Mokilese
Austronesian family · Oceanic branch · Papunesia
Mokilese is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
The closest grammar profile to Mokilese in the atlas belongs to Bagirmi, a Central Sudanic language: the two agree on 31 of the 42 features both have coded.
Within the Oceanic branch, 9 of 11 other languages coded for Epistemic Possibility have the value “Other”; Mokilese has “Verbal constructions”.
Contrast Mokilese with Bagirmi or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Mokilese, rarest first.
- Order of Subject and VerbBoth orders with neither order dominant110 of 1,496
- Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural clitic81 of 1,066
- Order of Genitive and NounBoth orders occur with neither order dominant96 of 1,249
- Expression of Pronominal SubjectsOptional pronouns in subject position61 of 711
Inside the Austronesian family
Mokilese matches the most frequent Austronesian value on 37 of the 55 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (67%). Among the 38 Austronesian languages profiled here, that rate ranks 15th from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Mokilese; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Mokilese 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 Mokilese shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Word structure 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Moderate preference for suffixing | 123 of 969 |
| Reduplication | Productive full and partial reduplication | 278 of 368 |
Nouns and pronouns 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Definite Articles | Demonstrative word used as marker of definiteness | 69 of 620 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix | 47 of 261 |
| Indefinite Articles | Indefinite word distinct from numeral for 'one' | 102 of 534 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are obligatory | 78 of 400 |
| Comitatives and Instrumentals | Identity | 76 of 322 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | No morphological case-marking | 81 of 261 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics | 379 of 1,031 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Three-way contrast | 88 of 234 |
| Number of Cases | No morphological case-marking | 100 of 261 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive suffixes | 355 of 902 |
| Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives | Unrelated | 100 of 225 |
| Occurrence of Nominal Plurality | Plural in all nouns, always obligatory | 133 of 291 |
| 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 |
Noun phrases 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical | 131 of 234 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Combination of tense-aspect strategies with none primary | 146 of 1,131 |
| The Morphological Imperative | No second-person imperatives | 122 of 548 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 133 of 375 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 182 of 496 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | No overlap | 105 of 207 |
| 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 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Polar Question Particles | Question particle at beginning of sentence | 129 of 884 |
| Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions | Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial | 264 of 902 |
| Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase | Prepositions | 511 of 1,184 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem) | 562 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 Numeral and Noun | Numeral follows noun (NNum) | 608 of 1,154 |
| Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | Initial subordinator word | 398 of 659 |
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj) | 879 of 1,367 |
| Order of Relative Clause and Noun | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 579 of 824 |
Simple clauses 6
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Predicative Possession | Topic Possessive | 48 of 240 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have verbal encoding | 151 of 386 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is possible | 175 of 386 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Different | 269 of 386 |
Complex sentences 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 'When' Clauses | Balanced | 84 of 174 |
| Reason Clauses | Balanced | 90 of 169 |
| Purpose Clauses | Deranked | 102 of 170 |
Vocabulary 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Hand and Arm | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 228 of 617 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |