Ladakhi
Sino-Tibetan family · Bodic branch · Eurasia
Ladakhi is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
The closest grammar profile to Ladakhi in the atlas belongs to Wappo, a Wappo-Yukian language: the two agree on 33 of the 41 features both have coded.
Within the Bodic branch, all 4 other languages coded for 'Want' Complement Subjects have the value “The complement subject is left implicit”; Ladakhi has “'Want' is expressed as a desiderative verbal affix”.
On Indefinite Articles, WALS codes Ladakhi as “Indefinite affix on noun”, a value held by 24 of the 534 languages coded, Limbu and Lango among them.
Contrast Ladakhi with Wappo or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Ladakhi, rarest first.
- Number of Cases5 case categories12 of 261
- Coding of EvidentialityPart of the tense system24 of 418
- Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson stem with a nominal plural affix19 of 261
- Expression of Pronominal SubjectsOptional pronouns in subject position61 of 711
Inside the Sino-Tibetan family
Ladakhi matches the most frequent Sino-Tibetan value on 54 of the 76 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (71%). Among the 15 Sino-Tibetan languages profiled here, that rate ranks fifth from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Ladakhi; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Ladakhi for 76 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 69 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Ladakhi shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | High | 69 of 564 |
| Consonant Inventories | Moderately large | 94 of 563 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives | 158 of 567 |
| Syllable Structure | Complex syllable structure | 151 of 486 |
| The Velar Nasal | Velar nasal, also initially | 147 of 469 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | /p t k b d g/ | 255 of 567 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Average vowel inventory (5-6) | 287 of 564 |
| Tone | No tones | 307 of 527 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Case Syncretism | Inflectional case marking is never syncretic | 35 of 198 |
| Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking | No subject person/number marking | 57 of 198 |
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | 406 of 969 |
Nouns and pronouns 12
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinal Numerals | First/one-th, two-th, three-th | 54 of 321 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | Symmetrical case-marking | 79 of 261 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 63 of 200 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No person marking at all | 70 of 200 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| 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 |
| Comitatives and Instrumentals | Differentiation | 213 of 322 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 12
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Optative | Inflectional optative present | 48 of 319 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Both direct and indirect evidentials | 71 of 418 |
| Situational Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 63 of 234 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 84 of 240 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 182 of 496 |
| 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 |
| Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect | No suppletion in tense or aspect | 123 of 193 |
| 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 |
Word order 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Polar Question Particles | No question particle | 355 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 |
| 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 Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 17
| 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 |
| Polar Questions | Interrogative verb morphology | 164 of 955 |
| Predicative Possession | Locational Possessive | 48 of 240 |
| 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 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have mixed encoding | 103 of 386 |
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat | 82 of 297 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative affix | 395 of 1,157 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy | 130 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 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is impossible | 211 of 386 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Different | 269 of 386 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Vocabulary 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Tea | Words derived from Sinitic cha | 110 of 230 |