Hixkaryana

Cariban family · South America

Hixkaryana puts its words in object-verb-subject order (OVS), one of only 11 with that basic order among the 1,376 languages WALS codes for this feature.

Of the 4 Cariban languages profiled here, Hixkaryana follows the family’s usual values most closely.

On Nominal and Verbal Conjunction, WALS codes Hixkaryana as “Both expressed by juxtaposition”, a value held by 15 of the 301 languages coded, Tiwi and Gooniyandi among them.

The order Hixkaryana uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Hixkaryana with Apalaí or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Lateral ConsonantsLaterals, but no /l/, no obstruent lateral29 of 567
Weight-Sensitive StressNot predictable26 of 500
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive SystemsMissing /g/34 of 567
Occurrence of Nominal PluralityPlural only in human nouns, optional20 of 291
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsLong vowel + Coda: long vowels or closed syllables35 of 500
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingSplit alignment28 of 380
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbObject-verb-oblique (OVX)45 of 500
Reciprocal ConstructionsMixed16 of 175

Inside the Cariban family

Hixkaryana matches the most frequent Cariban value on 38 of the 51 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (75%).

Closest profiles

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

Apalaí Cariban31 of 41
Carib Cariban53 of 76
Macushi Cariban40 of 61
Apurinã Arawakan63 of 113
Daga Trans-New Guinea52 of 93

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Hixkaryana for 128 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 118 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Hixkaryana shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Rhythm Types	Iambic: right-hand syllable in the foot is strong	31 of 323
Consonant Inventories	Moderately small	122 of 563
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in plosives alone	189 of 567
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Average	234 of 564
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
Syllable Structure	Moderately complex syllable structure	274 of 486
Tone	No tones	307 of 527
Glottalized Consonants	No glottalized consonants	409 of 567
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels absent	180 of 244
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 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Reduplication	No productive reduplication	55 of 368
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Approximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing	147 of 969
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
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is syncretic	60 of 198
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
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 26

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Ordinal Numerals	Zero: Ordinal numerals do not exist	33 of 321
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	Non-sex-based gender system	28 of 257
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	3rd person only, but also non-singular	42 of 378
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	30 of 200
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural word	170 of 1,066
Number of Genders	Two	50 of 257
Systems of Gender Assignment	Semantic assignment	53 of 257
Person Marking on Adpositions	Person marking for pronouns only	83 of 378
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related for all demonstratives	52 of 225
Distributive Numerals	No distributive numerals	62 of 251
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
Definite Articles	Neither definite nor indefinite article	198 of 620
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers	Formally different	40 of 116
Position of Case Affixes	Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics	379 of 1,031
Indefinite Articles	Neither indefinite nor definite	198 of 534
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
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated	74 of 168
The Associative Plural	Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals	104 of 236
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
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Same forms	143 of 201

Noun phrases 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Ergative-Possessive	21 of 168
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	Obligatorily possessed nouns exist	43 of 244
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Noun Phrase Conjunction	AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical	131 of 234
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Both direct and indirect evidentials	71 of 418
The Past Tense	Present, 2-3 remoteness distinctions	38 of 222
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion according to tense	36 of 193
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + normal negative	113 of 496
Coding of Evidentiality	Verbal affix or clitic	131 of 418
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one	133 of 375
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
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
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular and second plural	292 of 548
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Tense-aspect suffixes	667 of 1,131
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)	153 of 193
Verbal Number and Suppletion	No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples	159 of 193
The Optative	Inflectional optative absent	271 of 319

Word order 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject follows verb (VS)	194 of 1,496
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Final subordinator word	96 of 659
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial	264 of 902
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)	192 of 481
Position of Polar Question Particles	No question particle	355 of 884
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral precedes noun (NumN)	479 of 1,154
Order of Object and Verb	Object precedes verb (OV)	712 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 Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause follows noun (NRel)	579 of 824

Simple clauses 22

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
Polar Questions	Interrogative intonation only	173 of 955
Comparative Constructions	Conjoined Comparative	34 of 167
Predicative Possession	Conjunctional Possessive	59 of 240
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A precedes P	96 of 379
Nominal and Locational Predication	Identical	117 of 386
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding	132 of 386
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is possible	175 of 386
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
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
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Neutral	98 of 190
Applicative Constructions	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs	437 of 711
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

Complex sentences 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Relativization on Obliques	Non-Reduction Strategy	14 of 112
Reason Clauses	Deranked	42 of 169
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 of 174
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is left implicit	144 of 283
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Bases	Restricted	20 of 196
M in Second Person Singular	m in second person singular	78 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