O'odham
Uto-Aztecan family · Tepiman branch · North America
WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for O'odham, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.
The closest grammar profile to O'odham in the atlas belongs to Chamorro, an Austronesian language: the two agree on 37 of the 55 features both have coded.
On Indefinite Pronouns, 7 of 8 other Uto-Aztecan languages coded have the value “Interrogative-based indefinites”; O'odham has “Special indefinites”.
On Expression of Pronominal Subjects, WALS codes O'odham as “Pronominal subjects are expressed by clitics with variable host”, a value held by 32 of the 711 languages coded, Comanche and Ngiyambaa among them.
Contrast O'odham with Chamorro or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with O'odham, rarest first.
- Order of Adposition and Noun PhraseMore than one adposition type with none dominant58 of 1,184
- Number of Basic Colour Categories8 or between 8 and 9 categories6 of 119
- Lateral ConsonantsLaterals, but no /l/, no obstruent lateral29 of 567
- Order of Genitive and NounBoth orders occur with neither order dominant96 of 1,249
- Reciprocal ConstructionsMixed16 of 175
Inside the Uto-Aztecan family
O'odham matches the most frequent Uto-Aztecan value on 38 of the 61 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (62%). Among the 11 Uto-Aztecan languages profiled here, that rate ranks fifth from the top.
| Feature | O'odham | Most relatives |
|---|---|---|
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | /p t k b d g/ | Other (7 of 8) |
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with O'odham; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes O'odham for 68 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 59 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value O'odham shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 11
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Syllable Structure | Complex syllable structure | 151 of 486 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 189 of 567 |
| Consonant Inventories | Average | 201 of 563 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Average | 234 of 564 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Average vowel inventory (5-6) | 287 of 564 |
| 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 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Approximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing | 147 of 969 |
| Reduplication | Productive full and partial reduplication | 278 of 368 |
Nouns and pronouns 6
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural prefix | 126 of 1,066 |
| Indefinite Articles | No indefinite article but definite article | 98 of 534 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive prefixes | 255 of 902 |
| Definite Articles | Definite word distinct from demonstrative | 216 of 620 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics | 379 of 1,031 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are absent | 260 of 400 |
Noun phrases 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal and Verbal Conjunction | Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical | 161 of 301 |
| Adjectives without Nouns | Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking | 73 of 124 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 8
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Past Tense | Present, 2-3 remoteness distinctions | 38 of 222 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 131 of 418 |
| The Perfect | Other perfect | 80 of 222 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 of 418 |
| Perfective/Imperfective Aspect | Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction | 101 of 222 |
| The Future Tense | No inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction | 112 of 222 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
Word order 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject follows verb (VS) | 194 of 1,496 |
| Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | More than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominant | 93 of 659 |
| Position of Polar Question Particles | Question particle at beginning of sentence | 129 of 884 |
| 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 follows verb (VO) | 705 of 1,518 |
| Order of Degree Word and Adjective | Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj) | 227 of 481 |
| Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions | Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial | 615 of 902 |
| Order of Relative Clause and Noun | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 579 of 824 |
Simple clauses 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Comparative Constructions | Particle Comparative | 22 of 167 |
| Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give' | Double-object construction | 84 of 378 |
| Predicative Possession | Have-Possessive | 63 of 240 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have verbal encoding | 151 of 386 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| 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 |
Complex sentences 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | 'Want' is expressed as a desiderative verbal affix | 45 of 283 |
Vocabulary 9
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| N-M Pronouns | N-M pronouns, paradigmatic | 25 of 230 |
| M in Second Person Singular | m in second person singular | 78 of 230 |
| Hand and Arm | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 228 of 617 |
| Number of Non-Derived Basic Colour Categories | 5 categories | 56 of 119 |
| Green and Blue | Green-or-blue ('grue') | 68 of 120 |
| M in First Person Singular | No m in first person singular | 177 of 230 |
| Red and Yellow | Red and yellow | 98 of 120 |
| M-T Pronouns | No M-T pronouns | 200 of 230 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |
Other 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks | Clicks may express affective but not logical meanings | 71 of 143 |