Cayuvava
a family of its own in WALS · South America
Cayuvava puts its words in verb-object-subject order (VOS), one of only 25 with that basic order among the 1,376 languages WALS codes for this feature.
On Possessive Classification, WALS codes Cayuvava as “More than five classes”, a value held by 4 of the 243 languages coded, Amele among them.
On Position of Case Affixes, WALS codes Cayuvava as “Prepositional clitics”, a value held by 17 of the 1,031 languages coded, French and Malagasy among them.
WALS lists no other language in the family it assigns to Cayuvava.
Contrast Cayuvava with Otomí (Mezquital) or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Cayuvava, rarest first.
- Fixed Stress LocationsAntepenultimate12 of 502
- Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesPrefixes and suffixes32 of 902
- Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingZero realization of some third person singular forms21 of 380
- Voicing and Gaps in Plosive SystemsMissing /g/34 of 567
- Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingSplit alignment28 of 380
- Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural clitic81 of 1,066
- Number of CasesExclusively borderline morphological case-marking24 of 261
- Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson-number affixes25 of 261
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Cayuvava; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Cayuvava for 88 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 77 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Cayuvava shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 17
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Syllable Structure | Simple syllable structure | 61 of 486 |
| Lateral Consonants | No laterals | 95 of 567 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately low | 101 of 564 |
| Consonant Inventories | Moderately small | 122 of 563 |
| Vowel Nasalization | Contrastive nasal vowels present | 64 of 244 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Large vowel inventory (7-14) | 184 of 564 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 189 of 567 |
| Rhythm Types | Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong | 153 of 323 |
| The Velar Nasal | No velar nasal | 235 of 469 |
| 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 |
| 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 12
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Moderate preference for prefixing | 94 of 969 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P has no marking | 42 of 236 |
| Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb | 6-7 categories per word | 31 of 145 |
| Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking | Subject person/number marking is syncretic | 60 of 198 |
| Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases | Possessor is head-marked | 78 of 236 |
| Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives | No case | 75 of 162 |
| Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology | Inconsistent marking or other type | 121 of 236 |
| Case Syncretism | Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal | 123 of 198 |
| Reduplication | Productive full and partial reduplication | 278 of 368 |
| 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 13
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinal Numerals | Zero: Ordinal numerals do not exist | 33 of 321 |
| Distributive Numerals | Marked by suffix | 32 of 251 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 30 of 200 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | No adpositions | 63 of 378 |
| Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives | Related for all demonstratives | 52 of 225 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | Symmetrical case-marking | 79 of 261 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 63 of 200 |
| 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 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are absent | 260 of 400 |
| Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns | Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction | 136 of 207 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Noun phrases 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Combination of tense-aspect strategies with none primary | 146 of 1,131 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 84 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 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect | No suppletion in tense or aspect | 123 of 193 |
| Situational Possibility | Verbal constructions | 158 of 234 |
| 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 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject follows verb (VS) | 194 of 1,496 |
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN) | 373 of 1,367 |
| 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 Adposition and Noun Phrase | Prepositions | 511 of 1,184 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 542 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 |
Simple clauses 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | A precedes P | 96 of 379 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative affix | 395 of 1,157 |
| 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 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns | Neutral | 79 of 172 |
| Verbal Person Marking | Person marking of both the A and P arguments | 193 of 378 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases | Neutral | 98 of 190 |
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs | 437 of 711 |
Vocabulary 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Numeral Bases | Decimal | 125 of 196 |
| 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 |