Word Order Facts
Menu

Hua

Trans-New Guinea family · Siane-Yagaria branch · Papunesia

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

The closest grammar profile to Hua in the atlas belongs to Burushaski, a language WALS places in a family of its own: the two agree on 32 of the 42 features both have coded.

On Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes, WALS codes Hua as “Prefixes and suffixes”, a value held by 32 of the 902 languages coded, Yagaria and Paumarí among them.

Hua: 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 precedes verb (OV). 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: Postpositions. Of 1,184 languages coded, 577 put the noun phrase before the adposition and 511 after it.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Genitive-noun (GenN). 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 precedes noun (AdjN). 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 precedes noun (DemN). Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounnumeral42%53%Order of Numeral and Noun: Numeral precedes noun (NumN). 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 precedes noun (RelN). Of 824 languages coded, 141 put the relative clause before the noun and 579 after it.
The order Hua uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Hua with Burushaski or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Trans-New Guinea family

Hua matches the most frequent Trans-New Guinea value on 27 of the 42 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (64%). Among the 16 Trans-New Guinea languages profiled here, that rate ranks tenth from the top.

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Hua for 42 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 35 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Hua shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Word structure 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyModerate preference for suffixing123 of 969
Locus of Marking in the ClauseP is double-marked58 of 236
Zero Marking of A and P ArgumentsNon-zero marking219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Distance Contrasts in DemonstrativesThree-way contrast88 of 234
Position of Case AffixesCase suffixes452 of 1,031
Person Marking on AdpositionsAdpositions without person marking209 of 378
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are absent260 of 400
Comitatives and InstrumentalsDifferentiation213 of 322
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsNo gender distinctions254 of 378

Noun phrases 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Action Nominal ConstructionsNo action nominals42 of 168
Obligatory Possessive InflectionNo obligatorily possessed nouns201 of 244
Number of Possessive NounsNone reported233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect suffixes667 of 1,131

Word order 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Relative Clause and NounRelative clause precedes noun (RelN)141 of 824
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)373 of 1,367
Position of Polar Question ParticlesNo question particle355 of 884
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral precedes noun (NumN)479 of 1,154
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)542 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject precedes verb (OV)712 of 1,518
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePostpositions577 of 1,184
Order of Genitive and NounGenitive-noun (GenN)685 of 1,249
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases not obligatorily initial615 of 902
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 8

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Person Markers on the VerbP precedes A57 of 379
Polar QuestionsInterrogative verb morphology164 of 955
Negative MorphemesNegative affix395 of 1,157
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingNo zero realization of third person S forms181 of 380
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of both the A and P arguments193 of 378
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingAccusative alignment212 of 380
Passive ConstructionsThere is no passive construction211 of 373
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsPronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs437 of 711

Vocabulary 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
M in Second Person SingularNo m in second person singular152 of 230
M in First Person SingularNo m in first person singular177 of 230
N-M PronounsNo N-M pronouns194 of 230
M-T PronounsNo M-T pronouns200 of 230