Ngiyambaa

Pama-Nyungan family · Southeastern Pama-Nyungan branch · Australia

On Asymmetrical Case-Marking, WALS codes Ngiyambaa as “Qualitatively asymmetrical case-marking”, a value held by 7 of the 261 languages coded, Yidiny and Pitjantjatjara among them.

On Presence of Uncommon Consonants, all 15 other Pama-Nyungan languages coded have the value “None”; Ngiyambaa has “'Th' sounds”.

On Expression of Pronominal Subjects, WALS codes Ngiyambaa as “Pronominal subjects are expressed by clitics with variable host”, a value held by 32 of the 711 languages coded, Yagua and Cree (Plains) among them.

The order Ngiyambaa uses in 7 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Ngiyambaa with Martuthunira or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Order of Adposition and Noun PhraseNo adpositions30 of 1,184
Number of Cases5 case categories12 of 261
Order of Person Markers on the VerbBoth orders of A and P occur19 of 379
Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle in second position in sentence52 of 884
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingSplit alignment28 of 380
Order of Relative Clause and NounMixed types of relative clause with none dominant64 of 824
Order of Adjective and NounNo dominant order110 of 1,367

Inside the Pama-Nyungan family

Ngiyambaa matches the most frequent Pama-Nyungan value on 77 of the 112 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (69%). Among the 12 Pama-Nyungan languages profiled here, that rate ranks tenth from the top.

Where Ngiyambaa breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Ngiyambaa	Most relatives
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is impossible	Zero copula is possible (10 of 10)

Closest profiles

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

Martuthunira Pama-Nyungan79 of 113
Garrwa Garrwan30 of 40
Kayardild Tangkic74 of 114
Arrernte (Mparntwe) Pama-Nyungan38 of 56
Miwok (Southern Sierra) Penutian56 of 88

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Ngiyambaa for 123 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 112 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Ngiyambaa shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 17

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
Vowel Quality Inventories	Small vowel inventory (2-4)	93 of 564
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately high	102 of 564
The Velar Nasal	Velar nasal, also initially	147 of 469
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	No voicing contrast	182 of 567
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
Rhythm Types	Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong	153 of 323
Syllable Structure	Moderately complex syllable structure	274 of 486
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 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Case Syncretism	Core and non-core	22 of 198
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
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	No subject person/number marking	57 of 198
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	4-5 categories per word	52 of 145
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
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Monoexponential case	71 of 162
Reduplication	Productive full and partial reduplication	278 of 368
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 24

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Ordinal Numerals	Zero: Ordinal numerals do not exist	33 of 321
Person Marking on Adpositions	No adpositions	63 of 378
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always optional	55 of 291
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related for all demonstratives	52 of 225
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	63 of 200
Definite Articles	Neither definite nor indefinite article	198 of 620
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No person marking at all	70 of 200
Indefinite Articles	Neither indefinite nor definite	198 of 534
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Position of Case Affixes	Case suffixes	452 of 1,031
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated	74 of 168
The Associative Plural	Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals	104 of 236
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Two-way contrast	126 of 234
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
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction	136 of 207
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Differentiation	213 of 322
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Same forms	143 of 201

Noun phrases 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	No action nominals	42 of 168
Possessive Classification	Two classes	94 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 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Morphological Imperative	Second person number-neutral	89 of 548
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
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
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
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)	153 of 193
Verbal Number and Suppletion	No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples	159 of 193
The Optative	Inflectional optative absent	271 of 319

Word order 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial	264 of 902
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	More than one order with none dominant	167 of 500
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 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 20

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Ergative - absolutive	32 of 190
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Secondary-object construction	65 of 378
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
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
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
Passive Constructions	There is no passive construction	211 of 373
Reciprocal Constructions	Distinct from reflexive	99 of 175
Periphrastic Causative Constructions	Purposive type but no sequential type	68 of 118
Polar Questions	Question particle	585 of 955
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
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation	Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation	170 of 206

Complex sentences 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
'When' Clauses	Balanced/deranked	39 of 174
Reason Clauses	Deranked	42 of 169
Relativization on Obliques	Gap Strategy	55 of 112
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is left implicit	144 of 283
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Finger and Hand	Identical	72 of 593
Hand and Arm	Different	389 of 617
M in Second Person Singular	No m in second person singular	152 of 230
M in First Person Singular	No m in first person singular	177 of 230
N-M Pronouns	No N-M pronouns	194 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230