Kayah Li (Eastern)
Sino-Tibetan family · Karen branch · Eurasia
Kayah Li (Eastern) is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
The closest grammar profile to Kayah Li (Eastern) in the atlas belongs to Khmu', an Austro-Asiatic language: the two agree on 45 of the 63 features both have coded.
On Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions, WALS codes Kayah Li (Eastern) as “Compound type but no morphological type”, a value held by 9 of the 310 languages coded, Mandarin and Vietnamese among them.
On Relativization on Subjects, WALS codes Kayah Li (Eastern) as “Pronoun-retention”, a value held by 5 of the 166 languages coded, Yoruba and Babungo among them.
Contrast Kayah Li (Eastern) with Khmu' or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Kayah Li (Eastern), rarest first.
- Adjectives without NounsMarked by mixed or other strategies5 of 124
- Order of Adposition and Noun PhraseMore than one adposition type with none dominant58 of 1,184
- Situational PossibilityOther kinds of markers13 of 234
- Voicing and Gaps in Plosive SystemsMissing /g/34 of 567
- Negative MorphemesNegative word, unclear if verb or particle73 of 1,157
- Expression of Pronominal SubjectsOptional pronouns in subject position61 of 711
- Coding of Nominal PluralityNo plural98 of 1,066
Inside the Sino-Tibetan family
Kayah Li (Eastern) matches the most frequent Sino-Tibetan value on 43 of the 75 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (57%). Among the 15 Sino-Tibetan languages profiled here, that rate ranks 12th from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Kayah Li (Eastern); the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Kayah Li (Eastern) for 75 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 65 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Kayah Li (Eastern) shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 14
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Low | 58 of 564 |
| Tone | Complex tone system | 88 of 527 |
| The Velar Nasal | Velar nasal, also initially | 147 of 469 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Large vowel inventory (7-14) | 184 of 564 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 189 of 567 |
| Consonant Inventories | Average | 201 of 563 |
| 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 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Little or no inflectional morphology | 141 of 969 |
| Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking | No subject person/number marking | 57 of 198 |
| Case Syncretism | Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal | 123 of 198 |
Nouns and pronouns 14
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are obligatory | 78 of 400 |
| The Associative Plural | Special non-bound associative plural marker | 47 of 236 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | No morphological case-marking | 81 of 261 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No person marking at all | 70 of 200 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics | 379 of 1,031 |
| Number of Cases | No morphological case-marking | 100 of 261 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem | 114 of 261 |
| Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives | Unrelated | 100 of 225 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Two-way contrast | 126 of 234 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | Adpositions without person marking | 209 of 378 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 120 of 200 |
| Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns | Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction | 136 of 207 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Noun phrases 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Action Nominal Constructions | No action nominals | 42 of 168 |
| Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses | Highly differentiated | 77 of 138 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | No tense-aspect inflection | 152 of 1,131 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Both direct and indirect evidentials | 71 of 418 |
| The Morphological Imperative | No second-person imperatives | 122 of 548 |
| 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 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 182 of 496 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 11
| 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 Polar Question Particles | Question particle at end of sentence | 314 of 884 |
| Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 210 of 500 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem) | 562 of 1,225 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object follows verb (VO) | 705 of 1,518 |
| Order of Numeral and Noun | Numeral follows noun (NNum) | 608 of 1,154 |
| 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 |
| Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions | Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial | 615 of 902 |
| 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 11
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give' | Double-object construction | 84 of 378 |
| Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking | No person marking of the S | 96 of 380 |
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat | 82 of 297 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy | 130 of 297 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns | Neutral | 79 of 172 |
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb | 187 of 379 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases | Neutral | 98 of 190 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
Complex sentences 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Relativization on Obliques | Pronoun-Retention Strategy | 20 of 112 |
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | The complement subject is left implicit | 144 of 283 |
Vocabulary 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Numeral Bases | Decimal | 125 of 196 |