Miwok (Southern Sierra)
Penutian family · Miwok branch · North America
WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Miwok (Southern Sierra), a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.
The closest grammar profile to Miwok (Southern Sierra) in the atlas belongs to Yup'ik (Central), an Eskimo-Aleut language: the two agree on 39 of the 57 features both have coded.
On M-T Pronouns, all 5 other Penutian languages coded have the value “No M-T pronouns”; Miwok (Southern Sierra) has “M-T pronouns, paradigmatic”.
On N-M Pronouns, WALS codes Miwok (Southern Sierra) as “N-M pronouns, non-paradigmatic”, a value held by 11 of the 230 languages coded, Kanuri and Berber (Middle Atlas) among them.
Contrast Miwok (Southern Sierra) with Yup'ik (Central) or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Miwok (Southern Sierra), rarest first.
- Order of Person Markers on the VerbBoth orders of A and P occur19 of 379
- Order of Object and VerbBoth orders with neither order dominant101 of 1,518
- Locus of Marking: Whole-language TypologyConsistently double-marking16 of 236
- Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsLong vowel + Coda: long vowels or closed syllables35 of 500
- Weight-Sensitive StressLeft-edge: Stress is on the first or second syllable37 of 500
- Order of Genitive and NounBoth orders occur with neither order dominant96 of 1,249
- Order of Adjective and NounNo dominant order110 of 1,367
- Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun PhrasesPossessor is double-marked22 of 236
Inside the Penutian family
Miwok (Southern Sierra) matches the most frequent Penutian value on 40 of the 58 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (69%). Among the 5 Penutian languages profiled here, that rate ranks second from the top.
| Feature | Miwok (Southern Sierra) | Most relatives |
|---|---|---|
| M in First Person Singular | m in first person singular | No m in first person singular (5 of 5) |
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Miwok (Southern Sierra); the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Miwok (Southern Sierra) for 93 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 81 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Miwok (Southern Sierra) shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 17
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately low | 101 of 564 |
| The Velar Nasal | Velar nasal, but not initially | 87 of 469 |
| Consonant Inventories | Moderately small | 122 of 563 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | No voicing contrast | 182 of 567 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 220 of 502 |
| Rhythm Types | Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong | 153 of 323 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Average vowel inventory (5-6) | 287 of 564 |
| 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 |
| Presence of Uncommon Consonants | None | 449 of 567 |
| 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 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Case Syncretism | Inflectional case marking is never syncretic | 35 of 198 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P is double-marked | 58 of 236 |
| Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb | 4-5 categories per word | 52 of 145 |
| 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 | Monoexponential case | 71 of 162 |
| 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 19
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Cases | 6-7 case categories | 37 of 261 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 30 of 200 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | No adpositions | 63 of 378 |
| Ordinal Numerals | First, second, three-th | 61 of 321 |
| Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives | Related for all demonstratives | 52 of 225 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | Symmetrical case-marking | 79 of 261 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 63 of 200 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive suffixes | 355 of 902 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem | 114 of 261 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural suffix | 513 of 1,066 |
| 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 |
| 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 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Possessive Classification | No possessive classification | 125 of 243 |
| Obligatory Possessive Inflection | No obligatorily possessed nouns | 201 of 244 |
| Number of Possessive Nouns | None reported | 233 of 243 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 12
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Situational Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 63 of 234 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 131 of 418 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | Overlap for either possibility or necessity | 66 of 207 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 84 of 240 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 133 of 375 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 of 418 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| 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 |
| Verbal Number and Suppletion | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 159 of 193 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions | Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial | 264 of 902 |
| 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 Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 12
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases | Nominative - accusative (standard) | 46 of 190 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns | Nominative - accusative (standard) | 61 of 172 |
| 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 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Passive Constructions | There is a passive construction | 162 of 373 |
| 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 Verbal Person Marking | Accusative alignment | 212 of 380 |
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs | 437 of 711 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Vocabulary 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| M in Second Person Singular | m in second person singular | 78 of 230 |
| Tea | Words derived from Min Nan Chinese te | 84 of 230 |
| Hand and Arm | Different | 389 of 617 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |