Maricopa

Hokan family · Yuman branch · North America

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

On Coding of Nominal Plurality, WALS codes Maricopa as “Plural stem change”, a value held by 6 of the 1,066 languages coded, Tiipay (Jamul) and Dinka among them.

On Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns, WALS codes Maricopa as “Nominative - accusative (marked nominative)”, a value held by 3 of the 172 languages coded, the others being Igbo and Aymara (Central).

The closest grammar profile to Maricopa in the atlas belongs to Koasati, a Muskogean language: the two agree on 62 of the 100 features both have coded.

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

Contrast Maricopa with Koasati or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Distance Contrasts in DemonstrativesFive (or more)-way contrast4 of 234
Verbal Number and SuppletionSingular-dual-plural triples, no suppletion5 of 193
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun PhrasesNominative - accusative (marked nominative)6 of 190
Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsNumber-indifferent pronouns9 of 261
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns'We' and 'I' identical10 of 200
Order of Person Markers on the VerbA and P are fused20 of 379
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection'We' and 'I' identical12 of 200
Uvular ConsonantsUvular stops only38 of 567

Inside the Hokan family

Maricopa matches the most frequent Hokan value on 51 of the 79 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (65%). Among the 6 Hokan languages profiled here, that rate ranks second from the top.

Where Maricopa breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Maricopa	Most relatives
Presence of Uncommon Consonants	'Th' sounds	None (7 of 7)
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Mixed types of relative clause with none dominant	Internally-headed relative clause (4 of 5)

Closest profiles

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

Diegueño (Mesa Grande) Hokan34 of 54
Nambikuára (Southern) Nambikuaran31 of 51
Tauya Trans-New Guinea32 of 54
Tonkawa family of its own35 of 60

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Maricopa for 117 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 104 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Maricopa shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Fixed Stress Locations	Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable	51 of 502
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately high	102 of 564
Rhythm Types	Absent: no rhythmic stress	98 of 323
Syllable Structure	Complex syllable structure	151 of 486
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	No voicing contrast	182 of 567
Consonant Inventories	Average	201 of 563
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
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
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
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Approximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing	147 of 969
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	8-9 categories per word	24 of 145
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is never syncretic	35 of 198
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
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Monoexponential case	71 of 162
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Inconsistent marking or other type	121 of 236
Reduplication	Productive full and partial reduplication	278 of 368
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Exclusively concatenative	125 of 165
Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection	monoexponential TAM	127 of 160
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 20

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural only in human nouns, optional	20 of 291
Position of Case Affixes	Postpositional clitics	123 of 1,031
Distributive Numerals	Marked by suffix	32 of 251
Number of Cases	6-7 case categories	37 of 261
Person Marking on Adpositions	No adpositions	63 of 378
Indefinite Articles	No indefinite article but definite article	98 of 534
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related for all demonstratives	52 of 225
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive prefixes	255 of 902
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Symmetrical case-marking	79 of 261
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers	Formally different	40 of 116
Definite Articles	Definite word distinct from demonstrative	216 of 620
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical	94 of 168
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
Indefinite Pronouns	Interrogative-based indefinites	194 of 326
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400
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 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Possessive Classification	Three to five classes	20 of 243
Action Nominal Constructions	Possessive-Accusative	29 of 168
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses	Adjectives and relative clauses collapsed	33 of 138
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are different	125 of 301
Adjectives without Nouns	Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking	73 of 124
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 14

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Optative	Inflectional optative present	48 of 319
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Both direct and indirect evidentials	71 of 418
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + normal negative	113 of 496
Coding of Evidentiality	Verbal affix or clitic	131 of 418
Epistemic Possibility	Affixes on verbs	84 of 240
The Past Tense	No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction	88 of 222
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
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)	153 of 193

Word order 9

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	More than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominant	93 of 659
Position of Polar Question Particles	No question particle	355 of 884
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem)	562 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 Numeral and Noun	Numeral follows noun (NNum)	608 of 1,154
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
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions	Both morphological type and compound type	24 of 310
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	Zero in all 3rd person forms	36 of 380
Other Roles of Applied Objects	Locative	18 of 183
Negative Morphemes	Double negation	119 of 1,157
Polar Questions	Interrogative verb morphology	164 of 955
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Secondary-object construction	65 of 378
Reciprocal Constructions	Identical to reflexive	44 of 175
Applicative Constructions	Benefactive and other; both bases	49 of 183
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
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of both the A and P arguments	193 of 378
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
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

Complex sentences 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced/deranked	18 of 143
Relativization on Subjects	Non-reduction	24 of 166
Reason Clauses	Deranked	42 of 169
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is expressed overtly	72 of 283
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 of 174

Vocabulary 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
M in Second Person Singular	m in second person singular	78 of 230
M in First Person Singular	No m in first person singular	177 of 230
N-M Pronouns	No N-M pronouns	194 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230