Batak (Karo)
Austronesian family · Northwest Sumatra-Barrier Islands branch · Papunesia
WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Batak (Karo), a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.
On Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses, WALS codes Batak (Karo) as “Moderately differentiated; other”, a value held by 3 of the 138 languages coded, the others being Thai and Mupun.
Within the Northwest Sumatra-Barrier Islands branch, all 4 other languages coded for Order of Subject and Verb have the value “Subject follows verb (VS)”; Batak (Karo) has “Both orders with neither order dominant”.
On Expression of Pronominal Subjects, WALS codes Batak (Karo) as “More than one of the above types with none dominant”, a value held by 32 of the 711 languages coded, Finnish and Hebrew (Modern) among them.
Contrast Batak (Karo) with Indonesian or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Batak (Karo), rarest first.
- Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural by complete reduplication of stem8 of 1,066
- Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle in second position in sentence52 of 884
- Negative MorphemesNegative word, unclear if verb or particle73 of 1,157
- Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of only the P argument24 of 378
- Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsCombined: two of the above factors determine weight42 of 500
- Relativization on ObliquesNot possible10 of 112
Inside the Austronesian family
Batak (Karo) matches the most frequent Austronesian value on 60 of the 92 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (65%). Among the 38 Austronesian languages profiled here, that rate ranks 21st from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Batak (Karo); the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Batak (Karo) for 92 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 82 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Batak (Karo) shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 17
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Weight-Sensitive Stress | Right-edge: Stress on ultimate or penultimate syllable | 65 of 500 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately low | 101 of 564 |
| Consonant Inventories | Moderately small | 122 of 563 |
| The Velar Nasal | Velar nasal, also initially | 147 of 469 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Large vowel inventory (7-14) | 184 of 564 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 189 of 567 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 220 of 502 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | /p t k b d g/ | 255 of 567 |
| Syllable Structure | Moderately complex syllable structure | 274 of 486 |
| Tone | No tones | 307 of 527 |
| Lateral Consonants | /l/, no obstruent laterals | 388 of 567 |
| 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 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Case Syncretism | Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal | 123 of 198 |
Nouns and pronouns 18
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Definite Articles | Definite affix on noun | 92 of 620 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are optional | 62 of 400 |
| Indefinite Articles | No indefinite article but definite article | 98 of 534 |
| Distributive Numerals | No distributive numerals | 62 of 251 |
| Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers | Formally similar, not involving interrogative expression | 33 of 116 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | No morphological case-marking | 81 of 261 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 63 of 200 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No person marking at all | 70 of 200 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics | 379 of 1,031 |
| Number of Cases | No morphological case-marking | 100 of 261 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive suffixes | 355 of 902 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem | 114 of 261 |
| Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns | Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated | 74 of 168 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | Adpositions without person marking | 209 of 378 |
| 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 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Noun phrases 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Adjectives without Nouns | Marked by preceding word | 18 of 124 |
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | WITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical | 103 of 234 |
| Nominal and Verbal Conjunction | Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical | 161 of 301 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Morphological Imperative | Second person number-neutral | 89 of 548 |
| Situational Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 63 of 234 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 133 of 375 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 182 of 496 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Other | 91 of 240 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | No grammatical evidentials | 181 of 418 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | No grammatical evidentials | 181 of 418 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | No overlap | 105 of 207 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
| 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 Genitive and Noun | Noun-genitive (NGen) | 468 of 1,249 |
| Order of Numeral and Noun | Numeral precedes noun (NumN) | 479 of 1,154 |
| Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 210 of 500 |
| Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase | Prepositions | 511 of 1,184 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem) | 562 of 1,225 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object follows verb (VO) | 705 of 1,518 |
| Order of Degree Word and Adjective | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 227 of 481 |
| 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 |
Simple clauses 14
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Alignment of Verbal Person Marking | Accusative alignment | 212 of 380 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
| Periphrastic Causative Constructions | Purposive type but no sequential type | 68 of 118 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
| 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 |
| Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation | Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation | 170 of 206 |
Complex sentences 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose Clauses | Balanced | 38 of 170 |
| 'When' Clauses | Balanced | 84 of 174 |
| Reason Clauses | Balanced | 90 of 169 |
| Relativization on Subjects | Gap | 125 of 166 |
| Utterance Complement Clauses | Balanced | 114 of 143 |
Vocabulary 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Numeral Bases | Decimal | 125 of 196 |