Rama

Chibchan family · Rama branch · North America

Rama 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, WALS codes Rama as “Other types”, a value held by 6 of the 236 languages coded, Tagalog and Malagasy among them.

The closest grammar profile to Rama in the atlas belongs to Tauya, a Trans-New Guinea language: the two agree on 34 of the 49 features both have coded.

Of the 4 Chibchan languages profiled here, Rama departs most often from the family’s usual values.

The order Rama uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Rama with Tauya or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Weight-Sensitive StressNot predictable26 of 500
Imperative-Hortative SystemsThe language has a minimal system, but not a maximal one20 of 375
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsLong vowel + Coda: long vowels or closed syllables35 of 500
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationA/Fin and A/Cat21 of 297
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural clitic81 of 1,066
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsBoth morphological type and compound type24 of 310
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSyncretism in relevant NP-types21 of 261
Number of Cases8-9 case categories23 of 261

Inside the Chibchan family

Rama matches the most frequent Chibchan value on 26 of the 47 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (55%).

Where Rama breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
Feature	Rama	Most relatives
Person Marking on Adpositions	Person marking for pronouns only	Adpositions without person marking (4 of 5)

Closest profiles

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

Dumo Skou30 of 44
Kobon Trans-New Guinea59 of 97
Nubian (Dongolese) Eastern Sudanic46 of 74
Sentani Sentanic44 of 72

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Rama for 114 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 103 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Rama shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Vowel Quality Inventories	Small vowel inventory (2-4)	93 of 564
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately high	102 of 564
Consonant Inventories	Moderately small	122 of 563
The Velar Nasal	Velar nasal, also initially	147 of 469
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in plosives alone	189 of 567
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	/p t k b d g/	255 of 567
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
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 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Approximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing	147 of 969
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	2-3 categories per word	24 of 145
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is double-marked	58 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	No subject person/number marking	57 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
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
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural only in human nouns, obligatory	40 of 291
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix	47 of 261
Indefinite Articles	Indefinite word distinct from numeral for 'one'	102 of 534
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related for all demonstratives	52 of 225
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
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated	74 of 168
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
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction	136 of 207
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378

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 13

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	Imperative	29 of 193
The Prohibitive	Special imperative + special negative	146 of 496
The Perfect	Other perfect	80 of 222
The Past Tense	Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction	94 of 222
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
The Future Tense	Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	110 of 222
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular and second plural	292 of 548
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
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
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	More than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominant	93 of 659
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	More than one order with none dominant	167 of 500
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)	192 of 481
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 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 19

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Reciprocal Constructions	There are no non-iconic reciprocal constructions.	16 of 175
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of only the A argument	73 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
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	502 of 1,157
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy	130 of 297
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is possible	175 of 386
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No zero realization of third person S forms	181 of 380
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb	187 of 379
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
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

Complex sentences 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Relativization on Subjects	Non-reduction	24 of 166
Reason Clauses	Balanced/deranked	37 of 169
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 of 174
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is left implicit	144 of 283
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Bases	Restricted	20 of 196
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
M in First Person Singular	No m in first person singular	177 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593