Hamtai

Trans-New Guinea family · Nuclear Angan branch · Papunesia

Hamtai is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

The closest grammar profile to Hamtai in the atlas belongs to Sentani, a Sentanic language: the two agree on 33 of the 49 features both have coded.

On Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns, 16 of 17 other Trans-New Guinea languages coded have the value “No gender distinctions”; Hamtai has “3rd person only, but also non-singular”.

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

Contrast Hamtai with Sentani or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Uvular ConsonantsUvular stops only38 of 567
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSyncretism in relevant NP-types21 of 261
Number of Cases10 or more case categories24 of 261

Inside the Trans-New Guinea family

Hamtai matches the most frequent Trans-New Guinea value on 40 of the 62 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (65%). Among the 16 Trans-New Guinea languages profiled here, that rate ranks ninth from the top.

Closest profiles

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

Ekari Trans-New Guinea27 of 42
Dani (Lower Grand Valley) Trans-New Guinea34 of 56
Usan Trans-New Guinea32 of 53
Kobon Trans-New Guinea36 of 61

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Hamtai for 62 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 57 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Hamtai shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 13

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Low	58 of 564
Consonant Inventories	Small	89 of 563
Lateral Consonants	No laterals	95 of 567
Tone	Simple tone system	132 of 527
Syllable Structure	Complex syllable structure	151 of 486
The Velar Nasal	Velar nasal, also initially	147 of 469
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	No voicing contrast	182 of 567
Vowel Quality Inventories	Large vowel inventory (7-14)	184 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
Glottalized Consonants	No glottalized consonants	409 of 567
Presence of Uncommon Consonants	None	449 of 567
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Approximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing	147 of 969
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is syncretic	60 of 198
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
Reduplication	Productive full and partial reduplication	278 of 368

Nouns and pronouns 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Person Marking on Adpositions	No adpositions	63 of 378
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive prefixes	255 of 902
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200

Noun phrases 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are different	125 of 301

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Combination of tense-aspect strategies with none primary	146 of 1,131
Coding of Evidentiality	Separate particle	65 of 418
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + normal negative	113 of 496
Situational Possibility	Affixes on verbs	63 of 234
Epistemic Possibility	Affixes on verbs	84 of 240
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
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	No overlap	105 of 207
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular and second plural	292 of 548
The Optative	Inflectional optative absent	271 of 319

Word order 9

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Polar Question Particles	Question particle at end of sentence	314 of 884
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem)	562 of 1,225
Order of Object and Verb	Object precedes verb (OV)	712 of 1,518
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)	227 of 481
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase	Postpositions	577 of 1,184
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral follows noun (NNum)	608 of 1,154
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 Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin	40 of 297
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Asymmetric standard negation only: Type Asy	53 of 297
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A precedes P	96 of 379
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Neutral	79 of 172
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No zero realization of third person S forms	181 of 380
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of both the A and P arguments	193 of 378
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Neutral	98 of 190
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Passive Constructions	There is no passive construction	211 of 373
Polar Questions	Question particle	585 of 955
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs	437 of 711

Complex sentences 3

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Reason Clauses	Deranked	42 of 169
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 of 174
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170