Ika
Chibchan family · Arhuacic branch · South America
Ika is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Polar Questions, WALS codes Ika as “Question particle and interrogative verb morphology”, a value held by 15 of the 955 languages coded, Pirahã and Amharic among them.
On Coding of Evidentiality, WALS codes Ika as “Mixed systems”, a value held by 10 of the 418 languages coded, Georgian and Khalkha among them.
The closest grammar profile to Ika in the atlas belongs to Epena Pedee, a Choco language: the two agree on 54 of the 85 features both have coded.
Contrast Ika with Epena Pedee or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Ika, rarest first.
- Order of Relative Clause and NounInternally-headed relative clause24 of 824
- Suppletion According to Tense and AspectSuppletion according to aspect10 of 193
- Order of Numeral and NounBoth orders of numeral and noun with neither order dominant65 of 1,154
- Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingActive alignment26 of 380
- Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseSuffixal adverbial subordinators64 of 659
Inside the Chibchan family
Ika matches the most frequent Chibchan value on 27 of the 46 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (59%). Among the 4 Chibchan languages profiled here, that rate ranks third from the top.
| Feature | Ika | Most relatives |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | A precedes P | A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb (4 of 5) |
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Ika; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Ika for 98 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 89 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Ika shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 14
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Lateral Consonants | No laterals | 95 of 567 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately low | 101 of 564 |
| Consonant Inventories | Moderately small | 122 of 563 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Large vowel inventory (7-14) | 184 of 564 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 189 of 567 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | /p t k b d g/ | 255 of 567 |
| The Velar Nasal | No velar nasal | 235 of 469 |
| Syllable Structure | Moderately complex syllable structure | 274 of 486 |
| Tone | No tones | 307 of 527 |
| 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 8
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Moderate preference for suffixing | 123 of 969 |
| Reduplication | No productive reduplication | 55 of 368 |
| Case Syncretism | Inflectional case marking is never syncretic | 35 of 198 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P has no marking | 42 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 dependent-marked | 98 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology | Inconsistent marking or other type | 121 of 236 |
| Zero Marking of A and P Arguments | Non-zero marking | 219 of 235 |
Nouns and pronouns 20
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinal Numerals | Zero: Ordinal numerals do not exist | 33 of 321 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Postpositional clitics | 123 of 1,031 |
| Number of Cases | 6-7 case categories | 37 of 261 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural word | 170 of 1,066 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix | 47 of 261 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive prefixes | 255 of 902 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | Symmetrical case-marking | 79 of 261 |
| Definite Articles | Neither definite nor indefinite article | 198 of 620 |
| Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers | Formally different | 40 of 116 |
| Indefinite Articles | Neither indefinite nor definite | 198 of 534 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Three-way contrast | 88 of 234 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 79 of 200 |
| Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives | Unrelated | 100 of 225 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | Adpositions without person marking | 209 of 378 |
| 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 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 120 of 200 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are absent | 260 of 400 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Noun phrases 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Action Nominal Constructions | No action nominals | 42 of 168 |
| Nominal and Verbal Conjunction | Nominal and verbal conjunction are different | 125 of 301 |
| Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses | Highly differentiated | 77 of 138 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 11
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Both direct and indirect evidentials | 71 of 418 |
| The Morphological Imperative | No second-person imperatives | 122 of 548 |
| Situational Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 63 of 234 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | Overlap for either possibility or necessity | 66 of 207 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 84 of 240 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 182 of 496 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 201 of 375 |
| 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 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Polar Question Particles | Question particle at end of sentence | 314 of 884 |
| 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 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 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give' | Mixed | 40 of 378 |
| Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking | Zero realization of all third person singular S forms | 45 of 380 |
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin | 40 of 297 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases | Ergative - absolutive | 32 of 190 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Asymmetric standard negation only: Type Asy | 53 of 297 |
| Other Roles of Applied Objects | No other roles (= Only benefactive) | 36 of 183 |
| Reciprocal Constructions | Identical to reflexive | 44 of 175 |
| Applicative Constructions | Benefactive and other; both bases | 49 of 183 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative affix | 395 of 1,157 |
| Verbal Person Marking | Person marking of both the A and P arguments | 193 of 378 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
| Periphrastic Causative Constructions | Purposive type but no sequential type | 68 of 118 |
| 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 |
| Relativization on Subjects | Non-reduction | 24 of 166 |
| 'When' Clauses | Deranked | 51 of 174 |
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | The complement subject is left implicit | 144 of 283 |
| Reason Clauses | Balanced | 90 of 169 |
| Purpose Clauses | Deranked | 102 of 170 |
| Utterance Complement Clauses | Balanced | 114 of 143 |
Vocabulary 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Hand and Arm | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 228 of 617 |
| Numeral Bases | Decimal | 125 of 196 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |