Lepcha
Sino-Tibetan family · Himalayish branch · Eurasia
Lepcha is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Front Rounded Vowels, WALS codes Lepcha as “Mid only”, a value held by 6 of the 562 languages coded, Yukaghir (Kolyma) and Malakmalak among them.
Within the Himalayish branch, all 15 other languages coded for Order of Adjective and Noun have the value “Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)”; Lepcha has “Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)”.
Contrast Lepcha with Lahu or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Lepcha, rarest first.
- Number of Cases2 case categories23 of 261
- Predicative PossessionGenitive Possessive22 of 240
Inside the Sino-Tibetan family
Lepcha matches the most frequent Sino-Tibetan value on 49 of the 75 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (65%). Among the 15 Sino-Tibetan languages profiled here, that rate ranks eighth from the top.
| Feature | Lepcha | Most relatives |
|---|---|---|
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Obligatory pronouns in subject position | Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs (6 of 6, Himalayish branch) |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second person number-neutral | Second singular and second plural (5 of 6, Himalayish branch) |
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Lepcha; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Lepcha for 75 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 68 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Lepcha shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 12
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Large vowel inventory (7-14) | 184 of 564 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Average | 234 of 564 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | /p t k b d g/ | 255 of 567 |
| Lateral Consonants | /l/, no obstruent laterals | 388 of 567 |
| 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 |
Word structure 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Little or no inflectional morphology | 141 of 969 |
| 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 |
Nouns and pronouns 17
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural word | 170 of 1,066 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix | 47 of 261 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | Additive-quantitatively asymmetrical case-marking | 53 of 261 |
| Indefinite Articles | Numeral for 'one' is used as indefinite article | 112 of 534 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Definite Articles | Definite word distinct from demonstrative | 216 of 620 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Noun phrases 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal and Verbal Conjunction | Nominal and verbal conjunction are different | 125 of 301 |
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical | 131 of 234 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Prohibitive | Special imperative + special negative | 146 of 496 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 84 of 240 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 133 of 375 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | No grammatical evidentials | 181 of 418 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | No grammatical evidentials | 181 of 418 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | No overlap | 105 of 207 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
| Situational Possibility | Verbal constructions | 158 of 234 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | Final subordinator word | 96 of 659 |
| 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 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Negative Morphemes | Double negation | 119 of 1,157 |
| 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 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases | Nominative - accusative (standard) | 46 of 190 |
| 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 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns | Nominative - accusative (standard) | 61 of 172 |
| Passive Constructions | There is a passive construction | 162 of 373 |
| 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 |
| Periphrastic Causative Constructions | Purposive type but no sequential type | 68 of 118 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Different | 269 of 386 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Complex sentences 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | The complement subject is left implicit | 144 of 283 |