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Retuarã

Tucanoan family · South America

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

The closest grammar profile to Retuarã in the atlas belongs to Kannada, a Dravidian language: the two agree on 34 of the 51 features both have coded.

On Order of Relative Clause and Noun, WALS codes Retuarã as “Internally-headed relative clause”, a value held by 24 of the 824 languages coded, Lakhota and Kutenai among them.

On Position of Polar Question Particles, all 7 other Tucanoan languages coded have the value “No question particle”; Retuarã has “Question particle at beginning of sentence”.

Retuarã: 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 precedes verb (OV). Of 1,518 languages coded, 712 put the object before the verb and 705 after it.adpositionnoun phrase49%43%Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase: Postpositions. Of 1,184 languages coded, 577 put the noun phrase before the adposition and 511 after it.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Genitive-noun (GenN). 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 precedes noun (AdjN). 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.nounInternally headed17%70%Order of Relative Clause and Noun: Internally-headed relative clause. Of 824 languages coded, 141 put the relative clause before the noun and 579 after it.
The order Retuarã uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Retuarã with Kannada or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Tucanoan family

Retuarã matches the most frequent Tucanoan value on 14 of the 20 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (70%).

Where Retuarã breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
FeatureRetuarãMost relatives
Polar QuestionsQuestion particleInterrogative verb morphology (7 of 7)

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Retuarã for 52 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 47 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Retuarã shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Nouns and pronouns 12

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Number of GendersThree26 of 257
Position of Case AffixesPostpositional clitics123 of 1,031
Occurrence of Nominal PluralityPlural only in human nouns, obligatory40 of 291
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsGender distinctions in 3rd person singular only61 of 378
Systems of Gender AssignmentSemantic assignment53 of 257
Person Marking on AdpositionsPerson marking for pronouns only83 of 378
Third Person Pronouns and DemonstrativesRelated for all demonstratives52 of 225
Definite ArticlesNeither definite nor indefinite article198 of 620
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender SystemsSex-based gender system84 of 257
Indefinite ArticlesNeither indefinite nor definite198 of 534
Distance Contrasts in DemonstrativesTwo-way contrast126 of 234
Pronominal and Adnominal DemonstrativesSame forms143 of 201

Noun phrases 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Nominal and Verbal ConjunctionNominal and verbal conjunction are different125 of 301

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Semantic Distinctions of EvidentialityBoth direct and indirect evidentials71 of 418
The ProhibitiveSpecial imperative + special negative146 of 496
Coding of EvidentialityVerbal affix or clitic131 of 418
Imperative-Hortative SystemsThe language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one133 of 375
The Morphological ImperativeSecond singular and second plural292 of 548
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect suffixes667 of 1,131

Word order 8

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)373 of 1,367
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 precedes verb (OV)712 of 1,518
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePostpositions577 of 1,184
Order of Genitive and NounGenitive-noun (GenN)685 of 1,249
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 13

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Person Markers on the VerbP precedes A57 of 379
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'Double-object construction84 of 378
Nominal and Locational PredicationIdentical117 of 386
Negative MorphemesNegative affix395 of 1,157
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding132 of 386
Zero Copula for Predicate NominalsZero copula is possible175 of 386
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingNo zero realization of third person S forms181 of 380
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
Periphrastic Causative ConstructionsPurposive type but no sequential type68 of 118
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsMorphological type but no compound type254 of 310
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate NegationNegative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation170 of 206

Complex sentences 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
'When' ClausesBalanced/deranked39 of 174
Reason ClausesDeranked42 of 169
'Want' Complement SubjectsThe complement subject is left implicit144 of 283
Purpose ClausesDeranked102 of 170
Utterance Complement ClausesBalanced114 of 143

Vocabulary 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Hand and ArmDifferent389 of 617
Finger and HandDifferent521 of 593