Word Order Facts
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Tahitian

Austronesian family · Oceanic branch · Papunesia

Tahitian puts its words in verb-subject-object order (VSO), one of only 95 with that basic order among the 1,376 languages WALS codes for this feature.

Scored by how often each of its values recurs in the atlas, Tahitian has the fifth least common profile of the 409 languages compared on this measure.

Tahitian: 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.noungenitivegenitiveno dominant order55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Both orders occur with neither order dominant. 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.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 word47%40%Order of Degree Word and Adjective: Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg). Of 481 languages coded, 227 put the degree word before the adjective and 192 after it.
The order Tahitian uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Tahitian with Maori or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Austronesian family

Tahitian matches the most frequent Austronesian value on 22 of the 42 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (52%). Among the 38 Austronesian languages profiled here, that rate ranks 37th from the top.

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Tahitian for 42 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 36 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Tahitian shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Weight-Sensitive StressUnbounded: Stress can be anywhere in the word54 of 500
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsLong vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress65 of 500
Rhythm TypesAbsent: no rhythmic stress98 of 323
Fixed Stress LocationsNo fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)220 of 502

Word structure 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyLittle or no inflectional morphology141 of 969

Nouns and pronouns 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural word170 of 1,066
Indefinite ArticlesNumeral for 'one' is used as indefinite article112 of 534
Ordinal NumeralsFirst, two-th, three-th110 of 321
Position of Case AffixesNeither case affixes nor adpositional clitics379 of 1,031
Comitatives and InstrumentalsDifferentiation213 of 322

Noun phrases 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Noun Phrase ConjunctionWITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical103 of 234

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesNo tense-aspect inflection152 of 1,131
The Morphological ImperativeSecond person number-neutral89 of 548
The ProhibitiveSpecial imperative + special negative146 of 496
The PerfectOther perfect80 of 222
The Past TensePast/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction94 of 222
Perfective/Imperfective AspectGrammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction101 of 222
The Future TenseNo inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction112 of 222

Word order 9

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Subject and VerbSubject follows verb (VS)194 of 1,496
Order of Degree Word and AdjectiveDegree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)192 of 481
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePrepositions511 of 1,184
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)542 of 1,225
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 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have mixed encoding103 of 386
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Zero Copula for Predicate NominalsZero copula is possible175 of 386
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Nominal and Locational PredicationDifferent269 of 386
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsMorphological type but no compound type254 of 310

Vocabulary 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Finger and HandIdentical72 of 593
TeaWords derived from Min Nan Chinese te84 of 230
Hand and ArmIdentity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm'228 of 617