Bawm

Sino-Tibetan family · Kuki-Chin branch · Eurasia

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

The closest grammar profile to Bawm in the atlas belongs to Tetun, an Austronesian language: the two agree on 28 of the 43 features both have coded.

On Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking, all 7 other Sino-Tibetan languages coded have the value “No subject person/number marking”; Bawm has “Subject person/number marking is never syncretic”.

On Number of Cases, WALS codes Bawm as “4 case categories”, a value held by 9 of the 261 languages coded, German and Suena among them.

The order Bawm uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Bawm with Tetun or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Imperative-Hortative SystemsThe language has a minimal system, but not a maximal one20 of 375
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbObject-oblique-verb (OXV)27 of 500
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive SystemsMissing /g/34 of 567
Negative MorphemesNegative word, unclear if verb or particle73 of 1,157
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsBoth morphological type and compound type24 of 310
Order of Relative Clause and NounMixed types of relative clause with none dominant64 of 824
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsSubject pronouns in different position67 of 711

Inside the Sino-Tibetan family

Bawm matches the most frequent Sino-Tibetan value on 48 of the 82 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (59%). Among the 15 Sino-Tibetan languages profiled here, that rate ranks 11th from the top.

Closest profiles

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

Lahu Sino-Tibetan33 of 52
Tibetan (Standard Spoken) Sino-Tibetan26 of 40
Ewe Niger-Congo40 of 69
Nung (in Vietnam) Tai-Kadai25 of 41

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Bawm for 82 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 72 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Bawm shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Fixed Stress Locations	Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable	51 of 502
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately high	102 of 564
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
Consonant Inventories	Average	201 of 563
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	No weight, or weight factor unknown	261 of 500
Weight-Sensitive Stress	Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity)	281 of 500
Syllable Structure	Moderately complex syllable structure	274 of 486
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 2

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Little or no inflectional morphology	141 of 969
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is never syncretic	35 of 198

Nouns and pronouns 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural word	170 of 1,066
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix	47 of 261
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always optional	55 of 291
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Symmetrical case-marking	79 of 261
Definite Articles	Neither definite nor indefinite article	198 of 620
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
Indefinite Articles	Neither indefinite nor definite	198 of 534
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Unrelated	100 of 225
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
Indefinite Pronouns	Interrogative-based indefinites	194 of 326
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378

Noun phrases 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	No tense-aspect inflection	152 of 1,131
The Morphological Imperative	No second-person imperatives	122 of 548
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	Overlap for either possibility or necessity	66 of 207
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + special negative	182 of 496
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Situational Possibility	Verbal constructions	158 of 234
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
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 follows noun (NDem)	562 of 1,225
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
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 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Mixed	40 of 378
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Ergative - absolutive	20 of 172
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Ergative - absolutive	32 of 190
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A precedes P	96 of 379
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
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 Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Passive Constructions	There is no passive construction	211 of 373
Polar Questions	Question particle	585 of 955
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation	Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation	170 of 206

Complex sentences 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 of 174
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is left implicit	144 of 283
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166

Vocabulary 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Bases	Decimal	125 of 196