Dani (Lower Grand Valley)
Trans-New Guinea family · Dani branch · Papunesia
Dani (Lower Grand Valley) is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking, all 8 other Trans-New Guinea languages coded have the value “No overlap”; Dani (Lower Grand Valley) has “Overlap for either possibility or necessity”.
Contrast Dani (Lower Grand Valley) with Daga or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Dani (Lower Grand Valley), rarest first.
- Third Person Pronouns and DemonstrativesRelated to remote demonstratives18 of 225
- Reciprocal ConstructionsThere are no non-iconic reciprocal constructions.16 of 175
- Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun PhrasesPossessor is double-marked22 of 236
- Other Roles of Applied ObjectsLocative18 of 183
Inside the Trans-New Guinea family
Dani (Lower Grand Valley) matches the most frequent Trans-New Guinea value on 64 of the 100 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (64%). Among the 16 Trans-New Guinea languages profiled here, that rate ranks 11th from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Dani (Lower Grand Valley); the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Dani (Lower Grand Valley) for 101 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 95 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Dani (Lower Grand Valley) shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 18
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Stress Locations | Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable | 51 of 502 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Low | 58 of 564 |
| Consonant Inventories | Small | 89 of 563 |
| The Velar Nasal | Velar nasal, but not initially | 87 of 469 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | No voicing contrast | 182 of 567 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Large vowel inventory (7-14) | 184 of 564 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| Rhythm Types | Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong | 153 of 323 |
| 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 |
| 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 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb | 6-7 categories per word | 31 of 145 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P is head-marked | 71 of 236 |
| Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking | Subject person/number marking is syncretic | 60 of 198 |
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | 406 of 969 |
| 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 |
| 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 17
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Cases | 6-7 case categories | 37 of 261 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix | 47 of 261 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | Person marking for pronouns only | 83 of 378 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive prefixes | 255 of 902 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | Symmetrical case-marking | 79 of 261 |
| Definite Articles | Neither definite nor indefinite article | 198 of 620 |
| Indefinite Articles | Neither indefinite nor definite | 198 of 534 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 79 of 200 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| The Associative Plural | Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals | 104 of 236 |
| 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 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 120 of 200 |
| 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 |
Noun phrases 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Obligatory Possessive Inflection | Obligatorily possessed nouns exist | 43 of 244 |
| Possessive Classification | Two classes | 94 of 243 |
| Number of Possessive Nouns | None reported | 233 of 243 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Coding of Evidentiality | Separate particle | 65 of 418 |
| The Past Tense | Present, 2-3 remoteness distinctions | 38 of 222 |
| Situational Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 63 of 234 |
| The Prohibitive | Special imperative + special negative | 146 of 496 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 84 of 240 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 133 of 375 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 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 Perfect | No perfect | 114 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 |
| 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 |
| Verbal Number and Suppletion | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 159 of 193 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 8
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | More than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominant | 93 of 659 |
| Position of Polar Question Particles | No question particle | 355 of 884 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem) | 562 of 1,225 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns | Ergative - absolutive | 20 of 172 |
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin | 40 of 297 |
| 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 |
| Applicative Constructions | Benefactive and other; both bases | 49 of 183 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| 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 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
| 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 |
Complex sentences 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Reason Clauses | Balanced/deranked | 37 of 169 |
| 'When' Clauses | Deranked | 51 of 174 |
| Purpose Clauses | Deranked | 102 of 170 |
| Relativization on Subjects | Gap | 125 of 166 |
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 |