Dyirbal
Pama-Nyungan family · Northern Pama-Nyungan branch · Australia
WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Dyirbal, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.
On Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase, WALS codes Dyirbal as “No adpositions”, a value held by 30 of the 1,184 languages coded, Ngiyambaa and Martuthunira among them.
The closest grammar profile to Dyirbal in the atlas belongs to Garrwa, a Garrwan language: the two agree on 32 of the 40 features both have coded.
On Asymmetrical Case-Marking, WALS codes Dyirbal as “Qualitatively asymmetrical case-marking”, a value held by 7 of the 261 languages coded, Ngiyambaa and Yidiny among them.
Contrast Dyirbal with Garrwa or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Dyirbal, rarest first.
- Number of GendersFour12 of 257
- Applicative ConstructionsNon-benefactive object only; both bases9 of 183
- Occurrence of Nominal PluralityPlural in all nouns, optional in inanimates15 of 291
- Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle in second position in sentence52 of 884
- Absence of Common ConsonantsNo fricatives48 of 567
- Other Roles of Applied ObjectsInstrument17 of 183
Inside the Pama-Nyungan family
Dyirbal matches the most frequent Pama-Nyungan value on 56 of the 73 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (77%). Among the 12 Pama-Nyungan languages profiled here, that rate ranks third from the top.
| Feature | Dyirbal | Most relatives |
|---|---|---|
| Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems | Sex-based gender system | No gender system (4 of 4, Northern Pama-Nyungan branch) |
| Systems of Gender Assignment | Semantic assignment | No gender system (4 of 4, Northern Pama-Nyungan branch) |
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Dyirbal; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Dyirbal for 73 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 62 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Dyirbal shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant Inventories | Small | 89 of 563 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Small vowel inventory (2-4) | 93 of 564 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | Initial: stress is on the first syllable | 92 of 502 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | No voicing contrast | 182 of 567 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Average | 234 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 |
| 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 8
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Cases | 6-7 case categories | 37 of 261 |
| The Associative Plural | Special bound associative plural marker | 48 of 236 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Two-way contrast | 126 of 234 |
| Indefinite Pronouns | Interrogative-based indefinites | 194 of 326 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are absent | 260 of 400 |
| Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns | Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction | 136 of 207 |
| Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives | Same forms | 143 of 201 |
Noun phrases 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Possessive Classification | Two classes | 94 of 243 |
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical | 131 of 234 |
| Adjectives without Nouns | Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking | 73 of 124 |
| 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 Prohibitive | Special imperative + special negative | 146 of 496 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | No grammatical evidentials | 181 of 418 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | No grammatical evidentials | 181 of 418 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
Word order 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb | More than one order with none dominant | 167 of 500 |
| 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 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 Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj) | 879 of 1,367 |
| 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 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give' | Mixed | 40 of 378 |
| Productivity of the Antipassive Construction | productive | 24 of 186 |
| Antipassive Constructions | Oblique patient | 30 of 194 |
| Predicative Possession | Conjunctional Possessive | 59 of 240 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding | 132 of 386 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is possible | 175 of 386 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Different | 269 of 386 |
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 |