Malayalam

Malayalam is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

The closest grammar profile to Malayalam in the atlas belongs to Hindi, an Indo-European language: the two agree on 35 of the 46 features both have coded.

Of the 5 Dravidian languages profiled here, Malayalam follows the family’s usual values most closely.

The order Malayalam uses in 7 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Malayalam with Hindi or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationA/Fin and A/Cat21 of 297
Politeness Distinctions in PronounsSecond person pronouns encode multiple politeness distinctions15 of 207
Weight-Sensitive StressLeft-edge: Stress is on the first or second syllable37 of 500
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsOptional pronouns in subject position61 of 711
ReduplicationFull reduplication only35 of 368

Inside the Dravidian family

Malayalam matches the most frequent Dravidian value on 33 of the 40 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (82%).

Closest profiles

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

Khalkha Altaic34 of 49
Japanese family of its own34 of 51
Kannada Dravidian33 of 50
Lezgian Nakh-Daghestanian34 of 52

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Malayalam for 55 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 49 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Malayalam shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 3

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Rhythm Types	Undetermined: no clear foot type	37 of 323
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	Long vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress	65 of 500
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502

Nouns and pronouns 13

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Different inflectional features	21 of 201
Number of Cases	6-7 case categories	37 of 261
Ordinal Numerals	First/one-th, two-th, three-th	54 of 321
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related for all demonstratives	52 of 225
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Symmetrical case-marking	79 of 261
Distributive Numerals	Marked by reduplication	85 of 251
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers	Formally similar, involving interrogative expression	43 of 116
The Associative Plural	Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals	104 of 236
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always obligatory	133 of 291
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Two-way contrast	126 of 234
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical	94 of 168
Indefinite Pronouns	Interrogative-based indefinites	194 of 326
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400

Noun phrases 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Epistemic Possibility	Verbal constructions	65 of 240
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	Overlap for either possibility or necessity	66 of 207
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + special negative	182 of 496
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
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 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
Position of Polar Question Particles	Question particle at end of sentence	314 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 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 9

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding	132 of 386
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy	130 of 297
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Indirect-object construction	189 of 378
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is impossible	211 of 386
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
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation	Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation	170 of 206

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

Vocabulary 3

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Hand and Arm	Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm'	228 of 617
Tea	Words derived from Sinitic cha	110 of 230
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593

Other 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks	Clicks may express logical meanings ('yes' and/or 'no')	47 of 143