Word Order Facts
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Sandawe

a family of its own in WALS · Africa

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

On Presence of Uncommon Consonants, WALS codes Sandawe as “Clicks”, a value held by 9 of the 567 languages coded, Zulu and Nama among them.

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

The closest grammar profile to Sandawe in the atlas belongs to Epena Pedee, a Choco language: the two agree on 25 of the 42 features both have coded.

Sandawe: order of head and dependent in 9 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 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 follows noun (NNum). 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 word47%40%Order of Degree Word and Adjective: Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj). Of 481 languages coded, 227 put the degree word before the adjective and 192 after it.
The order Sandawe uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Sandawe with Epena Pedee or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Closest profiles

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

  • Kobon Trans-New Guinea24 of 42
  • Yaqui Uto-Aztecan24 of 42
  • Kewa Trans-New Guinea23 of 40
  • Hindi Indo-European23 of 41

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Sandawe for 44 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 41 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Sandawe shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 11

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Consonant InventoriesLarge57 of 563
Glottalized ConsonantsEjectives only58 of 567
Consonant-Vowel RatioHigh69 of 564
ToneSimple tone system132 of 527
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
Syllable StructureModerately complex syllable structure274 of 486
Uvular ConsonantsNo uvulars470 of 567
Absence of Common ConsonantsAll present503 of 567
Front Rounded VowelsNone525 of 562

Word structure 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun PhrasesPossessor has no marking32 of 236
Locus of Marking in the ClauseP has no marking42 of 236
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyPredominantly suffixing406 of 969
Locus of Marking: Whole-language TypologyInconsistent marking or other type121 of 236
Zero Marking of A and P ArgumentsNon-zero marking219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Case AffixesPostpositional clitics123 of 1,031
Occurrence of Nominal PluralityPlural only in human nouns, obligatory40 of 291
Definite ArticlesDefinite affix on noun92 of 620
Indefinite ArticlesIndefinite word distinct from numeral for 'one'102 of 534
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesNo possessive affixes260 of 902
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural suffix513 of 1,066
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are absent260 of 400

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
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

Word order 12

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbMore than one order with none dominant167 of 500
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 Degree Word and AdjectiveDegree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)227 of 481
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePostpositions577 of 1,184
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral follows noun (NNum)608 of 1,154
Order of Genitive and NounGenitive-noun (GenN)685 of 1,249
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
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsObligatory pronouns in subject position82 of 711
Predicative PossessionConjunctional Possessive59 of 240
Negative MorphemesNegative affix395 of 1,157