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Purépecha

Tarascan family · North America

Purépecha is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

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

Scored by how often each of its values recurs in the atlas, Purépecha has the ninth most ordinary profile of the 409 languages compared on this measure.

The closest grammar profile to Purépecha in the atlas belongs to Martuthunira, a Pama-Nyungan language: the two agree on 46 of the 66 features both have coded.

Purépecha: order of head and dependent in 8 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubject80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Subject precedes verb (SV). Of 1,496 languages coded, 1,192 put the subject before the verb and 194 after it.verbobject47%46%Order of Object and Verb: Object follows verb (VO). Of 1,518 languages coded, 712 put the object before the verb and 705 after it.adpositionnoun phrasenoun phraseno dominant order49%43%Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase: More than one adposition type with none dominant. Of 1,184 languages coded, 577 put the noun phrase before the adposition and 511 after it.noungenitivegenitiveno dominant order55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Both orders occur with neither order dominant. Of 1,249 languages coded, 685 put the genitive before the noun and 468 after it.nounadjective27%64%Order of Adjective and Noun: Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj). Of 1,367 languages coded, 373 put the adjective before the noun and 879 after it.noundemonstrative45%48%Order of Demonstrative and Noun: Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN). Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounnumeral42%53%Order of Numeral and Noun: Numeral precedes noun (NumN). Of 1,154 languages coded, 479 put the numeral before the noun and 608 after it.nounrelative clause17%70%Order of Relative Clause and Noun: Relative clause follows noun (NRel). Of 824 languages coded, 141 put the relative clause before the noun and 579 after it.
The order Purépecha uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Purépecha with Martuthunira or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Purépecha for 70 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 65 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Purépecha shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 15

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Consonant InventoriesModerately large94 of 563
Consonant-Vowel RatioModerately high102 of 564
Fixed Stress LocationsInitial: stress is on the first syllable92 of 502
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in plosives alone189 of 567
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems/p t k b d g/255 of 567
Vowel Quality InventoriesAverage vowel inventory (5-6)287 of 564
Weight-Sensitive StressFixed stress (no weight-sensitivity)281 of 500
Syllable StructureModerately complex syllable structure274 of 486
ToneNo tones307 of 527
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Presence of Uncommon ConsonantsNone449 of 567
Uvular ConsonantsNo uvulars470 of 567
Absence of Common ConsonantsAll present503 of 567
Front Rounded VowelsNone525 of 562

Word structure 8

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Locus of Marking: Whole-language TypologyConsistently dependent-marking46 of 236
Locus of Marking in the ClauseP is dependent-marked63 of 236
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun PhrasesPossessor is dependent-marked98 of 236
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyPredominantly suffixing406 of 969
Exponence of Selected Inflectional FormativesMonoexponential case71 of 162
Fusion of Selected Inflectional FormativesExclusively concatenative125 of 165
Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflectionmonoexponential TAM127 of 160
Zero Marking of A and P ArgumentsNon-zero marking219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 9

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are obligatory78 of 400
Indefinite ArticlesNumeral for 'one' is used as indefinite article112 of 534
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesPossessive suffixes355 of 902
Position of Case AffixesCase suffixes452 of 1,031
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural suffix513 of 1,066
Person Marking on AdpositionsAdpositions without person marking209 of 378
Indefinite PronounsInterrogative-based indefinites194 of 326
Comitatives and InstrumentalsDifferentiation213 of 322
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsNo gender distinctions254 of 378

Noun phrases 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Nominal and Verbal ConjunctionNominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical161 of 301

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Coding of EvidentialityVerbal affix or clitic131 of 418
The ProhibitiveNormal imperative + special negative182 of 496
Semantic Distinctions of EvidentialityOnly indirect evidentials166 of 418
The Morphological ImperativeSecond singular and second plural292 of 548
Imperative-Hortative SystemsThe language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system201 of 375
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect suffixes667 of 1,131
The OptativeInflectional optative absent271 of 319

Word order 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases obligatorily initial264 of 902
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral precedes noun (NumN)479 of 1,154
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)542 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject follows verb (VO)705 of 1,518
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)879 of 1,367
Order of Relative Clause and NounRelative clause follows noun (NRel)579 of 824
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingZero realization of all third person singular S forms45 of 380
Order of Person Markers on the VerbP precedes A57 of 379
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard NegationSymmetric standard negation only: Type Sym114 of 297
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationNon-assignable (no asymmetry found)114 of 297
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Comparative ConstructionsLocational Comparative78 of 167
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'Indirect-object construction189 of 378
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of both the A and P arguments193 of 378
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingAccusative alignment212 of 380
Passive ConstructionsThere is no passive construction211 of 373

Complex sentences 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
'Want' Complement SubjectsThe complement subject is left implicit144 of 283
Purpose ClausesDeranked102 of 170

Vocabulary 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Hand and ArmIdentity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm'228 of 617
M in Second Person SingularNo m in second person singular152 of 230
M in First Person SingularNo m in first person singular177 of 230
N-M PronounsNo N-M pronouns194 of 230
M-T PronounsNo M-T pronouns200 of 230
Finger and HandDifferent521 of 593