Nepali
Indo-European family · Indic branch · Eurasia
Nepali is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
The closest grammar profile to Nepali in the atlas belongs to Kannada, a Dravidian language: the two agree on 39 of the 49 features both have coded.
Within the Indic branch, all 8 other languages coded for The Optative have the value “Inflectional optative absent”; Nepali has “Inflectional optative present”.
Contrast Nepali with Kannada or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Nepali, rarest first.
- Politeness Distinctions in PronounsSecond person pronouns encode multiple politeness distinctions15 of 207
- Weight-Sensitive StressLeft-edge: Stress is on the first or second syllable37 of 500
- Predicative PossessionGenitive Possessive22 of 240
Inside the Indo-European family
Nepali matches the most frequent Indo-European value on 36 of the 53 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (68%). Among the 39 Indo-European languages profiled here, that rate ranks 22nd from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Nepali; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Nepali for 53 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 48 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Nepali shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 14
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems | Long vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress | 65 of 500 |
| Consonant Inventories | Moderately large | 94 of 563 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately high | 102 of 564 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 189 of 567 |
| 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 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Average vowel inventory (5-6) | 287 of 564 |
| 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 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology | Consistently dependent-marking | 46 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P is dependent-marked | 63 of 236 |
| 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 |
| Zero Marking of A and P Arguments | Non-zero marking | 219 of 235 |
Nouns and pronouns 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Occurrence of Nominal Plurality | Plural in all nouns, always optional | 55 of 291 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| The Associative Plural | Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals | 104 of 236 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural suffix | 513 of 1,066 |
Noun phrases 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Action Nominal Constructions | Sentential | 25 of 168 |
| Nominal and Verbal Conjunction | Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical | 161 of 301 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 131 of 418 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 133 of 375 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 of 418 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
Word order 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | Final subordinator word | 96 of 659 |
| 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 |
| 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 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Negative Morphemes | Negative affix | 395 of 1,157 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding | 132 of 386 |
| Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give' | Indirect-object construction | 189 of 378 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is impossible | 211 of 386 |
| 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 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Tea | Words derived from Sinitic cha | 110 of 230 |
| Hand and Arm | Different | 389 of 617 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |