Nenets
Uralic family · Samoyedic branch · Eurasia
Nenets is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Presence of Uncommon Consonants, WALS codes Nenets as “Pharyngeals and 'th'”, a value held by 2 of the 567 languages coded, the other being Kabardian.
The closest grammar profile to Nenets in the atlas belongs to Tuvan, an Altaic language: the two agree on 33 of the 47 features both have coded.
Of the 7 Uralic languages profiled here, Nenets departs most often from the family’s usual values.
Contrast Nenets with Tuvan or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Nenets, rarest first.
- Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsCoda consonant: closed syllables are heavy for stress18 of 500
- Negative MorphemesNegative auxiliary verb47 of 1,157
- Exponence of Selected Inflectional FormativesCase + number8 of 162
- Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson stem with a nominal plural affix19 of 261
- Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSubtractive-quantitatively asymmetrical case-marking20 of 261
- The Morphological ImperativeSecond singular43 of 548
- Predicative PossessionGenitive Possessive22 of 240
- Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbOblique-object-verb (XOV)48 of 500
Inside the Uralic family
Nenets matches the most frequent Uralic value on 45 of the 72 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (62%).
| Feature | Nenets | Most relatives |
|---|---|---|
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | WITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical | AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical (5 of 5) |
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Nenets; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Nenets for 101 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 90 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Nenets shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 17
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant Inventories | Moderately large | 94 of 563 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately high | 102 of 564 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | Initial: stress is on the first syllable | 92 of 502 |
| Syllable Structure | Complex syllable structure | 151 of 486 |
| The Velar Nasal | Velar nasal, also initially | 147 of 469 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 189 of 567 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| Rhythm Types | Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong | 153 of 323 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Average vowel inventory (5-6) | 287 of 564 |
| Weight-Sensitive Stress | Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity) | 281 of 500 |
| Tone | No tones | 307 of 527 |
| Lateral Consonants | /l/, no obstruent laterals | 388 of 567 |
| Glottalized Consonants | No glottalized consonants | 409 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 11
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Case Syncretism | Core and non-core | 22 of 198 |
| Reduplication | No productive reduplication | 55 of 368 |
| Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb | 2-3 categories per word | 24 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 syncretic | 60 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 |
| Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology | Inconsistent marking or other type | 121 of 236 |
| 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 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Comitatives and Instrumentals | Mixed | 33 of 322 |
| Distributive Numerals | Marked by suffix | 32 of 251 |
| Number of Cases | 6-7 case categories | 37 of 261 |
| Ordinal Numerals | First, second, three-th | 61 of 321 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | Person marking for pronouns only | 83 of 378 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive suffixes | 355 of 902 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 79 of 200 |
| 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 |
| 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 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Action Nominal Constructions | Possessive-Accusative | 29 of 168 |
| Possessive Classification | No possessive classification | 125 of 243 |
| Obligatory Possessive Inflection | No obligatorily possessed nouns | 201 of 244 |
| Number of Possessive Nouns | None reported | 233 of 243 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives | Imperative | 29 of 193 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Both direct and indirect evidentials | 71 of 418 |
| The Prohibitive | Special imperative + special negative | 146 of 496 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 131 of 418 |
| Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking | Overlap for either possibility or necessity | 66 of 207 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 133 of 375 |
| The Past Tense | Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction | 94 of 222 |
| The Future Tense | Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction | 110 of 222 |
| The Perfect | No perfect | 114 of 222 |
| Perfective/Imperfective Aspect | No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction | 121 of 222 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
| Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect | No suppletion in tense or aspect | 123 of 193 |
| Situational Possibility | Verbal constructions | 158 of 234 |
| Verbal Number and Suppletion | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 159 of 193 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN) | 373 of 1,367 |
| 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 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking | Zero realization of all third person singular S forms | 45 of 380 |
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin | 40 of 297 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Asymmetric standard negation only: Type Asy | 53 of 297 |
| Verbal Person Marking | Person marking of only the A argument | 73 of 378 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases | Nominative - accusative (standard) | 46 of 190 |
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Identical | 117 of 386 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding | 132 of 386 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns | Nominative - accusative (standard) | 61 of 172 |
| Passive Constructions | There is a passive construction | 162 of 373 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is possible | 175 of 386 |
| Comparative Constructions | Locational Comparative | 78 of 167 |
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb | 187 of 379 |
| Alignment of Verbal Person Marking | Accusative alignment | 212 of 380 |
| 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 |
Vocabulary 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| M-T Pronouns | M-T pronouns, paradigmatic | 27 of 230 |
| M in First Person Singular | m in first person singular | 53 of 230 |
| Numeral Bases | Decimal | 125 of 196 |
| M in Second Person Singular | No m in second person singular | 152 of 230 |
| N-M Pronouns | No N-M pronouns | 194 of 230 |