 37 of the 49 features both have coded.
On Action Nominal Constructions, WALS codes Bambara as “Double-Possessive: All major arguments treated as possessors”, a value held by 7 of the 168 languages coded, Finnish and Japanese among them.
Contrast Bambara with Bribri or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Bambara, rarest first.
- Order of Demonstrative and NounTwo or more of above types with none dominant67 of 1,225
- Imperative-Hortative SystemsThe language has both a maximal and a minimal system21 of 375
- Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbObject-verb-oblique (OVX)45 of 500
Inside the Mande family
Bambara matches the most frequent Mande value on 32 of the 42 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (76%).
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Bambara; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Bambara for 75 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 69 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Bambara shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 14
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Syllable Structure | Simple syllable structure | 61 of 486 |
| Tone | Simple tone system | 132 of 527 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives | 158 of 567 |
| The Velar Nasal | Velar nasal, also initially | 147 of 469 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Large vowel inventory (7-14) | 184 of 564 |
| Consonant Inventories | Average | 201 of 563 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Average | 234 of 564 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | /p t k b d g/ | 255 of 567 |
| Lateral Consonants | /l/, no obstruent laterals | 388 of 567 |
| 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 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking | No subject person/number marking | 57 of 198 |
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | 406 of 969 |
| Case Syncretism | Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal | 123 of 198 |
Nouns and pronouns 14
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Comitatives and Instrumentals | Mixed | 33 of 322 |
| Indefinite Pronouns | Generic-noun-based indefinites | 85 of 326 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | No morphological case-marking | 81 of 261 |
| 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 person marking at all | 70 of 200 |
| Number of Cases | No morphological case-marking | 100 of 261 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem | 114 of 261 |
| The Associative Plural | Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals | 104 of 236 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural suffix | 513 of 1,066 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | Adpositions without person marking | 209 of 378 |
| 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 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical | 131 of 234 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Epistemic Possibility | Verbal constructions | 65 of 240 |
| The Prohibitive | Special imperative + special negative | 146 of 496 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | Overlap for either possibility or necessity | 66 of 207 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
| Situational Possibility | Verbal constructions | 158 of 234 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Polar Question Particles | Question particle at end of sentence | 314 of 884 |
| 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 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 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Predicative Possession | Locational Possessive | 48 of 240 |
| Verbal Person Marking | No person marking of any argument | 82 of 378 |
| Alignment of Verbal Person Marking | Neutral alignment (no verbal person marking) | 84 of 380 |
| Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking | No person marking of the S | 96 of 380 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have mixed encoding | 103 of 386 |
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat | 82 of 297 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy | 130 of 297 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns | Neutral | 79 of 172 |
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb | 187 of 379 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases | Neutral | 98 of 190 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is impossible | 211 of 386 |
| 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 |
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Different | 269 of 386 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Complex sentences 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Relativization on Obliques | Non-Reduction Strategy | 14 of 112 |
| Relativization on Subjects | Non-reduction | 24 of 166 |
Vocabulary 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Tea | Others | 36 of 230 |
| Hand and Arm | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 228 of 617 |
| Numeral Bases | Decimal | 125 of 196 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |
Other 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks | Clicks may express logical meanings ('yes' and/or 'no') | 47 of 143 |