Murle

Eastern Sudanic family · South Surmic branch · Africa

Murle puts its words in verb-subject-object order (VSO), one of only 95 with that basic order among the 1,376 languages WALS codes for this feature.

The closest grammar profile to Murle in the atlas belongs to Bagirmi, a Central Sudanic language: the two agree on 44 of the 74 features both have coded.

On Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases, WALS codes Murle as “Nominative - accusative (marked nominative)”, a value held by 6 of the 190 languages coded, Oromo (Harar) and Maricopa among them.

On Number of Cases, WALS codes Murle as “4 case categories”, a value held by 9 of the 261 languages coded, German and Suena among them.

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

Contrast Murle with Bagirmi or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Order of Adposition and Noun PhraseMore than one adposition type with none dominant58 of 1,184
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection'We' and 'I' identical12 of 200
Presence of Uncommon Consonants'Th' sounds40 of 567
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSubtractive-quantitatively asymmetrical case-marking20 of 261
Verbal Number and SuppletionSingular-plural pairs, suppletion15 of 193
Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson stem with a pronominal plural affix23 of 261
Case SyncretismInflectional case marking is syncretic for core cases only18 of 198
Glottalized ConsonantsImplosives only55 of 567

Inside the Eastern Sudanic family

Murle matches the most frequent Eastern Sudanic value on 33 of the 54 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (61%). Among the 11 Eastern Sudanic languages profiled here, that rate ranks third from the top.

Where Murle breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Murle	Most relatives
The Morphological Imperative	No second-person imperatives	Second singular and second plural (10 of 10)

Closest profiles

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

Daga Trans-New Guinea38 of 66
Yapese Austronesian27 of 45
Ewe Niger-Congo40 of 71
Fijian Austronesian42 of 76

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Murle for 83 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 71 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Murle shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Weight-Sensitive Stress	Unbounded: Stress can be anywhere in the word	54 of 500
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	Long vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress	65 of 500
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately low	101 of 564
Tone	Simple tone system	132 of 527
Vowel Quality Inventories	Large vowel inventory (7-14)	184 of 564
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in plosives alone	189 of 567
Consonant Inventories	Average	201 of 563
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	/p t k b d g/	255 of 567
Syllable Structure	Moderately complex syllable structure	274 of 486
Lateral Consonants	/l/, no obstruent laterals	388 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 2

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Moderate preference for suffixing	123 of 969
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is syncretic	60 of 198

Nouns and pronouns 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Person Marking on Adpositions	Person marking for pronouns only	83 of 378
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive suffixes	355 of 902
Position of Case Affixes	Case suffixes	452 of 1,031
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
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
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200
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

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Combination of tense-aspect strategies with none primary	146 of 1,131
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	Imperative	29 of 193
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system	201 of 375
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	No suppletion in tense or aspect	123 of 193
Situational Possibility	Verbal constructions	158 of 234

Word order 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject follows verb (VS)	194 of 1,496
Order of Genitive and Noun	Noun-genitive (NGen)	468 of 1,249
Position of Polar Question Particles	No question particle	355 of 884
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	Verb-object-oblique (VOX)	210 of 500
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 Numeral and Noun	Numeral follows noun (NNum)	608 of 1,154
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)	879 of 1,367
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial	615 of 902
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause follows noun (NRel)	579 of 824

Simple clauses 21

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Polar Questions	Interrogative intonation only	173 of 955
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Double-object construction	84 of 378
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A precedes P	96 of 379
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
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have verbal encoding	151 of 386
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	502 of 1,157
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
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
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
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Periphrastic Causative Constructions	Purposive type but no sequential type	68 of 118
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

Complex sentences 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is expressed overtly	72 of 283

Vocabulary 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Number of Basic Colour Categories	6 or between 6 and 7 categories	34 of 119
Number of Non-Derived Basic Colour Categories	5 categories	56 of 119
Green and Blue	Green-or-blue ('grue')	68 of 120
Hand and Arm	Different	389 of 617
Red and Yellow	Red and yellow	98 of 120