Beja

Afro-Asiatic family · Beja branch · Africa

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

On Order of Demonstrative and Noun, WALS codes Beja as “Demonstrative simultaneously before and after noun”, a value held by 17 of the 1,225 languages coded, Malagasy and Tümpisa Shoshone among them.

The closest grammar profile to Beja in the atlas belongs to Nara (in Ethiopia), an Eastern Sudanic language: the two agree on 31 of the 43 features both have coded.

On Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives, WALS codes Beja as “Ablaut/concatenative”, a value held by 5 of the 165 languages coded, Arabic (Egyptian) and Hebrew (Modern) among them.

The order Beja uses in 7 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Beja with Nara (in Ethiopia) or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsGender distinctions in 3rd person plus 1st and/or 2nd person18 of 378
Weight-Sensitive StressRight-oriented: The antepenultimate is involved27 of 500
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive SystemsMissing /p/33 of 567
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationA/Fin and A/Cat21 of 297
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSyncretism in relevant NP-types21 of 261
Order of Adjective and NounNo dominant order110 of 1,367
Number of Cases2 case categories23 of 261
Predicative PossessionGenitive Possessive22 of 240

Inside the Afro-Asiatic family

Beja matches the most frequent Afro-Asiatic value on 55 of the 91 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (60%). Among the 24 Afro-Asiatic languages profiled here, that rate ranks 18th from the top.

Where Beja breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Beja	Most relatives
Coding of Evidentiality	Separate particle	No grammatical evidentials (7 of 8)

Closest profiles

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

Kunama family of its own48 of 72
Amharic Afro-Asiatic45 of 68
Fur family of its own40 of 62
Telugu Dravidian27 of 40

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Beja for 91 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 79 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Beja shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Tone	Simple tone system	132 of 527
Syllable Structure	Complex syllable structure	151 of 486
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in plosives alone	189 of 567
Consonant Inventories	Average	201 of 563
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Average	234 of 564
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
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
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 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Moderate preference for suffixing	123 of 969
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Consistently dependent-marking	46 of 236
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is dependent-marked	63 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is syncretic	60 of 198
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	4-5 categories per word	52 of 145
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is dependent-marked	98 of 236
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Monoexponential case	71 of 162
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
Reduplication	Productive full and partial reduplication	278 of 368
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 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Definite Articles	Definite affix on noun	92 of 620
Number of Genders	Two	50 of 257
Systems of Gender Assignment	Semantic and formal assignment	59 of 257
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	Sex-based gender system	84 of 257
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive suffixes	355 of 902
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Position of Case Affixes	Case suffixes	452 of 1,031
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

Noun phrases 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Noun Phrase Conjunction	AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical	131 of 234
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Perfect	Other perfect	80 of 222
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + special negative	182 of 496
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Only indirect evidentials	166 of 418
The Past Tense	Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction	94 of 222
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	101 of 222
The Future Tense	No inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	112 of 222
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

Word order 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Suffixal adverbial subordinators	64 of 659
Position of Polar Question Particles	No question particle	355 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 Genitive and Noun	Genitive-noun (GenN)	685 of 1,249
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial	615 of 902
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause follows noun (NRel)	579 of 824
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Polar Questions	Interrogative verb morphology	164 of 955
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A precedes P	96 of 379
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have mixed encoding	103 of 386
Nominal and Locational Predication	Identical	117 of 386
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
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
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is impossible	211 of 386
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
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 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
M in Second Person Singular	No m in second person singular	152 of 230
M in First Person Singular	No m in first person singular	177 of 230
N-M Pronouns	No N-M pronouns	194 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230

Other 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks	Clicks may express logical meanings ('yes' and/or 'no')	47 of 143