Makah
Wakashan family · Southern Wakashan branch · North America
Makah 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.
The closest grammar profile to Makah in the atlas belongs to Abipón, a Guaicuruan language: the two agree on 29 of the 49 features both have coded.
On Expression of Pronominal Subjects, WALS codes Makah as “Pronominal subjects are expressed by clitics with variable host”, a value held by 32 of the 711 languages coded, Nuuchahnulth and Ngiyambaa among them.
On Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase, WALS codes Makah as “More than one adposition type with none dominant”, a value held by 58 of the 1,184 languages coded, Mandarin and Mapudungun among them.
Contrast Makah with Abipón or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Makah, rarest first.
- Order of Person Markers on the VerbA and P are fused20 of 379
- Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingZero realization of some third person singular forms21 of 380
- Order of Numeral and NounBoth orders of numeral and noun with neither order dominant65 of 1,154
- Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle in second position in sentence52 of 884
- Voicing and Gaps in Plosive SystemsMissing /g/34 of 567
- Indefinite PronounsSpecial indefinites22 of 326
- Weight-Sensitive StressLeft-edge: Stress is on the first or second syllable37 of 500
- Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural clitic81 of 1,066
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Makah; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Makah for 80 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 69 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Makah shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 14
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Lateral Consonants | /l/ and lateral obstruents | 47 of 567 |
| Uvular Consonants | Uvular stops and continuants | 48 of 567 |
| Glottalized Consonants | Ejectives only | 58 of 567 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | High | 69 of 564 |
| Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems | Long vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress | 65 of 500 |
| Syllable Structure | Complex syllable structure | 151 of 486 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 189 of 567 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 220 of 502 |
| The Velar Nasal | No velar nasal | 235 of 469 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Average vowel inventory (5-6) | 287 of 564 |
| Tone | No tones | 307 of 527 |
| Presence of Uncommon Consonants | None | 449 of 567 |
| Absence of Common Consonants | All present | 503 of 567 |
| Front Rounded Vowels | None | 525 of 562 |
Word structure 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Little or no inflectional morphology | 141 of 969 |
Nouns and pronouns 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Person Marking on Adpositions | No adpositions | 63 of 378 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | No morphological case-marking | 81 of 261 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics | 379 of 1,031 |
| Number of Cases | No morphological case-marking | 100 of 261 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 79 of 200 |
| 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 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Two-way contrast | 126 of 234 |
| 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 |
| Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns | Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction | 136 of 207 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
| Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives | Same forms | 143 of 201 |
Noun phrases 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Action Nominal Constructions | No action nominals | 42 of 168 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Prohibitive | Special imperative + normal negative | 55 of 496 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Both direct and indirect evidentials | 71 of 418 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 131 of 418 |
| The Past Tense | No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction | 88 of 222 |
| 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 Perfect | No perfect | 114 of 222 |
| 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 |
| Situational Possibility | Verbal constructions | 158 of 234 |
| 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 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Genitive and Noun | Both orders occur with neither order dominant | 96 of 1,249 |
| Order of Relative Clause and Noun | Mixed types of relative clause with none dominant | 64 of 824 |
| Order of Adjective and Noun | No dominant order | 110 of 1,367 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject follows verb (VS) | 194 of 1,496 |
| Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions | Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial | 264 of 902 |
| Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | 210 of 500 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 542 of 1,225 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object follows verb (VO) | 705 of 1,518 |
| Order of Degree Word and Adjective | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 227 of 481 |
Simple clauses 12
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin | 40 of 297 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Asymmetric standard negation only: Type Asy | 53 of 297 |
| Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give' | Double-object construction | 84 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 |
| Alignment of Verbal Person Marking | Accusative alignment | 212 of 380 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
| 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 |
Complex sentences 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | 'Want' is expressed as a desiderative verbal affix | 45 of 283 |