Mundari

Austro-Asiatic family · Munda branch · Eurasia

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

The closest grammar profile to Mundari in the atlas belongs to Nepali, an Indo-European language: the two agree on 33 of the 43 features both have coded.

Of the 9 Austro-Asiatic languages profiled here, Mundari departs most often from the family’s usual values.

On Order of Person Markers on the Verb, all 9 other Austro-Asiatic languages coded have the value “A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb”; Mundari has “P precedes A”.

The order Mundari uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Mundari with Nepali or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsCoda consonant: closed syllables are heavy for stress18 of 500
Ordinal NumeralsFirst, two, three12 of 321
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsPronominal subjects are expressed by clitics with variable host32 of 711
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsBoth morphological type and compound type24 of 310
Number of Cases8-9 case categories23 of 261
Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson-number affixes25 of 261

Inside the Austro-Asiatic family

Mundari matches the most frequent Austro-Asiatic value on 41 of the 95 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (43%).

Where Mundari breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Mundari	Most relatives
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular and second plural	No second-person imperatives (9 of 9)
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable (6 of 6)
Weight-Sensitive Stress	Right-edge: Stress on ultimate or penultimate syllable	Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity) (6 of 6)
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	No person marking at all (4 of 5)
Position of Case Affixes	Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics	Case suffixes (5 of 6, Munda branch)

Closest profiles

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

Telugu Dravidian31 of 44
Even Altaic28 of 40
Tuvan Altaic32 of 47
Dagur Altaic30 of 44

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Mundari for 99 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 86 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Mundari shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Consonant Inventories	Moderately large	94 of 563
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately high	102 of 564
The Velar Nasal	Velar nasal, but not initially	87 of 469
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels present	64 of 244
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in plosives alone	189 of 567
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	/p t k b d g/	255 of 567
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
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 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	6-7 categories per word	31 of 145
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is double-marked	58 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is never syncretic	81 of 198
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is dependent-marked	98 of 236
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Predominantly suffixing	406 of 969
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Monoexponential case	71 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
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 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	Non-sex-based gender system	28 of 257
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only	61 of 378
Number of Genders	Two	50 of 257
Systems of Gender Assignment	Semantic assignment	53 of 257
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Symmetrical case-marking	79 of 261
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	63 of 200
Definite Articles	Neither definite nor indefinite article	198 of 620
Distributive Numerals	Marked by reduplication	85 of 251
Indefinite Articles	Neither indefinite nor definite	198 of 534
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive suffixes	355 of 902
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Unrelated	100 of 225
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
Person Marking on Adpositions	Adpositions without person marking	209 of 378
Indefinite Pronouns	Interrogative-based indefinites	194 of 326
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Differentiation	213 of 322

Noun phrases 2

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
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

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Optative	Inflectional optative present	48 of 319
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion according to tense	36 of 193
The Prohibitive	Special imperative + special negative	146 of 496
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	No overlap	105 of 207
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Tense-aspect suffixes	667 of 1,131
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

Word order 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Both orders occur with neither order dominant	62 of 481
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	More than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominant	93 of 659
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 Adposition and Noun Phrase	Postpositions	577 of 1,184
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 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Predicative Possession	Locational Possessive	48 of 240
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have mixed encoding	103 of 386
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
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is impossible	211 of 386
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Reciprocal Constructions	Distinct from reflexive	99 of 175
Polar Questions	Question particle	585 of 955
Nominal and Locational Predication	Different	269 of 386
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation	Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation	170 of 206

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