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Dinka

Eastern Sudanic family · Western Nilotic branch · Africa

WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Dinka, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.

On Polar Questions, WALS codes Dinka as “Absence of declarative morphemes”, a value held by 4 of the 955 languages coded, Kabardian among them.

On Coding of Nominal Plurality, WALS codes Dinka as “Plural stem change”, a value held by 6 of the 1,066 languages coded, Maricopa and Tiipay (Jamul) among them.

The closest grammar profile to Dinka in the atlas belongs to Thai, a Tai-Kadai language: the two agree on 24 of the 40 features both have coded.

Dinka: order of head and dependent in 9 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubject80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Subject precedes verb (SV). Of 1,496 languages coded, 1,192 put the subject before the verb and 194 after it.verbobjectobjectno dominant order47%46%Order of Object and Verb: Both orders with neither order dominant. Of 1,518 languages coded, 712 put the object before the verb and 705 after it.adpositionnoun phrasenoun phraseno dominant order49%43%Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase: More than one adposition type with none dominant. Of 1,184 languages coded, 577 put the noun phrase before the adposition and 511 after it.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Noun-genitive (NGen). Of 1,249 languages coded, 685 put the genitive before the noun and 468 after it.nounadjective27%64%Order of Adjective and Noun: Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj). Of 1,367 languages coded, 373 put the adjective before the noun and 879 after it.noundemonstrative45%48%Order of Demonstrative and Noun: Demonstrative suffix on noun. Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounnumeral42%53%Order of Numeral and Noun: Numeral follows noun (NNum). Of 1,154 languages coded, 479 put the numeral before the noun and 608 after it.nounrelative clause17%70%Order of Relative Clause and Noun: Relative clause follows noun (NRel). Of 824 languages coded, 141 put the relative clause before the noun and 579 after it.adjectivedegree word47%40%Order of Degree Word and Adjective: Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg). Of 481 languages coded, 227 put the degree word before the adjective and 192 after it.
The order Dinka uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Dinka with Thai or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Eastern Sudanic family

Dinka matches the most frequent Eastern Sudanic value on 24 of the 40 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (60%). Among the 11 Eastern Sudanic languages profiled here, that rate ranks fifth from the top.

Where Dinka breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
FeatureDinkaMost relatives
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have verbal encodingPredicative adjectives have mixed encoding (4 of 4, Western Nilotic branch)

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Dinka for 41 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 31 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Dinka shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 12

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
ToneComplex tone system88 of 527
Vowel Quality InventoriesLarge vowel inventory (7-14)184 of 564
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in plosives alone189 of 567
Consonant InventoriesAverage201 of 563
Consonant-Vowel RatioAverage234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems/p t k b d g/255 of 567
Syllable StructureModerately complex syllable structure274 of 486
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Presence of Uncommon ConsonantsNone449 of 567
Uvular ConsonantsNo uvulars470 of 567
Front Rounded VowelsNone525 of 562

Word structure 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyLittle or no inflectional morphology141 of 969

Nouns and pronouns 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Definite ArticlesDefinite affix on noun92 of 620
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesPossessive suffixes355 of 902

Noun phrases 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Noun Phrase ConjunctionWITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical103 of 234

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesNo tense-aspect inflection152 of 1,131

Word order 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbMore than one order with none dominant167 of 500
Order of Genitive and NounNoun-genitive (NGen)468 of 1,249
Order of Degree Word and AdjectiveDegree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)192 of 481
Position of Polar Question ParticlesNo question particle355 of 884
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral follows noun (NNum)608 of 1,154
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseInitial subordinator word398 of 659
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)879 of 1,367
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases not obligatorily initial615 of 902
Order of Relative Clause and NounRelative clause follows noun (NRel)579 of 824
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Predicative PossessionHave-Possessive63 of 240
Zero Copula for Predicate NominalsZero copula is impossible211 of 386
Nominal and Locational PredicationDifferent269 of 386

Vocabulary 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
TeaWords derived from Sinitic cha110 of 230