Sango

Niger-Congo family · Ubangi branch · Africa

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

On Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection, WALS codes Sango as “no TAM”, a value held by 4 of the 160 languages coded, Maybrat and Tiwi among them.

On Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb, WALS codes Sango as “0-1 category per word”, a value held by 5 of the 145 languages coded, Mandarin and Vietnamese among them.

The order Sango uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Sango with Birom or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Imperative-Hortative SystemsThe language has both a maximal and a minimal system21 of 375
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyPredominantly prefixing58 of 969
Presence of Uncommon ConsonantsLabial-velars45 of 567
Reciprocal ConstructionsThere are no non-iconic reciprocal constructions.16 of 175
Glottalized ConsonantsImplosives only55 of 567

Inside the Niger-Congo family

Sango matches the most frequent Niger-Congo value on 72 of the 110 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (65%). Among the 27 Niger-Congo languages profiled here, that rate ranks 16th from the top.

Closest profiles

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

Birom Niger-Congo33 of 40
Ndyuka Creoles and Pidgins60 of 79
Gbeya Bossangoa Niger-Congo36 of 46
Mumuye Niger-Congo33 of 43
Khmer Austro-Asiatic55 of 78

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Sango for 110 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 102 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Sango shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 13

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Syllable Structure	Simple syllable structure	61 of 486
Consonant Inventories	Moderately large	94 of 563
Tone	Simple tone system	132 of 527
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels present	64 of 244
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives	158 of 567
Vowel Quality Inventories	Large vowel inventory (7-14)	184 of 564
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Average	234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	/p t k b d g/	255 of 567
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
Lateral Consonants	/l/, no obstruent laterals	388 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 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P has no marking	42 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is never syncretic	81 of 198
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is dependent-marked	98 of 236
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	No case	75 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
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 19

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural prefix	126 of 1,066
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Identity	76 of 322
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode a binary politeness distinction	49 of 207
Indefinite Pronouns	Generic-noun-based indefinites	85 of 326
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	No morphological case-marking	81 of 261
Definite Articles	Definite word distinct from demonstrative	216 of 620
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No person marking at all	70 of 200
Position of Case Affixes	Neither case affixes nor adpositional clitics	379 of 1,031
Number of Cases	No morphological case-marking	100 of 261
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
The Associative Plural	Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals	104 of 236
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Unrelated	100 of 225
Person Marking on Adpositions	Adpositions without person marking	209 of 378
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
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378

Noun phrases 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Possessive-Accusative	29 of 168
Noun Phrase Conjunction	WITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical	103 of 234
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	No tense-aspect inflection	152 of 1,131
The Morphological Imperative	No second-person imperatives	122 of 548
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + normal negative	113 of 496
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	Overlap for either possibility or necessity	66 of 207
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
The Past Tense	No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction	88 of 222
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
The Future Tense	No inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	112 of 222
The Perfect	No perfect	114 of 222
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	121 of 222
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	No suppletion in tense or aspect	123 of 193
Situational Possibility	Verbal constructions	158 of 234
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)	153 of 193
Verbal Number and Suppletion	No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples	159 of 193

Word order 13

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)	373 of 1,367
Position of Polar Question Particles	Question particle at end of sentence	314 of 884
Order of Genitive and Noun	Noun-genitive (NGen)	468 of 1,249
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)	192 of 481
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	Verb-object-oblique (VOX)	210 of 500
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase	Prepositions	511 of 1,184
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem)	562 of 1,225
Order of Object and Verb	Object follows verb (VO)	705 of 1,518
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral follows noun (NNum)	608 of 1,154
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Initial subordinator word	398 of 659
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial	615 of 902
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause follows noun (NRel)	579 of 824
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 18

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Verbal Person Marking	No person marking of any argument	82 of 378
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Neutral alignment (no verbal person marking)	84 of 380
Predicative Possession	Conjunctional Possessive	59 of 240
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No person marking of the S	96 of 380
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric standard negation only: Type Sym	114 of 297
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	Non-assignable (no asymmetry found)	114 of 297
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	502 of 1,157
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Neutral	79 of 172
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb	187 of 379
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Indirect-object construction	189 of 378
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
Passive Constructions	There is no passive construction	211 of 373
Polar Questions	Question particle	585 of 955
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 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
'When' Clauses	Balanced	84 of 174
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is left implicit	144 of 283
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166

Vocabulary 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
M in First Person Singular	m in first person singular	53 of 230
M in Second Person Singular	m in second person singular	78 of 230
Tea	Words derived from Sinitic cha	110 of 230
Numeral Bases	Decimal	125 of 196
N-M Pronouns	No N-M pronouns	194 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230