Word Order Facts
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Samoan

Austronesian family · Oceanic branch · Papunesia

WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Samoan, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.

On 'Want' Complement Subjects, WALS codes Samoan as “'Want' is expressed as an uninflected desiderative particle”, a value held by 8 of the 283 languages coded, Fijian and Mapudungun among them.

On Verbal Number and Suppletion, all 11 other Austronesian languages coded have the value “No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples”; Samoan has “Singular-plural pairs, suppletion”.

On Action Nominal Constructions, WALS codes Samoan as “Other: Minor patterns”, a value held by 6 of the 168 languages coded, Chamorro and Burmese among them.

Samoan: order of head and dependent in 9 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubject80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Subject follows verb (VS). 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 phrase49%43%Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase: Prepositions. Of 1,184 languages coded, 577 put the noun phrase before the adposition and 511 after it.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Noun-genitive (NGen). 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.noundemonstrativedemonstrativeMixed45%48%Order of Demonstrative and Noun: Two or more of above types with none dominant. Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounnumeralnumeralno dominant order42%53%Order of Numeral and Noun: Both orders of numeral and noun with neither order dominant. 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.adjectivedegree worddegree wordno dominant order47%40%Order of Degree Word and Adjective: Both orders occur with neither order dominant. Of 481 languages coded, 227 put the degree word before the adjective and 192 after it.
The order Samoan uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Samoan with Maori or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Austronesian family

Samoan matches the most frequent Austronesian value on 41 of the 59 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (69%). Among the 38 Austronesian languages profiled here, that rate ranks tenth from the top.

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Samoan for 59 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 50 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Samoan shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Word structure 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyLittle or no inflectional morphology141 of 969
ReduplicationProductive full and partial reduplication278 of 368

Nouns and pronouns 13

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are optional62 of 400
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural word170 of 1,066
Plurality in Independent Personal PronounsPerson-number stem with a pronominal plural affix47 of 261
Indefinite ArticlesIndefinite word distinct from numeral for 'one'102 of 534
Indefinite PronounsGeneric-noun-based indefinites85 of 326
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesNo possessive affixes260 of 902
Definite ArticlesDefinite word distinct from demonstrative216 of 620
Position of Case AffixesNeither case affixes nor adpositional clitics379 of 1,031
Distance Contrasts in DemonstrativesThree-way contrast88 of 234
Person Marking on AdpositionsAdpositions without person marking209 of 378
Comitatives and InstrumentalsDifferentiation213 of 322
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsNo gender distinctions254 of 378
Pronominal and Adnominal DemonstrativesSame forms143 of 201

Noun phrases 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Noun Phrase ConjunctionWITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical103 of 234
Possessive ClassificationNo possessive classification125 of 243
Obligatory Possessive InflectionNo obligatorily possessed nouns201 of 244
Number of Possessive NounsNone reported233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect prefixes153 of 1,131
Suppletion According to Tense and AspectNo suppletion in tense or aspect123 of 193
Suppletion in Imperatives and HortativesNone (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)153 of 193

Word order 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Degree Word and AdjectiveBoth orders occur with neither order dominant62 of 481
Order of Subject and VerbSubject follows verb (VS)194 of 1,496
Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle at beginning of sentence129 of 884
Order of Genitive and NounNoun-genitive (NGen)468 of 1,249
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePrepositions511 of 1,184
Order of Object and VerbObject follows verb (VO)705 of 1,518
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseInitial subordinator word398 of 659
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)879 of 1,367
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases not obligatorily initial615 of 902
Order of Relative Clause and NounRelative clause follows noun (NRel)579 of 824

Simple clauses 15

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Predicative PossessionLocational Possessive48 of 240
Comparative ConstructionsConjoined Comparative34 of 167
Verbal Person MarkingNo person marking of any argument82 of 378
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingNeutral alignment (no verbal person marking)84 of 380
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingNo person marking of the S96 of 380
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have verbal encoding151 of 386
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Zero Copula for Predicate NominalsZero copula is possible175 of 386
Order of Person Markers on the VerbA and P do not or do not both occur on the verb187 of 379
Passive ConstructionsThere is no passive construction211 of 373
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Nominal and Locational PredicationDifferent269 of 386
Antipassive ConstructionsNo antipassive146 of 194
Productivity of the Antipassive Constructionno antipassive146 of 186
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsMorphological type but no compound type254 of 310

Vocabulary 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Hand and ArmIdentity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm'228 of 617
Finger and HandDifferent521 of 593

Other 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Para-Linguistic Usages of ClicksClicks may express affective but not logical meanings71 of 143