Pirahã

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

On Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns, WALS codes Pirahã as “No grammaticalised marking at all”, a value held by 2 of the 200 languages coded, the other being Acoma.

On Polar Questions, WALS codes Pirahã as “Question particle and interrogative verb morphology”, a value held by 15 of the 955 languages coded, Ika and Amharic among them.

WALS lists no other language in the family it assigns to Pirahã.

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

Contrast Pirahã with Daga or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Absence of Common ConsonantsNo nasals10 of 567
Locus of Marking: Whole-language TypologyConsistently zero-marking6 of 236
Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsNumber-indifferent pronouns9 of 261
Number of GendersFour12 of 257
Weight-Sensitive StressRight-oriented: The antepenultimate is involved27 of 500
Zero Marking of A and P ArgumentsZero-marking16 of 235
Indefinite PronounsMixed indefinites23 of 326
Number of Non-Derived Basic Colour Categories4 categories9 of 119

Closest profiles

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

Daga Trans-New Guinea55 of 86
Sentani Sentanic42 of 68
Yagua Peba-Yaguan58 of 101
Apurinã Arawakan61 of 107
Dumo Skou28 of 46

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Pirahã for 121 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 110 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Pirahã shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	Combined: two of the above factors determine weight	42 of 500
Syllable Structure	Simple syllable structure	61 of 486
Consonant Inventories	Small	89 of 563
Vowel Quality Inventories	Small vowel inventory (2-4)	93 of 564
Lateral Consonants	No laterals	95 of 567
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately low	101 of 564
Tone	Simple tone system	132 of 527
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in plosives alone	189 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
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
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
Uvular Consonants	No uvulars	470 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor has no marking	32 of 236
Reduplication	No productive reduplication	55 of 368
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	8-9 categories per word	24 of 145
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P has no marking	42 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	No subject person/number marking	57 of 198
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Predominantly suffixing	406 of 969
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	No case	75 of 162
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Exclusively concatenative	125 of 165
Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection	monoexponential TAM	127 of 160

Nouns and pronouns 19

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related to remote demonstratives	18 of 225
Coding of Nominal Plurality	No plural	98 of 1,066
Number of Cases	Exclusively borderline morphological case-marking	24 of 261
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	No nominal plural	28 of 291
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	3rd person only, but also non-singular	42 of 378
Systems of Gender Assignment	Semantic assignment	53 of 257
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Symmetrical case-marking	79 of 261
Definite Articles	Neither definite nor indefinite article	198 of 620
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	Sex-based gender system	84 of 257
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No person marking at all	70 of 200
Indefinite Articles	Neither indefinite nor definite	198 of 534
Position of Case Affixes	Case suffixes	452 of 1,031
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated	74 of 168
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Two-way contrast	126 of 234
Person Marking on Adpositions	Adpositions without person marking	209 of 378
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
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Same forms	143 of 201

Noun phrases 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Sentential	25 of 168
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301
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
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Both direct and indirect evidentials	71 of 418
The Morphological Imperative	No second-person imperatives	122 of 548
Coding of Evidentiality	Verbal affix or clitic	131 of 418
Epistemic Possibility	Affixes on verbs	84 of 240
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one	133 of 375
The Past Tense	No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction	88 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
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
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 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	Oblique-object-verb (XOV)	48 of 500
Position of Polar Question Particles	Question particle at end of sentence	314 of 884
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem)	562 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 Numeral and Noun	Numeral follows noun (NNum)	608 of 1,154
Order of Genitive and Noun	Genitive-noun (GenN)	685 of 1,249
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 Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 20

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Reciprocal Constructions	There are no non-iconic reciprocal constructions.	16 of 175
Comparative Constructions	Conjoined Comparative	34 of 167
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Double-object construction	84 of 378
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A precedes P	96 of 379
Predicative Possession	Have-Possessive	63 of 240
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
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
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Neutral	79 of 172
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
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Neutral	98 of 190
Applicative Constructions	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Passive Constructions	There is no passive construction	211 of 373
Periphrastic Causative Constructions	Purposive type but no sequential type	68 of 118
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

Complex sentences 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Relativization on Obliques	Not possible	10 of 112
Relativization on Subjects	Non-reduction	24 of 166
'Want' Complement Subjects	'Want' is expressed as a desiderative verbal affix	45 of 283
Purpose Clauses	Balanced/deranked	30 of 170
'When' Clauses	Balanced	84 of 174
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Bases	Restricted	20 of 196
Red and Yellow	Red-or-yellow	15 of 120
Number of Basic Colour Categories	3, between 3 and 4, or 4 categories	20 of 119
Green and Blue	Green-or-blue ('grue')	68 of 120
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

Other 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks	Clicks may express neither affective nor logical meanings	25 of 143