Macushi
Cariban family · South America
WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Macushi, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.
Of the 4 Cariban languages profiled here, Macushi departs most often from the family’s usual values.
On Negative Morphemes, all 6 other Cariban languages coded have the value “Negative affix”; Macushi has “Negative particle”.
Contrast Macushi with Hixkaryana or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Macushi, rarest first.
- Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingErgative alignment19 of 380
- Occurrence of Nominal PluralityPlural in all nouns, optional in inanimates15 of 291
- Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingZero realization of some third person singular forms21 of 380
- Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsLong vowel + Coda: long vowels or closed syllables35 of 500
- Order of Subject and VerbBoth orders with neither order dominant110 of 1,496
- Order of Relative Clause and NounMixed types of relative clause with none dominant64 of 824
- Rhythm TypesIambic: right-hand syllable in the foot is strong31 of 323
Inside the Cariban family
Macushi matches the most frequent Cariban value on 24 of the 36 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (67%).
| Feature | Macushi | Most relatives |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | Approximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing (5 of 5) |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics (5 of 5) |
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Macushi; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Macushi for 64 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 53 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Macushi shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Stress Locations | Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable | 51 of 502 |
| Weight-Sensitive Stress | Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity) | 281 of 500 |
Nouns and pronouns 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems | Non-sex-based gender system | 28 of 257 |
| Ordinal Numerals | First/one-th, two-th, three-th | 54 of 321 |
| Number of Genders | Two | 50 of 257 |
| Systems of Gender Assignment | Semantic assignment | 53 of 257 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | Person marking for pronouns only | 83 of 378 |
| Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives | Related for all demonstratives | 52 of 225 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive prefixes | 255 of 902 |
| Definite Articles | Neither definite nor indefinite article | 198 of 620 |
| Indefinite Articles | Neither indefinite nor definite | 198 of 534 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem | 114 of 261 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural suffix | 513 of 1,066 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Two-way contrast | 126 of 234 |
| Indefinite Pronouns | Interrogative-based indefinites | 194 of 326 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
| Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives | Same forms | 143 of 201 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect | Suppletion according to tense | 36 of 193 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 182 of 496 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | No grammatical evidentials | 181 of 418 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | No grammatical evidentials | 181 of 418 |
| 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 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 |
| Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions | Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial | 264 of 902 |
| Order of Degree Word and Adjective | Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg) | 192 of 481 |
| Position of Polar Question Particles | No question particle | 355 of 884 |
| 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 Adposition and Noun Phrase | Postpositions | 577 of 1,184 |
| 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 |
Simple clauses 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | P precedes A | 57 of 379 |
| Polar Questions | Interrogative intonation only | 173 of 955 |
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Identical | 117 of 386 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding | 132 of 386 |
| Passive Constructions | There is a passive construction | 162 of 373 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is possible | 175 of 386 |
| Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give' | Indirect-object construction | 189 of 378 |
| Verbal Person Marking | Person marking of both the A and P arguments | 193 of 378 |
| Applicative Constructions | No applicative construction | 100 of 183 |
| Other Roles of Applied Objects | No applicative construction | 100 of 183 |
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs | 437 of 711 |
| 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 |
| Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation | Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation | 170 of 206 |
Complex sentences 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | 'Want' is expressed as a desiderative verbal affix | 45 of 283 |