Limbu
Sino-Tibetan family · Himalayish branch · Eurasia
The closest grammar profile to Limbu in the atlas belongs to Burushaski, a language WALS places in a family of its own: the two agree on 29 of the 48 features both have coded.
Of the 15 Sino-Tibetan languages profiled here, Limbu departs most often from the family’s usual values.
On Alignment of Verbal Person Marking, WALS codes Limbu as “Hierarchical alignment”, a value held by 11 of the 380 languages coded, Mapudungun and Awa Pit among them.
On Order of Person Markers on the Verb, 11 of 13 other Sino-Tibetan languages coded have the value “A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb”; Limbu has “Both orders of A and P occur”.
Contrast Limbu with Burushaski or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Limbu, rarest first.
- Indefinite ArticlesIndefinite affix on noun24 of 534
- Third Person Pronouns and DemonstrativesRelated to remote demonstratives18 of 225
- Possessive ClassificationThree to five classes20 of 243
- Predicative PossessionGenitive Possessive22 of 240
- Coding of Nominal PluralityNo plural98 of 1,066
- Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingZero in all 3rd person forms36 of 380
- Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseSuffixal adverbial subordinators64 of 659
Inside the Sino-Tibetan family
Limbu matches the most frequent Sino-Tibetan value on 25 of the 51 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (49%).
| Feature | Limbu | Most relatives |
|---|---|---|
| 'When' Clauses | Balanced/deranked | Deranked (4 of 5) |
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Limbu; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Limbu for 51 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 41 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Limbu shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Velar Nasal | Velar nasal, also initially | 147 of 469 |
Word structure 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | 406 of 969 |
Nouns and pronouns 11
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinal Numerals | Zero: Ordinal numerals do not exist | 33 of 321 |
| Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives | Different inflectional features | 21 of 201 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix | 47 of 261 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| The Associative Plural | Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals | 104 of 236 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Two-way contrast | 126 of 234 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | Adpositions without person marking | 209 of 378 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are absent | 260 of 400 |
| Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns | Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction | 136 of 207 |
| Comitatives and Instrumentals | Differentiation | 213 of 322 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Noun phrases 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Obligatory Possessive Inflection | Obligatorily possessed nouns exist | 43 of 244 |
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | WITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical | 103 of 234 |
| Number of Possessive Nouns | None reported | 233 of 243 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 6
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Optative | Inflectional optative present | 48 of 319 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Separate particle | 65 of 418 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 182 of 496 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 of 418 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
Word order 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Relative Clause and Noun | Relative clause precedes noun (RelN) | 141 of 824 |
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN) | 373 of 1,367 |
| Order of Numeral and Noun | Numeral precedes noun (NumN) | 479 of 1,154 |
| 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 Degree Word and Adjective | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 227 of 481 |
| 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 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Negative Morphemes | Double negation | 119 of 1,157 |
| Passive Constructions | There is a passive construction | 162 of 373 |
| Comparative Constructions | Locational Comparative | 78 of 167 |
| Verbal Person Marking | Person marking of both the A and P arguments | 193 of 378 |
| Periphrastic Causative Constructions | Purposive type but no sequential type | 68 of 118 |
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs | 437 of 711 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Complex sentences 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Reason Clauses | Balanced/deranked | 37 of 169 |
| Purpose Clauses | Deranked | 102 of 170 |
| Utterance Complement Clauses | Balanced | 114 of 143 |