Burushaski

a family of its own in WALS · Eurasia

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

WALS lists no other language in the family it assigns to Burushaski.

The closest grammar profile to Burushaski in the atlas belongs to Telugu, a Dravidian language: the two agree on 35 of the 46 features both have coded.

On Number of Genders, WALS codes Burushaski as “Four”, a value held by 12 of the 257 languages coded, Pirahã and Paumarí among them.

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

Contrast Burushaski with Telugu or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Weight-Sensitive StressNot predictable26 of 500
Verbal Number and SuppletionSingular-plural pairs, no suppletion12 of 193
Locus of Marking: Whole-language TypologyConsistently double-marking16 of 236
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingSplit alignment28 of 380
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsLexical: lexical stress, diacritic weight38 of 500
Third Person Pronouns and DemonstrativesRelated to remote demonstratives18 of 225
Possessive ClassificationThree to five classes20 of 243
Uvular ConsonantsUvular stops and continuants48 of 567

Closest profiles

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

Hua Trans-New Guinea32 of 42
Tamil Dravidian44 of 62
Avar Nakh-Daghestanian33 of 47
Washo family of its own29 of 41

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Burushaski for 126 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 116 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Burushaski shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Consonant Inventories	Large	57 of 563
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	High	69 of 564
The Velar Nasal	Velar nasal, but not initially	87 of 469
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels present	64 of 244
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives	158 of 567
Syllable Structure	Complex syllable structure	151 of 486
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
Rhythm Types	Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong	153 of 323
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
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
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is double-marked	22 of 236
Case Syncretism	Core and non-core	22 of 198
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Moderate preference for suffixing	123 of 969
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	8-9 categories per word	24 of 145
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is double-marked	58 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is syncretic	60 of 198
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Monoexponential case	71 of 162
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Exclusively concatenative	125 of 165
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 23

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Number of Cases	8-9 case categories	23 of 261
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Different inflectional features	21 of 201
Definite Articles	Demonstrative word used as marker of definiteness	69 of 620
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only	61 of 378
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Additive-quantitatively asymmetrical case-marking	53 of 261
Systems of Gender Assignment	Semantic assignment	53 of 257
Person Marking on Adpositions	Person marking for pronouns only	83 of 378
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive prefixes	255 of 902
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	Sex-based gender system	84 of 257
Distributive Numerals	Marked by reduplication	85 of 251
Ordinal Numerals	First, two-th, three-th	110 of 321
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
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always obligatory	133 of 291
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Two-way contrast	126 of 234
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical	94 of 168
Indefinite Pronouns	Interrogative-based indefinites	194 of 326
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction	136 of 207
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Differentiation	213 of 322

Noun phrases 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Sentential	25 of 168
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	Obligatorily possessed nouns exist	43 of 244
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301
Noun Phrase Conjunction	AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical	131 of 234
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 14

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion in both tense and aspect	24 of 193
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + normal negative	113 of 496
Epistemic Possibility	Affixes on verbs	84 of 240
The Perfect	Other perfect	80 of 222
The Past Tense	Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction	94 of 222
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	101 of 222
The Future Tense	Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	110 of 222
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular and second plural	292 of 548
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system	201 of 375
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Tense-aspect suffixes	667 of 1,131
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)	153 of 193
The Optative	Inflectional optative absent	271 of 319

Word order 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	More than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominant	93 of 659
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause precedes noun (RelN)	141 of 824
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)	373 of 1,367
Position of Polar Question Particles	No question particle	355 of 884
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral precedes noun (NumN)	479 of 1,154
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)	542 of 1,225
Order of Object and Verb	Object precedes verb (OV)	712 of 1,518
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)	227 of 481
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 Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 23

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Predicative Possession	Genitive Possessive	22 of 240
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Ergative - absolutive	20 of 172
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	P precedes A	57 of 379
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Ergative - absolutive	32 of 190
Polar Questions	Interrogative verb morphology	164 of 955
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No other roles (= Only benefactive)	36 of 183
Applicative Constructions	Benefactive and other; both bases	49 of 183
Nominal and Locational Predication	Identical	117 of 386
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding	132 of 386
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
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
Comparative Constructions	Locational Comparative	78 of 167
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No zero realization of third person S forms	181 of 380
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Indirect-object construction	189 of 378
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
Reciprocal Constructions	Distinct from reflexive	99 of 175
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

Complex sentences 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 of 174
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Bases	Hybrid vigesimal-decimal	22 of 196
M in Second Person Singular	m in second person singular	78 of 230
Tea	Words derived from Sinitic cha	110 of 230
Hand and Arm	Different	389 of 617
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
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593