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Ewondo

Niger-Congo family · Bantu branch · Africa

Ewondo is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

The closest grammar profile to Ewondo in the atlas belongs to Arabic (Egyptian), an Afro-Asiatic language: the two agree on 24 of the 40 features both have coded.

Of the 27 Niger-Congo languages profiled here, Ewondo follows the family’s usual values most closely.

Within the Bantu branch, 8 of 9 other languages coded for Tone have the value “Simple tone system”; Ewondo has “Complex tone system”.

Ewondo: order of head and dependent in 8 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.verbobject47%46%Order of Object and Verb: Object follows verb (VO). Of 1,518 languages coded, 712 put the object before the verb and 705 after it.adpositionnoun phrase49%43%Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase: Prepositions. 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 word follows noun (NDem). 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.
The order Ewondo uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Ewondo with Arabic (Egyptian) or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Niger-Congo family

Ewondo matches the most frequent Niger-Congo value on 33 of the 40 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (82%).

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Ewondo for 40 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 35 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Ewondo shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Consonant InventoriesModerately large94 of 563
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives158 of 567
Vowel Quality InventoriesLarge vowel inventory (7-14)184 of 564
Consonant-Vowel RatioAverage234 of 564
Syllable StructureModerately complex syllable structure274 of 486
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Uvular ConsonantsNo uvulars470 of 567
Absence of Common ConsonantsAll present503 of 567
Front Rounded VowelsNone525 of 562

Nouns and pronouns 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural prefix126 of 1,066
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesNo possessive affixes260 of 902
Ordinal NumeralsFirst, two-th, three-th110 of 321
Definite ArticlesDefinite word distinct from demonstrative216 of 620
Position of Case AffixesNeither case affixes nor adpositional clitics379 of 1,031
Distance Contrasts in DemonstrativesThree-way contrast88 of 234
Pronominal and Adnominal DemonstrativesSame forms143 of 201

Noun phrases 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Nominal and Verbal ConjunctionNominal and verbal conjunction are different125 of 301

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect prefixes153 of 1,131

Word order 11

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle at beginning of sentence129 of 884
Order of Genitive and NounNoun-genitive (NGen)468 of 1,249
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePrepositions511 of 1,184
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word follows noun (NDem)562 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject follows verb (VO)705 of 1,518
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 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'Double-object construction84 of 378
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsPronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs437 of 711

Vocabulary 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
TeaWords derived from Min Nan Chinese te84 of 230