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Tashlhiyt

Afro-Asiatic family · Berber branch · Africa

WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Tashlhiyt, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.

On Polar Questions, WALS codes Tashlhiyt as “Question particle and interrogative verb morphology”, a value held by 15 of the 955 languages coded, Amharic and Pirahã among them.

On Negative Morphemes, WALS codes Tashlhiyt as “Variation between negative word and affix”, a value held by 21 of the 1,157 languages coded, Lavukaleve and Armenian (Eastern) among them.

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

Tashlhiyt: order of head and dependent in 4 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubjectsubjectno dominant order80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Both orders with neither order dominant. 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.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Noun-genitive (NGen). Of 1,249 languages coded, 685 put the genitive before the noun and 468 after it.noundemonstrative45%48%Order of Demonstrative and Noun: Demonstrative suffix on noun. Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.
The order Tashlhiyt uses in 4 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Tashlhiyt with Arabic (Egyptian) or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Afro-Asiatic family

Tashlhiyt matches the most frequent Afro-Asiatic value on 19 of the 44 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (43%). Among the 24 Afro-Asiatic languages profiled here, that rate ranks 24th from the top.

Where Tashlhiyt breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
FeatureTashlhiytMost relatives
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseMore than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominantInitial subordinator word (5 of 5, Berber branch)
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases not obligatorily initialInterrogative phrases obligatorily initial (4 of 4, Berber branch)

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Tashlhiyt for 44 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 31 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Tashlhiyt shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 15

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Fixed Stress LocationsUltimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable51 of 502
Consonant-Vowel RatioHigh69 of 564
Vowel Quality InventoriesSmall vowel inventory (2-4)93 of 564
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives158 of 567
Rhythm TypesAbsent: no rhythmic stress98 of 323
Syllable StructureComplex syllable structure151 of 486
The Velar NasalNo velar nasal235 of 469
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsNo weight, or weight factor unknown261 of 500
Weight-Sensitive StressFixed stress (no weight-sensitivity)281 of 500
ToneNo tones307 of 527
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Uvular ConsonantsNo uvulars470 of 567
Absence of Common ConsonantsAll present503 of 567
Front Rounded VowelsNone525 of 562

Word structure 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyModerate preference for prefixing94 of 969

Nouns and pronouns 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Pronominal and Adnominal DemonstrativesDifferent stems37 of 201
Distance Contrasts in DemonstrativesThree-way contrast88 of 234
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesPossessive suffixes355 of 902
Intensifiers and Reflexive PronounsIntensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical94 of 168
Comitatives and InstrumentalsDifferentiation213 of 322

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect prefixes153 of 1,131
The ProhibitiveNormal imperative + normal negative113 of 496
The Morphological ImperativeSecond singular and second plural292 of 548

Word order 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Genitive and NounNoun-genitive (NGen)468 of 1,249
Order of Object and VerbObject follows verb (VO)705 of 1,518

Simple clauses 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Predicative PossessionLocational Possessive48 of 240
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have verbal encoding151 of 386
Zero Copula for Predicate NominalsZero copula is possible175 of 386
Nominal and Locational PredicationDifferent269 of 386
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsMorphological type but no compound type254 of 310