Persian

Indo-European family · Iranian branch · Eurasia

Persian is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

On Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases, 9 of 10 other Indo-European languages coded have the value “Possessor is dependent-marked”; Persian has “Possessor is head-marked”.

Of its word-order pairings, the one Persian shares with the fewest languages is Order of Genitive and Noun: “Noun-genitive (NGen)”, the value of 468 of the 1,249 languages coded.

The least common value coded for Persian is “The language has a minimal system, but not a maximal one” on Imperative-Hortative Systems, held by 20 of the 375 languages coded.

Its closest grammar profile in the atlas is that of Kurdish (Central): the two agree on 33 of the 44 features both have coded.

The order Persian uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Persian with Kurdish (Central) or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Coding of EvidentialityPart of the tense system24 of 418
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative ClausesGenitives and adjectives collapsed8 of 138
Uvular ConsonantsUvular stops only38 of 567
Definite ArticlesNo definite article but indefinite article45 of 620
Third Person Pronouns and DemonstrativesRelated for non-human reference17 of 225
The Morphological ImperativeSecond singular43 of 548
Number of Cases2 case categories23 of 261

Inside the Indo-European family

Persian matches the most frequent Indo-European value on 84 of the 133 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (63%). Among the 39 Indo-European languages profiled here, that rate ranks 32nd from the top.

Where Persian breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Persian	Most relatives
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	Core and non-core (9 of 10)
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Different inflectional features	Same forms (16 of 18)

Closest profiles

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

Turkish Altaic85 of 133
Greek (Modern) Indo-European79 of 128
Hungarian Uralic80 of 131
Georgian Kartvelian74 of 130

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Persian for 133 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 120 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Persian shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Fixed Stress Locations	Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable	51 of 502
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives	158 of 567
Syllable Structure	Complex syllable structure	151 of 486
Consonant Inventories	Average	201 of 563
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Average	234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	/p t k b d g/	255 of 567
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	No weight, or weight factor unknown	261 of 500
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
Presence of Uncommon Consonants	None	449 of 567
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Moderate preference for suffixing	123 of 969
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is double-marked	58 of 236
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	4-5 categories per word	52 of 145
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is never syncretic	81 of 198
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Monoexponential case	71 of 162
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Inconsistent marking or other type	121 of 236
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 22

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are optional	62 of 400
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only	61 of 378
Ordinal Numerals	First/one-th, two-th, three-th	54 of 321
The Associative Plural	Special non-bound associative plural marker	47 of 236
Person Marking on Adpositions	Person marking for pronouns only	83 of 378
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Identity	76 of 322
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode a binary politeness distinction	49 of 207
Distributive Numerals	No distributive numerals	62 of 251
Indefinite Pronouns	Generic-noun-based indefinites	85 of 326
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers	Formally similar, not involving interrogative expression	33 of 116
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Symmetrical case-marking	79 of 261
Position of Case Affixes	Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics	379 of 1,031
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Two-way contrast	126 of 234
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical	94 of 168
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
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200

Noun phrases 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Ergative-Possessive	21 of 168
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301
Noun Phrase Conjunction	AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical	131 of 234
Adjectives without Nouns	Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking	73 of 124
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 14

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion in both tense and aspect	24 of 193
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Combination of tense-aspect strategies with none primary	146 of 1,131
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Both direct and indirect evidentials	71 of 418
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + normal negative	113 of 496
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	Overlap for either possibility or necessity	66 of 207
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
The Past Tense	Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction	94 of 222
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 Perfect	No perfect	114 of 222
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 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Polar Question Particles	Question particle at beginning of sentence	129 of 884
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral precedes noun (NumN)	479 of 1,154
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase	Prepositions	511 of 1,184
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 Degree Word and Adjective	Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)	227 of 481
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Initial subordinator word	398 of 659
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)	879 of 1,367
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
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 25

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	Zero realization of all third person singular S forms	45 of 380
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Nominative - accusative (standard)	46 of 190
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A precedes P	96 of 379
Predicative Possession	Have-Possessive	63 of 240
Nominal and Locational Predication	Identical	117 of 386
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
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
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Indirect-object construction	189 of 378
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
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is impossible	211 of 386
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
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
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs	437 of 711
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 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Relativization on Obliques	Pronoun-Retention Strategy	20 of 112
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is expressed overtly	72 of 283
'When' Clauses	Balanced	84 of 174
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 6

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
Tea	Words derived from Sinitic cha	110 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

Other 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks	Clicks may express logical meanings ('yes' and/or 'no')	47 of 143