Kanuri

Saharan family · Western Saharan branch · Africa

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

The closest grammar profile to Kanuri in the atlas belongs to Maba, a Maban language: the two agree on 49 of the 62 features both have coded.

On N-M Pronouns, WALS codes Kanuri as “N-M pronouns, non-paradigmatic”, a value held by 11 of the 230 languages coded, Berber (Middle Atlas) and Asmat among them.

The order Kanuri uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Kanuri with Maba or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Order of Person Markers on the VerbBoth orders of A and P occur19 of 379
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbObject-oblique-verb (OXV)27 of 500
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive SystemsMissing /p/33 of 567
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSubtractive-quantitatively asymmetrical case-marking20 of 261
Action Nominal ConstructionsMixed: Several patterns in the same language14 of 168
Other Roles of Applied ObjectsLocative18 of 183

Closest profiles

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

Kunama family of its own59 of 83
Nara (in Ethiopia) Eastern Sudanic33 of 44
Brahui Dravidian59 of 90
Nubian (Dongolese) Eastern Sudanic49 of 75

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Kanuri for 123 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 115 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Kanuri shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 14

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Tone	Simple tone system	132 of 527
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives	158 of 567
The Velar Nasal	Velar nasal, also initially	147 of 469
Vowel Quality Inventories	Large vowel inventory (7-14)	184 of 564
Consonant Inventories	Average	201 of 563
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Average	234 of 564
Syllable Structure	Moderately complex syllable structure	274 of 486
Lateral Consonants	/l/, no obstruent laterals	388 of 567
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 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
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
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Inconsistent marking or other type	121 of 236
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
Reduplication	Productive full and partial reduplication	278 of 368
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 23

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Case Affixes	Postpositional clitics	123 of 1,031
Number of Cases	6-7 case categories	37 of 261
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
Definite Articles	Definite word distinct from demonstrative	216 of 620
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers	Formally similar, involving interrogative expression	43 of 116
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive suffixes	355 of 902
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
The Associative Plural	Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals	104 of 236
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Unrelated	100 of 225
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always obligatory	133 of 291
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
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
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction	136 of 207
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Differentiation	213 of 322
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378

Noun phrases 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses	Adjectives and relative clauses collapsed	33 of 138
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are different	125 of 301
Noun Phrase Conjunction	WITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical	103 of 234
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Adjectives without Nouns	Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking	73 of 124
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	Imperative	29 of 193
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion according to tense	36 of 193
The Prohibitive	Special imperative + special negative	146 of 496
The Perfect	Other perfect	80 of 222
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
The Past Tense	Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction	94 of 222
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	101 of 222
The Future Tense	Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	110 of 222
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	No overlap	105 of 207
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular and second plural	292 of 548
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
Situational Possibility	Verbal constructions	158 of 234
Verbal Number and Suppletion	No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples	159 of 193
The Optative	Inflectional optative absent	271 of 319

Word order 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	More than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominant	93 of 659
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial	264 of 902
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
Position of Polar Question Particles	No question particle	355 of 884
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem)	562 of 1,225
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 Numeral and Noun	Numeral follows noun (NNum)	608 of 1,154
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
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 23

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Polar Questions	Interrogative verb morphology	164 of 955
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Nominative - accusative (standard)	46 of 190
Predicative Possession	Conjunctional Possessive	59 of 240
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have mixed encoding	103 of 386
Applicative Constructions	Benefactive and other; both bases	49 of 183
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat	82 of 297
Periphrastic Causative Constructions	Sequential type but no purposive type	35 of 118
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Nominative - accusative (standard)	61 of 172
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy	130 of 297
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is possible	175 of 386
Comparative Constructions	Locational Comparative	78 of 167
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 Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs	437 of 711
Nominal and Locational Predication	Different	269 of 386
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
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation	Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation	170 of 206

Complex sentences 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
'When' Clauses	Balanced	84 of 174
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
M in Second Person Singular	m in second person singular	78 of 230
Tea	Words derived from Min Nan Chinese te	84 of 230
Hand and Arm	Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm'	228 of 617
Numeral Bases	Decimal	125 of 196
M in First Person Singular	No m in first person singular	177 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593