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Malakmalak

Northern Daly family · Australia

On Locus of Marking in the Clause, WALS codes Malakmalak as “Other types”, a value held by 2 of the 236 languages coded, the other being Yagua.

On Front Rounded Vowels, WALS codes Malakmalak as “Mid only”, a value held by 6 of the 562 languages coded, Yukaghir (Kolyma) and Lepcha among them.

The closest grammar profile to Malakmalak in the atlas belongs to Ungarinjin, a Worrorran language: the two agree on 38 of the 53 features both have coded.

Malakmalak: order of head and dependent in 7 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubject80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Subject precedes verb (SV). Of 1,496 languages coded, 1,192 put the subject before the verb and 194 after it.verbobject47%46%Order of Object and Verb: Object precedes verb (OV). Of 1,518 languages coded, 712 put the object before the verb and 705 after it.noungenitivegenitiveno dominant order55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Both orders occur with neither order dominant. Of 1,249 languages coded, 685 put the genitive before the noun and 468 after it.nounadjective27%64%Order of Adjective and Noun: Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj). Of 1,367 languages coded, 373 put the adjective before the noun and 879 after it.noundemonstrative45%48%Order of Demonstrative and Noun: Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem). Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounnumeral42%53%Order of Numeral and Noun: Numeral follows noun (NNum). Of 1,154 languages coded, 479 put the numeral before the noun and 608 after it.adjectivedegree word47%40%Order of Degree Word and Adjective: Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj). Of 481 languages coded, 227 put the degree word before the adjective and 192 after it.
The order Malakmalak uses in 7 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Malakmalak with Ungarinjin or with any other language

Uncommon values

Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Malakmalak, rarest first.

Closest profiles

Languages that share the most coded values with Malakmalak; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Malakmalak for 54 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 47 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Malakmalak shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 13

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Consonant InventoriesSmall89 of 563
Syllable StructureComplex syllable structure151 of 486
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesNo voicing contrast182 of 567
Consonant-Vowel RatioAverage234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive SystemsOther242 of 567
Fixed Stress LocationsNo fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)220 of 502
Rhythm TypesTrochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong153 of 323
Vowel Quality InventoriesAverage vowel inventory (5-6)287 of 564
ToneNo tones307 of 527
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Presence of Uncommon ConsonantsNone449 of 567
Uvular ConsonantsNo uvulars470 of 567

Word structure 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun PhrasesPossessor is dependent-marked98 of 236
Locus of Marking: Whole-language TypologyInconsistent marking or other type121 of 236
ReduplicationProductive full and partial reduplication278 of 368
Zero Marking of A and P ArgumentsNon-zero marking219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Number of Cases6-7 case categories37 of 261
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsGender distinctions in 3rd person singular only61 of 378
Person Marking on AdpositionsNo adpositions63 of 378
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingAdditive-quantitatively asymmetrical case-marking53 of 261
Position of Case AffixesCase suffixes452 of 1,031
Indefinite PronounsInterrogative-based indefinites194 of 326
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are absent260 of 400

Noun phrases 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Possessive ClassificationTwo classes94 of 243
Obligatory Possessive InflectionNo obligatorily possessed nouns201 of 244
Number of Possessive NounsNone reported233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesNo tense-aspect inflection152 of 1,131

Word order 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word follows noun (NDem)562 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject precedes verb (OV)712 of 1,518
Order of Degree Word and AdjectiveDegree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)227 of 481
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral follows noun (NNum)608 of 1,154
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)879 of 1,367
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 9

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Person Markers on the VerbA precedes P96 of 379
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have mixed encoding103 of 386
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Zero Copula for Predicate NominalsZero copula is possible175 of 386
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingNo zero realization of third person S forms181 of 380
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of both the A and P arguments193 of 378
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingAccusative alignment212 of 380
Passive ConstructionsThere is no passive construction211 of 373
Nominal and Locational PredicationDifferent269 of 386

Vocabulary 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
M in Second Person SingularNo m in second person singular152 of 230
M in First Person SingularNo m in first person singular177 of 230
N-M PronounsNo N-M pronouns194 of 230
M-T PronounsNo M-T pronouns200 of 230