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Nara (in Ethiopia)

Eastern Sudanic family · Nara branch · Africa

Nara (in Ethiopia) is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

Scored by how often each of its values recurs in the atlas, Nara (in Ethiopia) has the most ordinary profile of the 409 languages compared on this measure.

The closest grammar profile to Nara (in Ethiopia) in the atlas belongs to Meithei, a Sino-Tibetan language: the two agree on 32 of the 41 features both have coded.

Nara (in Ethiopia): order of head and dependent in 7 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubject80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Subject precedes verb (SV). Of 1,496 languages coded, 1,192 put the subject before the verb and 194 after it.verbobject47%46%Order of Object and Verb: Object precedes verb (OV). Of 1,518 languages coded, 712 put the object before the verb and 705 after it.adpositionnoun phrase49%43%Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase: Postpositions. Of 1,184 languages coded, 577 put the noun phrase before the adposition and 511 after it.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Genitive-noun (GenN). Of 1,249 languages coded, 685 put the genitive before the noun and 468 after it.nounadjective27%64%Order of Adjective and Noun: Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj). Of 1,367 languages coded, 373 put the adjective before the noun and 879 after it.noundemonstrative45%48%Order of Demonstrative and Noun: Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem). Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounrelative clause17%70%Order of Relative Clause and Noun: Relative clause follows noun (NRel). Of 824 languages coded, 141 put the relative clause before the noun and 579 after it.
The order Nara (in Ethiopia) uses in 7 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Nara (in Ethiopia) with Meithei or with any other language

Uncommon values

Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Nara (in Ethiopia), rarest first.

Inside the Eastern Sudanic family

Nara (in Ethiopia) matches the most frequent Eastern Sudanic value on 24 of the 40 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (60%). Among the 11 Eastern Sudanic languages profiled here, that rate ranks fourth from the top.

Closest profiles

Languages that share the most coded values with Nara (in Ethiopia); the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.

  • Amele Trans-New Guinea33 of 44
  • Kanuri Saharan33 of 44
  • Beja Afro-Asiatic31 of 43
  • Yaqui Uto-Aztecan31 of 43

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Nara (in Ethiopia) for 44 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 42 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Nara (in Ethiopia) shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 12

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
ToneSimple tone system132 of 527
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in plosives alone189 of 567
Consonant InventoriesAverage201 of 563
Consonant-Vowel RatioAverage234 of 564
Vowel Quality InventoriesAverage vowel inventory (5-6)287 of 564
Syllable StructureModerately complex syllable structure274 of 486
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Presence of Uncommon ConsonantsNone449 of 567
Uvular ConsonantsNo uvulars470 of 567
Absence of Common ConsonantsAll present503 of 567
Front Rounded VowelsNone525 of 562

Word structure 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun PhrasesPossessor has no marking32 of 236
Locus of Marking in the ClauseP is dependent-marked63 of 236
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyPredominantly suffixing406 of 969
Locus of Marking: Whole-language TypologyInconsistent marking or other type121 of 236
Zero Marking of A and P ArgumentsNon-zero marking219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Definite ArticlesDemonstrative word used as marker of definiteness69 of 620
Position of Case AffixesPostpositional clitics123 of 1,031
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural suffix513 of 1,066
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are absent260 of 400

Noun phrases 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Possessive ClassificationNo possessive classification125 of 243
Noun Phrase ConjunctionAND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical131 of 234
Obligatory Possessive InflectionNo obligatorily possessed nouns201 of 244
Number of Possessive NounsNone reported233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect suffixes667 of 1,131

Word order 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word follows noun (NDem)562 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject precedes verb (OV)712 of 1,518
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePostpositions577 of 1,184
Order of Genitive and NounGenitive-noun (GenN)685 of 1,249
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)879 of 1,367
Order of Relative Clause and NounRelative clause follows noun (NRel)579 of 824
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have mixed encoding103 of 386
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Zero Copula for Predicate NominalsZero copula is possible175 of 386
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Nominal and Locational PredicationDifferent269 of 386

Vocabulary 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
M in Second Person SingularNo m in second person singular152 of 230
M in First Person SingularNo m in first person singular177 of 230
N-M PronounsNo N-M pronouns194 of 230
M-T PronounsNo M-T pronouns200 of 230