Nahuatl (Tetelcingo)
Uto-Aztecan family · Aztecan branch · North America
Nahuatl (Tetelcingo) is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
The closest grammar profile to Nahuatl (Tetelcingo) in the atlas belongs to Palauan, an Austronesian language: the two agree on 33 of the 47 features both have coded.
Of the 11 Uto-Aztecan languages profiled here, Nahuatl (Tetelcingo) departs most often from the family’s usual values.
On Nominal and Locational Predication, all 7 other Uto-Aztecan languages coded have the value “Different”; Nahuatl (Tetelcingo) has “Identical”.
Contrast Nahuatl (Tetelcingo) with Palauan or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Nahuatl (Tetelcingo), rarest first.
- Suppletion in Imperatives and HortativesA regular and a suppletive form alternate8 of 193
- Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate NegationNegative indefinites preclude predicate negation11 of 206
- Situational PossibilityOther kinds of markers13 of 234
- Person Marking on AdpositionsPerson marking for pronouns and nouns23 of 378
- Politeness Distinctions in PronounsSecond person pronouns encode multiple politeness distinctions15 of 207
- Order of Subject and VerbBoth orders with neither order dominant110 of 1,496
- Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson-number stem with a nominal plural affix22 of 261
- Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingZero in all 3rd person forms36 of 380
Inside the Uto-Aztecan family
Nahuatl (Tetelcingo) matches the most frequent Uto-Aztecan value on 47 of the 90 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (52%).
| Feature | Nahuatl (Tetelcingo) | Most relatives |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb | Verb-object-oblique (VOX) | More than one order with none dominant (8 of 10) |
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Nahuatl (Tetelcingo); the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Nahuatl (Tetelcingo) for 96 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 85 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Nahuatl (Tetelcingo) shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Lateral Consonants | No laterals | 95 of 567 |
| Consonant Inventories | Moderately small | 122 of 563 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | Penultimate | 110 of 502 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | No voicing contrast | 182 of 567 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Average | 234 of 564 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| 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 |
| Syllable Structure | Moderately complex syllable structure | 274 of 486 |
| Tone | No tones | 307 of 527 |
| 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 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Approximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing | 147 of 969 |
| Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking | Subject person/number marking is never syncretic | 81 of 198 |
| Case Syncretism | Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal | 123 of 198 |
Nouns and pronouns 18
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | No morphological case-marking | 81 of 261 |
| Definite Articles | Neither definite nor indefinite article | 198 of 620 |
| Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers | Formally different | 40 of 116 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics | 379 of 1,031 |
| Indefinite Articles | Neither indefinite nor definite | 198 of 534 |
| Number of Cases | No morphological case-marking | 100 of 261 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 79 of 200 |
| Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns | Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated | 74 of 168 |
| 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 |
| Indefinite Pronouns | Interrogative-based indefinites | 194 of 326 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 120 of 200 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are absent | 260 of 400 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Noun phrases 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal and Verbal Conjunction | Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical | 161 of 301 |
| Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses | Highly differentiated | 77 of 138 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 11
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect | Suppletion in both tense and aspect | 24 of 193 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Separate particle | 65 of 418 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + normal negative | 113 of 496 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 133 of 375 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Other | 91 of 240 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 of 418 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | No overlap | 105 of 207 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
| Verbal Number and Suppletion | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 159 of 193 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 11
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions | Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial | 264 of 902 |
| 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 Numeral and Noun | Numeral precedes noun (NumN) | 479 of 1,154 |
| Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase | Prepositions | 511 of 1,184 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 542 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 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 16
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Passive Constructions | There is a passive construction | 162 of 373 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns | Neutral | 79 of 172 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Complex sentences 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose Clauses | Balanced/deranked | 30 of 170 |
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | The complement subject is expressed overtly | 72 of 283 |
| 'When' Clauses | Balanced | 84 of 174 |
| Reason Clauses | Balanced | 90 of 169 |
| Utterance Complement Clauses | Balanced | 114 of 143 |
Vocabulary 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Hand and Arm | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 228 of 617 |
| Numeral Bases | Decimal | 125 of 196 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |