Guaraní

Tupian family · Maweti-Guarani branch · South America

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

On Number of Possessive Nouns, WALS codes Guaraní as “One”, a value held by 3 of the 243 languages coded, the others being Trumai and Washo.

The closest grammar profile to Guaraní in the atlas belongs to Kwaio, an Austronesian language: the two agree on 31 of the 44 features both have coded.

On Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions, all 13 other Tupian languages coded have the value “Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial”; Guaraní has “Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial”.

The order Guaraní uses in 7 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Guaraní with Kwaio or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Suppletion in Imperatives and HortativesA regular and a suppletive form alternate8 of 193
Order of Person Markers on the VerbA and P are fused20 of 379
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyPredominantly prefixing58 of 969
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in fricatives alone38 of 567
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingActive alignment26 of 380
Occurrence of Nominal PluralityPlural only in human nouns, optional20 of 291
Indefinite PronounsMixed indefinites23 of 326
The Morphological ImperativeSecond singular43 of 548

Inside the Tupian family

Guaraní matches the most frequent Tupian value on 29 of the 47 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (62%).

Where Guaraní breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Guaraní	Most relatives
Definite Articles	Definite word distinct from demonstrative	Neither definite nor indefinite article (5 of 5)
Indefinite Articles	No indefinite article but definite article	Neither indefinite nor definite (5 of 5)

Closest profiles

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

West Makian North Halmaheran28 of 41
Maung Iwaidjan61 of 100
Lenakel Austronesian27 of 41
Lakhota Siouan65 of 110

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Guaraní for 123 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 110 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Guaraní shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Fixed Stress Locations	Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable	51 of 502
Syllable Structure	Simple syllable structure	61 of 486
Consonant Inventories	Moderately small	122 of 563
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels present	64 of 244
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Average	234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
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
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
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Consistently head-marking	47 of 236
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is head-marked	71 of 236
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is head-marked	78 of 236
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	4-5 categories per word	52 of 145
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is never syncretic	81 of 198
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	No case	75 of 162
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Exclusively concatenative	125 of 165
Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection	monoexponential TAM	127 of 160
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 21

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	30 of 200
The Associative Plural	Associative plural absent	37 of 236
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural word	170 of 1,066
Ordinal Numerals	First/one-th, two-th, three-th	54 of 321
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Different stems	37 of 201
Person Marking on Adpositions	Person marking for pronouns only	83 of 378
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive prefixes	255 of 902
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	No morphological case-marking	81 of 261
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	63 of 200
Position of Case Affixes	Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics	379 of 1,031
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Three-way contrast	88 of 234
Number of Cases	No morphological case-marking	100 of 261
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Unrelated	100 of 225
Number of Genders	None	145 of 257
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	No gender system	145 of 257
Systems of Gender Assignment	No gender system	145 of 257
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction	136 of 207
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Differentiation	213 of 322
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378

Noun phrases 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Not both A and P in the same construction	24 of 168
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301
Noun Phrase Conjunction	AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical	131 of 234
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	No tense-aspect inflection	152 of 1,131
The Optative	Inflectional optative present	48 of 319
Coding of Evidentiality	Separate particle	65 of 418
The Prohibitive	Special imperative + special negative	146 of 496
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one	133 of 375
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Only indirect evidentials	166 of 418
The Past Tense	Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction	94 of 222
The Future Tense	Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	110 of 222
The Perfect	No perfect	114 of 222
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	121 of 222
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	No suppletion in tense or aspect	123 of 193
Verbal Number and Suppletion	No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples	159 of 193

Word order 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral precedes noun (NumN)	479 of 1,154
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	Verb-object-oblique (VOX)	210 of 500
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)	542 of 1,225
Order of Object and Verb	Object follows verb (VO)	705 of 1,518
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase	Postpositions	577 of 1,184
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
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 23

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	Zero in all 3rd person forms	36 of 380
Negative Morphemes	Double negation	119 of 1,157
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Nominative - accusative (standard)	46 of 190
Predicative Possession	Have-Possessive	63 of 240
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat	82 of 297
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Nominative - accusative (standard)	61 of 172
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have verbal encoding	151 of 386
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy	130 of 297
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is possible	175 of 386
Comparative Constructions	Locational Comparative	78 of 167
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Indirect-object construction	189 of 378
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of both the A and P arguments	193 of 378
Applicative Constructions	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Passive Constructions	There is no passive construction	211 of 373
Reciprocal Constructions	Distinct from reflexive	99 of 175
Polar Questions	Question particle	585 of 955
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs	437 of 711
Nominal and Locational Predication	Different	269 of 386
Antipassive Constructions	No antipassive	146 of 194
Productivity of the Antipassive Construction	no antipassive	146 of 186
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions	Morphological type but no compound type	254 of 310
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation	Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation	170 of 206

Complex sentences 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
'Want' Complement Subjects	'Want' is expressed as a desiderative verbal affix	45 of 283
Relativization on Obliques	Pronoun-Retention Strategy	20 of 112
Purpose Clauses	Balanced	38 of 170
'When' Clauses	Balanced	84 of 174
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166

Vocabulary 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Tea	Words derived from Min Nan Chinese te	84 of 230
Hand and Arm	Different	389 of 617
Numeral Bases	Decimal	125 of 196
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