Ingush

Nakh-Daghestanian family · Nakh branch · Eurasia

Of the 7 Nakh-Daghestanian languages profiled here, Ingush departs most often from the family’s usual values.

On Fixed Stress Locations, 6 of 7 other Nakh-Daghestanian languages coded have the value “No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)”; Ingush has “Initial: stress is on the first syllable”.

On Presence of Uncommon Consonants, WALS codes Ingush as “Pharyngeals”, a value held by 21 of the 567 languages coded, Hunzib and Lak among them.

On Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb, WALS codes Ingush as “10-11 categories per word”, a value held by 7 of the 145 languages coded, Abkhaz and Lakhota among them.

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

Contrast Ingush with Lezgian or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Coding of EvidentialityPart of the tense system24 of 418
Verbal Number and SuppletionSingular-plural pairs, suppletion15 of 193
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSyncretism in relevant NP-types21 of 261
Uvular ConsonantsUvular stops and continuants48 of 567
Number of Cases10 or more case categories24 of 261
Number of GendersFive or more24 of 257
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseSuffixal adverbial subordinators64 of 659

Inside the Nakh-Daghestanian family

Ingush matches the most frequent Nakh-Daghestanian value on 57 of the 83 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (69%).

Closest profiles

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

Lezgian Nakh-Daghestanian78 of 106
Hunzib Nakh-Daghestanian60 of 90
Archi Nakh-Daghestanian31 of 45
Lak Nakh-Daghestanian34 of 53
Pashto Indo-European30 of 47

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Ingush for 108 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 98 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Ingush shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Consonant Inventories	Large	57 of 563
Glottalized Consonants	Ejectives only	58 of 567
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	High	69 of 564
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives	158 of 567
Syllable Structure	Complex syllable structure	151 of 486
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	/p t k b d g/	255 of 567
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	No weight, or weight factor unknown	261 of 500
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
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels absent	180 of 244
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Case Syncretism	Core and non-core	22 of 198
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is double-marked	58 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is never syncretic	81 of 198
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is dependent-marked	98 of 236
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Predominantly suffixing	406 of 969
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Monoexponential case	71 of 162
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Inconsistent marking or other type	121 of 236
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 20

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Associative Plural	Associative plural absent	37 of 236
Systems of Gender Assignment	Semantic and formal assignment	59 of 257
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	63 of 200
Definite Articles	Neither definite nor indefinite article	198 of 620
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	Sex-based gender system	84 of 257
Distributive Numerals	Marked by reduplication	85 of 251
Ordinal Numerals	First, two-th, three-th	110 of 321
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No person marking at all	70 of 200
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers	Formally similar, involving interrogative expression	43 of 116
Indefinite Articles	Neither indefinite nor definite	198 of 534
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Position of Case Affixes	Case suffixes	452 of 1,031
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Unrelated	100 of 225
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Two-way contrast	126 of 234
Person Marking on Adpositions	Adpositions without person marking	209 of 378
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical	94 of 168
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378

Noun phrases 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Adjectives without Nouns	Adjective may occur without noun, obligatorily marked by suffix	13 of 124
Action Nominal Constructions	Sentential	25 of 168
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses	Highly differentiated	77 of 138
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 9

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion in both tense and aspect	24 of 193
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	Imperative	29 of 193
The Optative	Inflectional optative present	48 of 319
The Morphological Imperative	Second person number-neutral	89 of 548
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Both direct and indirect evidentials	71 of 418
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
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Tense-aspect suffixes	667 of 1,131
Situational Possibility	Verbal constructions	158 of 234

Word order 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause precedes noun (RelN)	141 of 824
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)	373 of 1,367
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 Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)	542 of 1,225
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 Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 18

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Obligatory pronouns in subject position	82 of 711
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Ergative - absolutive	20 of 172
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Ergative - absolutive	32 of 190
Polar Questions	Interrogative verb morphology	164 of 955
Verbal Person Marking	No person marking of any argument	82 of 378
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Neutral alignment (no verbal person marking)	84 of 380
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No person marking of the S	96 of 380
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric standard negation only: Type Sym	114 of 297
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	Non-assignable (no asymmetry found)	114 of 297
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb	187 of 379
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Indirect-object construction	189 of 378
Applicative Constructions	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Passive Constructions	There is no passive construction	211 of 373
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 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced/deranked	18 of 143
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 of 174
Relativization on Obliques	Gap Strategy	55 of 112
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166

Vocabulary 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Bases	Hybrid vigesimal-decimal	22 of 196
Tea	Words derived from Sinitic cha	110 of 230
M in Second Person Singular	No m in second person singular	152 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

Other 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks	Clicks may express logical meanings ('yes' and/or 'no')	47 of 143