Takelma
a family of its own in WALS · North America
Takelma is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
WALS lists no other language in the family it assigns to Takelma.
The closest grammar profile to Takelma in the atlas belongs to Quechua (Imbabura), a Quechuan language: the two agree on 31 of the 47 features both have coded.
On Position of Case Affixes, WALS codes Takelma as “Case prefixes”, a value held by 38 of the 1,031 languages coded, Zulu and Maybrat among them.
Contrast Takelma with Quechua (Imbabura) or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Takelma, rarest first.
- Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingZero realization of some third person singular forms21 of 380
- Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle in second position in sentence52 of 884
- Person Marking on AdpositionsPerson marking for pronouns and nouns23 of 378
- Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationIn reality status: Subtype A/NonReal20 of 297
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Takelma; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Takelma for 47 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 41 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Takelma shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Word structure 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Moderate preference for suffixing | 123 of 969 |
| Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology | Consistently head-marking | 47 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P is head-marked | 71 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases | Possessor is head-marked | 78 of 236 |
| Zero Marking of A and P Arguments | Non-zero marking | 219 of 235 |
Nouns and pronouns 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Comitatives and Instrumentals | Mixed | 33 of 322 |
| Occurrence of Nominal Plurality | Plural in all nouns, always optional | 55 of 291 |
| Definite Articles | Neither definite nor indefinite article | 198 of 620 |
| Indefinite Articles | Neither indefinite nor definite | 198 of 534 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive suffixes | 355 of 902 |
| The Associative Plural | Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals | 104 of 236 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural suffix | 513 of 1,066 |
| Indefinite Pronouns | Interrogative-based indefinites | 194 of 326 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are absent | 260 of 400 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Noun phrases 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Possessive Classification | Two classes | 94 of 243 |
| Obligatory Possessive Inflection | No obligatorily possessed nouns | 201 of 244 |
| Number of Possessive Nouns | None reported | 233 of 243 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 131 of 418 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 of 418 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
Word order 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 542 of 1,225 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object precedes verb (OV) | 712 of 1,518 |
| Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase | Postpositions | 577 of 1,184 |
| Order of Numeral and Noun | Numeral follows noun (NNum) | 608 of 1,154 |
| Order of Genitive and Noun | Genitive-noun (GenN) | 685 of 1,249 |
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj) | 879 of 1,367 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 8
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | P precedes A | 57 of 379 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Passive Constructions | There is a passive construction | 162 of 373 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy | 130 of 297 |
| Verbal Person Marking | Person marking of both the A and P arguments | 193 of 378 |
| Alignment of Verbal Person Marking | Accusative alignment | 212 of 380 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs | 437 of 711 |
Vocabulary 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| M in Second Person Singular | m in second person singular | 78 of 230 |
| M in First Person Singular | No m in first person singular | 177 of 230 |
| N-M Pronouns | No N-M pronouns | 194 of 230 |
| M-T Pronouns | No M-T pronouns | 200 of 230 |