Diegueño (Mesa Grande)
Hokan family · Yuman branch · North America
Diegueño (Mesa Grande) is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Order of Adjective and Noun, WALS codes Diegueño (Mesa Grande) as “Only internally-headed relative clauses”, a value held by 5 of the 1,367 languages coded, Tiipay (Jamul) and Kutenai among them.
On Order of Relative Clause and Noun, WALS codes Diegueño (Mesa Grande) as “Internally-headed relative clause”, a value held by 24 of the 824 languages coded, Tiipay (Jamul) and Lakhota among them.
On Coding of Evidentiality, 8 of 9 other Hokan languages coded have the value “Verbal affix or clitic”; Diegueño (Mesa Grande) has “No grammatical evidentials”.
Contrast Diegueño (Mesa Grande) with Maricopa or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Diegueño (Mesa Grande), rarest first.
- Negative MorphemesNegative auxiliary verb47 of 1,157
- Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in fricatives alone38 of 567
- Uvular ConsonantsUvular stops only38 of 567
- Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsCombined: two of the above factors determine weight42 of 500
- Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson stem with a pronominal plural affix23 of 261
- Coding of Nominal PluralityNo plural98 of 1,066
- Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyModerate preference for prefixing94 of 969
Inside the Hokan family
Diegueño (Mesa Grande) matches the most frequent Hokan value on 30 of the 52 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (58%). Among the 6 Hokan languages profiled here, that rate ranks third from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Diegueño (Mesa Grande); the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Diegueño (Mesa Grande) for 60 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 49 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Diegueño (Mesa Grande) shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 13
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm Types | Undetermined: no clear foot type | 37 of 323 |
| Weight-Sensitive Stress | Right-edge: Stress on ultimate or penultimate syllable | 65 of 500 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately high | 102 of 564 |
| Consonant Inventories | Average | 201 of 563 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 220 of 502 |
| 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 |
Nouns and pronouns 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Case Affixes | Postpositional clitics | 123 of 1,031 |
| Indefinite Articles | No indefinite article but definite article | 98 of 534 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive prefixes | 255 of 902 |
| Definite Articles | Definite word distinct from demonstrative | 216 of 620 |
Noun phrases 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Obligatory Possessive Inflection | Obligatorily possessed nouns exist | 43 of 244 |
| Action Nominal Constructions | No action nominals | 42 of 168 |
| Possessive Classification | Two classes | 94 of 243 |
| Number of Possessive Nouns | None reported | 233 of 243 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Combination of tense-aspect strategies with none primary | 146 of 1,131 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + normal negative | 113 of 496 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 84 of 240 |
| Semantic Distinctions 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 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 201 of 375 |
Word order 8
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Degree Word and Adjective | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 192 of 481 |
| 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 Numeral and Noun | Numeral follows noun (NNum) | 608 of 1,154 |
| Order of Genitive and Noun | Genitive-noun (GenN) | 685 of 1,249 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Polar Questions | Interrogative verb morphology | 164 of 955 |
| Periphrastic Causative Constructions | Sequential type but no purposive type | 35 of 118 |
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs | 437 of 711 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Complex sentences 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Relativization on Obliques | Non-Reduction Strategy | 14 of 112 |
| Relativization on Subjects | Non-reduction | 24 of 166 |
| Reason Clauses | Deranked | 42 of 169 |
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | The complement subject is expressed overtly | 72 of 283 |
| 'When' Clauses | Deranked | 51 of 174 |
Vocabulary 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| N-M Pronouns | N-M pronouns, paradigmatic | 25 of 230 |
| Finger and Hand | Identical | 72 of 593 |
| Hand and Arm | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 228 of 617 |
| M-T Pronouns | No M-T pronouns | 200 of 230 |