Comanche

Uto-Aztecan family · Northern Uto-Aztecan branch · North America

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

The closest grammar profile to Comanche in the atlas belongs to Nasioi, a South Bougainville language: the two agree on 29 of the 40 features both have coded.

On Number of Cases, WALS codes Comanche as “3 case categories”, a value held by 9 of the 261 languages coded, Greek (Modern) and Paumarí among them.

On Expression of Pronominal Subjects, WALS codes Comanche as “Pronominal subjects are expressed by clitics with variable host”, a value held by 32 of the 711 languages coded, O'odham and Ngiyambaa among them.

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

Contrast Comanche with Nasioi or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle in second position in sentence52 of 884
Verbal Number and SuppletionSingular-plural pairs, no suppletion12 of 193
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSubtractive-quantitatively asymmetrical case-marking20 of 261
Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson stem with a pronominal plural affix23 of 261
Antipassive ConstructionsAntipassive with patient-like argument left implicit18 of 194
Other Roles of Applied ObjectsInstrument17 of 183

Inside the Uto-Aztecan family

Comanche matches the most frequent Uto-Aztecan value on 58 of the 87 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (67%). Among the 11 Uto-Aztecan languages profiled here, that rate ranks third from the top.

Where Comanche breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Comanche	Most relatives
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Low	Average (7 of 8)
Consonant Inventories	Small	Average (4 of 4, Northern Uto-Aztecan branch)

Closest profiles

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

Khanty Uralic32 of 45
Yaqui Uto-Aztecan57 of 88
Tümpisa Shoshone Uto-Aztecan28 of 41
Jaqaru Aymaran34 of 51

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Comanche for 94 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 83 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Comanche shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Lateral Consonants	No laterals	95 of 567
Fixed Stress Locations	Initial: stress is on the first syllable	92 of 502
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	No voicing contrast	182 of 567
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 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
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
Tone	No tones	307 of 527
Glottalized Consonants	No glottalized consonants	409 of 567
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels absent	180 of 244
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 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Case Syncretism	Core and non-core	22 of 198
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	No subject person/number marking	57 of 198
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Predominantly suffixing	406 of 969
Reduplication	Productive full and partial reduplication	278 of 368

Nouns and pronouns 21

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Definite Articles	Demonstrative word used as marker of definiteness	69 of 620
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural only in human nouns, obligatory	40 of 291
Indefinite Articles	No indefinite article but definite article	98 of 534
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	63 of 200
Distributive Numerals	Marked by reduplication	85 of 251
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No person marking at all	70 of 200
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Three-way contrast	88 of 234
Position of Case Affixes	Case suffixes	452 of 1,031
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated	74 of 168
The Associative Plural	Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals	104 of 236
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
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
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction	136 of 207
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Differentiation	213 of 322
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Same forms	143 of 201

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Prohibitive	Special imperative + special negative	146 of 496
Coding of Evidentiality	Verbal affix or clitic	131 of 418
Epistemic Possibility	Affixes on verbs	84 of 240
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Only indirect evidentials	166 of 418
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 According to Tense and Aspect	No suppletion in tense or aspect	123 of 193
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 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)	373 of 1,367
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 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 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Productivity of the Antipassive Construction	productive	24 of 186
Comparative Constructions	Particle Comparative	22 of 167
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	P precedes A	57 of 379
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Double-object construction	84 of 378
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Nominative - accusative (standard)	46 of 190
Applicative Constructions	Benefactive and other; both bases	49 of 183
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat	82 of 297
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Nominative - accusative (standard)	61 of 172
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	502 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
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Polar Questions	Question particle	585 of 955
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions	Morphological type but no compound type	254 of 310

Complex sentences 2

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 of 174
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is left implicit	144 of 283

Vocabulary 3

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Hand and Arm	Different	389 of 617
Numeral Bases	Decimal	125 of 196
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593