Hawaiian
Austronesian family · Oceanic branch · Papunesia
Hawaiian puts its words in verb-subject-object order (VSO), one of only 95 with that basic order among the 1,376 languages WALS codes for this feature.
Of its word-order pairings, the one Hawaiian shares with the fewest languages is Order of Subject and Verb: “Subject follows verb (VS)”, the value of 194 of the 1,496 languages coded.
The least common value coded for Hawaiian is “Related to remote demonstratives” on Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives, held by 18 of the 225 languages coded.
Its closest grammar profile in the atlas is that of Maori: the two agree on 47 of the 64 features both have coded.
Compared with English, Hawaiian has the same value on 26 of the 66 features both are coded for (39%).
Contrast Hawaiian with Maori or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Hawaiian, rarest first.
- Absence of Common ConsonantsNo fricatives48 of 567
- Expression of Pronominal SubjectsOptional pronouns in subject position61 of 711
- Distributive NumeralsMarked by prefix23 of 251
Inside the Austronesian family
Hawaiian matches the most frequent Austronesian value on 43 of the 66 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (65%). Among the 38 Austronesian languages profiled here, that rate ranks 22nd from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Hawaiian; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Hawaiian for 66 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 60 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Hawaiian shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Low | 58 of 564 |
| Syllable Structure | Simple syllable structure | 61 of 486 |
| Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems | Long vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress | 65 of 500 |
| Consonant Inventories | Small | 89 of 563 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | Penultimate | 110 of 502 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | No voicing contrast | 182 of 567 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| Rhythm Types | Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong | 153 of 323 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Average vowel inventory (5-6) | 287 of 564 |
| 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 |
| Front Rounded Vowels | None | 525 of 562 |
Word structure 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Little or no inflectional morphology | 141 of 969 |
| Reduplication | Productive full and partial reduplication | 278 of 368 |
Nouns and pronouns 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Comitatives and Instrumentals | Mixed | 33 of 322 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural word | 170 of 1,066 |
| Ordinal Numerals | First/one-th, two-th, three-th | 54 of 321 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix | 47 of 261 |
| Indefinite Articles | Indefinite word distinct from numeral for 'one' | 102 of 534 |
| The Associative Plural | Special non-bound associative plural marker | 47 of 236 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Definite Articles | Definite word distinct from demonstrative | 216 of 620 |
| 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 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 |
| Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives | Same forms | 143 of 201 |
Noun phrases 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal and Verbal Conjunction | Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical | 161 of 301 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Morphological Imperative | No second-person imperatives | 122 of 548 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | Overlap for either possibility or necessity | 66 of 207 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 133 of 375 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 182 of 496 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Other | 91 of 240 |
| The Past Tense | No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction | 88 of 222 |
| Perfective/Imperfective Aspect | Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction | 101 of 222 |
| The Future Tense | No inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction | 112 of 222 |
| The Perfect | No perfect | 114 of 222 |
| Situational Possibility | Verbal constructions | 158 of 234 |
Word order 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Genitive and Noun | Noun-genitive (NGen) | 468 of 1,249 |
| Order of Degree Word and Adjective | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 192 of 481 |
| Order of Numeral and Noun | Numeral precedes noun (NumN) | 479 of 1,154 |
| Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase | Prepositions | 511 of 1,184 |
| 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 Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | Initial subordinator word | 398 of 659 |
| 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 |
Simple clauses 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Vocabulary 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Finger and Hand | Identical | 72 of 593 |
| Tea | Others | 36 of 230 |
| Hand and Arm | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 228 of 617 |