Shuswap
Salishan family · Interior Salish branch · North America
WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Shuswap, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.
The closest grammar profile to Shuswap in the atlas belongs to Chamorro, an Austronesian language: the two agree on 24 of the 40 features both have coded.
On Position of Polar Question Particles, WALS codes Shuswap as “Question particle in either of two positions”, a value held by 26 of the 884 languages coded, Indonesian and Malagasy among them.
On Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation, WALS codes Shuswap as “In finiteness and reality status: Subtypes A/Fin and A/NonReal”, a value held by 9 of the 297 languages coded, Squamish and Korean among them.
Contrast Shuswap with Chamorro or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Shuswap, rarest first.
- Glottalized ConsonantsEjectives and glottalized resonants20 of 567
- Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesPrefixes and suffixes32 of 902
- Position of Case AffixesCase prefixes38 of 1,031
- Lateral Consonants/l/ and lateral obstruents47 of 567
- Uvular ConsonantsUvular stops and continuants48 of 567
Inside the Salishan family
Shuswap matches the most frequent Salishan value on 23 of the 36 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (64%).
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Shuswap; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Shuswap for 45 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 37 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Shuswap shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Consonant Inventories | Large | 57 of 563 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately high | 102 of 564 |
| Syllable Structure | Complex syllable structure | 151 of 486 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | No voicing contrast | 182 of 567 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Average vowel inventory (5-6) | 287 of 564 |
| Tone | No tones | 307 of 527 |
| Presence of Uncommon Consonants | None | 449 of 567 |
| Absence of Common Consonants | All present | 503 of 567 |
| Front Rounded Vowels | None | 525 of 562 |
Word structure 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Approximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing | 147 of 969 |
| Reduplication | Productive full and partial reduplication | 278 of 368 |
Noun phrases 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | WITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical | 103 of 234 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 11
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | No tense-aspect inflection | 152 of 1,131 |
| The Prohibitive | Special imperative + special negative | 146 of 496 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 131 of 418 |
| The Past Tense | No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction | 88 of 222 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 of 418 |
| Perfective/Imperfective Aspect | Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction | 101 of 222 |
| The Future Tense | No inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction | 112 of 222 |
| The Perfect | No perfect | 114 of 222 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 201 of 375 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject follows verb (VS) | 194 of 1,496 |
| Order of Genitive and Noun | Noun-genitive (NGen) | 468 of 1,249 |
| Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase | Prepositions | 511 of 1,184 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object follows verb (VO) | 705 of 1,518 |
Simple clauses 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Asymmetric standard negation only: Type Asy | 53 of 297 |
| Predicative Possession | Have-Possessive | 63 of 240 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Periphrastic Causative Constructions | Purposive type but no sequential type | 68 of 118 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs | 437 of 711 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Vocabulary 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Hand and Arm | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 228 of 617 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |