Kewa

Trans-New Guinea family · Enga_Kewa-Huli branch · Papunesia

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

On Ordinal Numerals, WALS codes Kewa as “Variou-th: Other solutions”, a value held by 7 of the 321 languages coded, Usan and Vietnamese among them.

On Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection, WALS codes Kewa as “TAM+agreement+diathesis”, a value held by 4 of the 160 languages coded, Greek (Modern) and Arabic (Egyptian) among them.

The closest grammar profile to Kewa in the atlas belongs to Shipibo-Konibo, a Pano-Tacanan language: the two agree on 63 of the 86 features both have coded.

The order Kewa uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Kewa with Shipibo-Konibo or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Lateral ConsonantsLaterals, but no /l/, no obstruent lateral29 of 567
Weight-Sensitive StressNot predictable26 of 500
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingActive alignment26 of 380
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsLexical: lexical stress, diacritic weight38 of 500
Order of Relative Clause and NounMixed types of relative clause with none dominant64 of 824
Applicative ConstructionsBenefactive object only; both bases16 of 183
Reciprocal ConstructionsThere are no non-iconic reciprocal constructions.16 of 175

Inside the Trans-New Guinea family

Kewa matches the most frequent Trans-New Guinea value on 63 of the 107 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (59%). Among the 16 Trans-New Guinea languages profiled here, that rate ranks 14th from the top.

Where Kewa breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Kewa	Most relatives
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Monoexponential case	No case (6 of 6)

Closest profiles

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

Uradhi Pama-Nyungan32 of 46
Nara (in Ethiopia) Eastern Sudanic30 of 43
Sentani Sentanic48 of 73
Fur family of its own47 of 72

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Kewa for 109 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 98 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Kewa shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Syllable Structure	Simple syllable structure	61 of 486
Consonant Inventories	Moderately small	122 of 563
Tone	Simple tone system	132 of 527
Rhythm Types	Absent: no rhythmic stress	98 of 323
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	No voicing contrast	182 of 567
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Average	234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
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 9

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Consistently dependent-marking	46 of 236
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	6-7 categories per word	31 of 145
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is dependent-marked	63 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
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Predominantly suffixing	406 of 969
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Exclusively concatenative	125 of 165
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 18

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
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Symmetrical case-marking	79 of 261
Definite Articles	Neither definite nor indefinite article	198 of 620
Indefinite Articles	Neither indefinite nor definite	198 of 534
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Unrelated	100 of 225
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
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
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378

Noun phrases 3

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Both direct and indirect evidentials	71 of 418
The Past Tense	Present, 2-3 remoteness distinctions	38 of 222
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion according to tense	36 of 193
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + normal negative	113 of 496
Coding of Evidentiality	Verbal affix or clitic	131 of 418
The Perfect	Other perfect	80 of 222
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
The Future Tense	Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	110 of 222
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
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	121 of 222
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 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Final subordinator word	96 of 659
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)	373 of 1,367
Position of Polar Question Particles	Question particle at end of sentence	314 of 884
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)	542 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 Genitive and Noun	Genitive-noun (GenN)	685 of 1,249
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial	615 of 902
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 18

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Ergative - absolutive	20 of 172
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Ergative - absolutive	32 of 190
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of only the A argument	73 of 378
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No other roles (= Only benefactive)	36 of 183
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding	132 of 386
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
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is possible	175 of 386
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No zero realization of third person S forms	181 of 380
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb	187 of 379
Passive Constructions	There is no passive construction	211 of 373
Polar Questions	Question particle	585 of 955
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

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 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Hand and Arm	Different	389 of 617
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
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593