Djapu
Pama-Nyungan family · Western Pama-Nyungan branch · Australia
Djapu is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Polar Questions, WALS codes Djapu as “Question particle and interrogative verb morphology”, a value held by 15 of the 955 languages coded, Pirahã and Ika among them.
Within the Western Pama-Nyungan branch, 10 of 12 other languages coded for Coding of Nominal Plurality have the value “Plural suffix”; Djapu has “Plural word”.
Contrast Djapu with Diyari or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Djapu, rarest first.
- Order of Numeral and NounBoth orders of numeral and noun with neither order dominant65 of 1,154
- Order of Genitive and NounBoth orders occur with neither order dominant96 of 1,249
- Absence of Common ConsonantsNo fricatives48 of 567
- Expression of Pronominal SubjectsOptional pronouns in subject position61 of 711
- Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbObject-verb-oblique (OVX)45 of 500
Inside the Pama-Nyungan family
Djapu matches the most frequent Pama-Nyungan value on 38 of the 53 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (72%). Among the 12 Pama-Nyungan languages profiled here, that rate ranks sixth from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Djapu; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Djapu for 53 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 45 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Djapu shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 12
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | High | 69 of 564 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Small vowel inventory (2-4) | 93 of 564 |
| Syllable Structure | Complex syllable structure | 151 of 486 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | No voicing contrast | 182 of 567 |
| Consonant Inventories | Average | 201 of 563 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| 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 |
| Front Rounded Vowels | None | 525 of 562 |
Word structure 6
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology | Consistently dependent-marking | 46 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P is dependent-marked | 63 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases | Possessor is dependent-marked | 98 of 236 |
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | 406 of 969 |
| Reduplication | Productive full and partial reduplication | 278 of 368 |
| Zero Marking of A and P Arguments | Non-zero marking | 219 of 235 |
Nouns and pronouns 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| Indefinite Pronouns | Interrogative-based indefinites | 194 of 326 |
Noun phrases 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Possessive Classification | No possessive classification | 125 of 243 |
| Obligatory Possessive Inflection | No obligatorily possessed nouns | 201 of 244 |
| Number of Possessive Nouns | None reported | 233 of 243 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Morphological Imperative | No second-person imperatives | 122 of 548 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + normal negative | 113 of 496 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | No grammatical evidentials | 181 of 418 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | No grammatical evidentials | 181 of 418 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
Word order 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Polar Question Particles | Question particle at beginning of sentence | 129 of 884 |
| 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 Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | Initial subordinator word | 398 of 659 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
Complex sentences 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Reason Clauses | Balanced/deranked | 37 of 169 |
| 'When' Clauses | Balanced | 84 of 174 |
| Purpose Clauses | Deranked | 102 of 170 |
| Utterance Complement Clauses | Balanced | 114 of 143 |
Vocabulary 6
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Hand and Arm | Different | 389 of 617 |
| 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 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |