Krongo

Kadu family · Kadugli branch · Africa

Krongo puts its words in verb-subject-object order (VSO), one of only 95 with that basic order among the 1,376 languages WALS codes for this feature.

On Ordinal Numerals, WALS codes Krongo as “One: No distinction of cardinal and ordinal numerals”, a value held by 3 of the 321 languages coded.

On Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives, WALS codes Krongo as “Hortative”, a value held by 2 of the 193 languages coded, the other being Acoma.

The closest grammar profile to Krongo in the atlas belongs to Maasai, an Eastern Sudanic language: the two agree on 41 of the 56 features both have coded.

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

Contrast Krongo with Maasai or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Position of Case AffixesCase prefixes38 of 1,031
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsMore than one of the above types with none dominant32 of 711
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsNo morphological type or compound type23 of 310
Verbal Number and SuppletionSingular-plural pairs, suppletion15 of 193
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSyncretism in relevant NP-types21 of 261
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsProminence: other factors are heavy for stress41 of 500
Antipassive ConstructionsAntipassive with patient-like argument left implicit18 of 194
Glottalized ConsonantsImplosives only55 of 567

Closest profiles

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

Rapanui Austronesian59 of 110
Malagasy Austronesian60 of 116
Maori Austronesian60 of 116
Nandi Eastern Sudanic32 of 58

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Krongo for 124 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 113 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Krongo shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Weight-Sensitive Stress	Unbounded: Stress can be anywhere in the word	54 of 500
Rhythm Types	Undetermined: no clear foot type	37 of 323
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately low	101 of 564
Tone	Simple tone system	132 of 527
The Velar Nasal	Velar nasal, also initially	147 of 469
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	No voicing contrast	182 of 567
Vowel Quality Inventories	Large vowel inventory (7-14)	184 of 564
Consonant Inventories	Average	201 of 563
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
Syllable Structure	Moderately complex syllable structure	274 of 486
Lateral Consonants	/l/, no obstruent laterals	388 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 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Moderate preference for prefixing	94 of 969
Case Syncretism	Core and non-core	22 of 198
Reduplication	No productive reduplication	55 of 368
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P has no marking	42 of 236
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	4-5 categories per word	52 of 145
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
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	No case	75 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 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural prefix	126 of 1,066
Number of Cases	6-7 case categories	37 of 261
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	30 of 200
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only	61 of 378
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
Indefinite Articles	Neither indefinite nor definite	198 of 534
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Three-way contrast	88 of 234
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
The Associative Plural	Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals	104 of 236
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always obligatory	133 of 291
Person Marking on Adpositions	Adpositions without person marking	209 of 378
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction	136 of 207
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Differentiation	213 of 322
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Same forms	143 of 201

Noun phrases 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Possessive-Accusative	29 of 168
Possessive Classification	Two classes	94 of 243
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are different	125 of 301
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 14

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Combination of tense-aspect strategies with none primary	146 of 1,131
The Prohibitive	Special imperative + special negative	146 of 496
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one	133 of 375
The Perfect	Other perfect	80 of 222
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
The Past Tense	No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction	88 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	No inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	112 of 222
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular and second plural	292 of 548
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	No suppletion in tense or aspect	123 of 193
Situational Possibility	Verbal constructions	158 of 234
The Optative	Inflectional optative absent	271 of 319

Word order 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Both orders occur with neither order dominant	62 of 481
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject follows verb (VS)	194 of 1,496
Order of Genitive and Noun	Noun-genitive (NGen)	468 of 1,249
Position of Polar Question Particles	No question particle	355 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 Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Initial subordinator word	398 of 659
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

Simple clauses 22

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Other Roles of Applied Objects	Locative	18 of 183
Negative Morphemes	Double negation	119 of 1,157
Productivity of the Antipassive Construction	productive	24 of 186
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin	40 of 297
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
Reciprocal Constructions	Identical to reflexive	44 of 175
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No person marking of the S	96 of 380
Predicative Possession	Have-Possessive	63 of 240
Applicative Constructions	Benefactive and other; both bases	49 of 183
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have verbal encoding	151 of 386
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
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Neutral	79 of 172
Comparative Constructions	Locational Comparative	78 of 167
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
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Neutral	98 of 190
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is impossible	211 of 386
Periphrastic Causative Constructions	Purposive type but no sequential type	68 of 118
Nominal and Locational Predication	Different	269 of 386

Complex sentences 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced/deranked	18 of 143
Relativization on Obliques	Pronoun-Retention Strategy	20 of 112
'When' Clauses	Balanced	84 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
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166

Vocabulary 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Bases	Pure vigesimal	20 of 196
Hand and Arm	Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm'	228 of 617
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
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593