Bengali
Indo-European family · Indic branch · Eurasia
Bengali is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
Of its word-order pairings, the one Bengali shares with the fewest languages is Order of Object and Verb: “Object precedes verb (OV)”, the value of 712 of the 1,518 languages coded.
The least common value coded for Bengali is “Genitive Possessive” on Predicative Possession, held by 22 of the 240 languages coded.
Its closest grammar profile in the atlas is that of Hindi: the two agree on 28 of the 40 features both have coded.
Compared with English, Bengali has the same value on 19 of the 42 features both are coded for (45%).
Contrast Bengali with Hindi or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Bengali, rarest first.
- Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbOblique-object-verb (XOV)48 of 500
Inside the Indo-European family
Bengali matches the most frequent Indo-European value on 27 of the 42 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (64%). Among the 39 Indo-European languages profiled here, that rate ranks 29th from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Bengali; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Bengali for 42 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 38 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Bengali shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 17
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant Inventories | Moderately large | 94 of 563 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | Initial: stress is on the first syllable | 92 of 502 |
| Rhythm Types | Absent: no rhythmic stress | 98 of 323 |
| Syllable Structure | Complex syllable structure | 151 of 486 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Large vowel inventory (7-14) | 184 of 564 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 189 of 567 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Average | 234 of 564 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | /p t k b d g/ | 255 of 567 |
| 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 |
| Tone | No tones | 307 of 527 |
| 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 |
Nouns and pronouns 6
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are obligatory | 78 of 400 |
| The Associative Plural | Special bound associative plural marker | 48 of 236 |
| Distributive Numerals | Marked by reduplication | 85 of 251 |
| Ordinal Numerals | First, two-th, three-th | 110 of 321 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns | Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical | 94 of 168 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect | Suppletion in both tense and aspect | 24 of 193 |
| The Perfect | Other perfect | 80 of 222 |
| The Past Tense | Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction | 94 of 222 |
| The Future Tense | Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction | 110 of 222 |
| Perfective/Imperfective Aspect | No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction | 121 of 222 |
| Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives | None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material) | 153 of 193 |
| Verbal Number and Suppletion | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 159 of 193 |
Word order 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Identical | 117 of 386 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding | 132 of 386 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is possible | 175 of 386 |
Complex sentences 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | The complement subject is left implicit | 144 of 283 |
Vocabulary 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Tea | Words derived from Sinitic cha | 110 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 |