Mapudungun

Araucanian family · South America

Mapudungun is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

WALS lists no other language in the family it assigns to Mapudungun.

The closest grammar profile to Mapudungun in the atlas belongs to Wichí, a Matacoan language: the two agree on 65 of the 106 features both have coded.

On 'Want' Complement Subjects, WALS codes Mapudungun as “'Want' is expressed as an uninflected desiderative particle”, a value held by 8 of the 283 languages coded, Fijian and Urubú-Kaapor among them.

The order Mapudungun uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Mapudungun with Wichí or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingHierarchical alignment11 of 380
Fixed Stress LocationsSecond: stress is on the second syllable16 of 502
Order of Adposition and Noun PhraseMore than one adposition type with none dominant58 of 1,184
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns'We' and 'I' identical10 of 200
Third Person Pronouns and DemonstrativesRelated to non-remote demonstratives14 of 225
Presence of Uncommon Consonants'Th' sounds40 of 567
Number of Cases2 case categories23 of 261
Rhythm TypesIambic: right-hand syllable in the foot is strong31 of 323

Closest profiles

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

Brahui Dravidian54 of 92
Maung Iwaidjan60 of 104
Awa Pit Barbacoan63 of 110
Luiseño Uto-Aztecan27 of 43

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Mapudungun for 126 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 116 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Mapudungun shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Velar Nasal	Velar nasal, also initially	147 of 469
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	No voicing contrast	182 of 567
Consonant Inventories	Average	201 of 563
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Average	234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	No weight, or weight factor unknown	261 of 500
Weight-Sensitive Stress	Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity)	281 of 500
Syllable Structure	Moderately complex syllable structure	274 of 486
Tone	No tones	307 of 527
Lateral Consonants	/l/, no obstruent laterals	388 of 567
Glottalized Consonants	No glottalized consonants	409 of 567
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels absent	180 of 244
Uvular Consonants	No uvulars	470 of 567
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection	TAM+agreement	19 of 160
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	8-9 categories per word	24 of 145
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is double-marked	58 of 236
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is head-marked	78 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is never syncretic	81 of 198
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Predominantly suffixing	406 of 969
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	No case	75 of 162
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Inconsistent marking or other type	121 of 236
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Exclusively concatenative	125 of 165
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 21

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	No nominal plural	28 of 291
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural word	170 of 1,066
Ordinal Numerals	First/one-th, two-th, three-th	54 of 321
Indefinite Articles	No indefinite article but definite article	98 of 534
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Different stems	37 of 201
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Symmetrical case-marking	79 of 261
Definite Articles	Definite word distinct from demonstrative	216 of 620
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Three-way contrast	88 of 234
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Position of Case Affixes	Case suffixes	452 of 1,031
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated	74 of 168
Person Marking on Adpositions	Adpositions without person marking	209 of 378
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
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 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Possessive-Accusative	29 of 168
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301
Noun Phrase Conjunction	AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical	131 of 234
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Prohibitive	Special imperative + special negative	146 of 496
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	Overlap for either possibility or necessity	66 of 207
Epistemic Possibility	Affixes on verbs	84 of 240
The Past Tense	No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction	88 of 222
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
The Future Tense	Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	110 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
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	121 of 222
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 Subject and Verb	Subject follows verb (VS)	194 of 1,496
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)	373 of 1,367
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	More than one order with none dominant	167 of 500
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 follows verb (VO)	705 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

Simple clauses 24

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Secondary-object construction	65 of 378
Reciprocal Constructions	Identical to reflexive	44 of 175
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A precedes P	96 of 379
Predicative Possession	Have-Possessive	63 of 240
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have mixed encoding	103 of 386
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric standard negation only: Type Sym	114 of 297
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	Non-assignable (no asymmetry found)	114 of 297
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Neutral	79 of 172
Comparative Constructions	Locational Comparative	78 of 167
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No zero realization of third person S forms	181 of 380
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of both the A and P arguments	193 of 378
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Neutral	98 of 190
Applicative Constructions	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is impossible	211 of 386
Polar Questions	Question particle	585 of 955
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs	437 of 711
Nominal and Locational Predication	Different	269 of 386
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 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Reason Clauses	Balanced/deranked	37 of 169
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 of 174
Relativization on Obliques	Gap Strategy	55 of 112
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166

Vocabulary 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
N-M Pronouns	N-M pronouns, paradigmatic	25 of 230
M in Second Person Singular	m in second person singular	78 of 230
Hand and Arm	Different	389 of 617
Numeral Bases	Decimal	125 of 196
M in First Person Singular	No m in first person singular	177 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593