Word Order Facts
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Tepehuan (Northern)

Uto-Aztecan family · Tepiman branch · North America

Tepehuan (Northern) 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, Tepehuan (Northern) has the fourth least common profile of the 409 languages compared on this measure.

The closest grammar profile to Tepehuan (Northern) in the atlas belongs to Finnish, a Uralic language: the two agree on 21 of the 41 features both have coded.

On Indefinite Pronouns, 7 of 8 other Uto-Aztecan languages coded have the value “Interrogative-based indefinites”; Tepehuan (Northern) has “Mixed indefinites”.

Tepehuan (Northern): 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: Postpositions. Of 1,184 languages coded, 577 put the noun phrase before the adposition and 511 after it.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Genitive-noun (GenN). Of 1,249 languages coded, 685 put the genitive before the noun and 468 after it.nounadjectiveadjectiveno dominant order27%64%Order of Adjective and Noun: No dominant order. 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.nounnumeral42%53%Order of Numeral and Noun: Numeral precedes noun (NumN). 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 precedes adjective (DegAdj). Of 481 languages coded, 227 put the degree word before the adjective and 192 after it.
The order Tepehuan (Northern) uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Tepehuan (Northern) with Finnish or with any other language

Uncommon values

Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Tepehuan (Northern), rarest first.

Inside the Uto-Aztecan family

Tepehuan (Northern) matches the most frequent Uto-Aztecan value on 25 of the 41 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (61%). Among the 11 Uto-Aztecan languages profiled here, that rate ranks seventh from the top.

Closest profiles

Languages that share the most coded values with Tepehuan (Northern); the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Tepehuan (Northern) for 41 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 33 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Tepehuan (Northern) shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Word structure 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyApproximately equal amounts of suffixing and prefixing147 of 969

Nouns and pronouns 9

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural prefix126 of 1,066
Definite ArticlesDefinite affix on noun92 of 620
Indefinite ArticlesNo indefinite article but definite article98 of 534
Person Marking on AdpositionsPerson marking for pronouns only83 of 378
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesPossessive prefixes255 of 902
Distributive NumeralsMarked by reduplication85 of 251
Position of Case AffixesCase suffixes452 of 1,031
Occurrence of Nominal PluralityPlural in all nouns, always obligatory133 of 291
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsNo gender distinctions254 of 378

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
The ProhibitiveNormal imperative + normal negative113 of 496
Coding of EvidentialityVerbal affix or clitic131 of 418
Semantic Distinctions of EvidentialityOnly indirect evidentials166 of 418
The Morphological ImperativeSecond singular and second plural292 of 548
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect suffixes667 of 1,131
Suppletion in Imperatives and HortativesNone (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)153 of 193

Word order 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Subject and VerbSubject follows verb (VS)194 of 1,496
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content QuestionsInterrogative phrases obligatorily initial264 of 902
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbMore than one order with none dominant167 of 500
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral precedes noun (NumN)479 of 1,154
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 Degree Word and AdjectiveDegree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)227 of 481
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePostpositions577 of 1,184
Order of Genitive and NounGenitive-noun (GenN)685 of 1,249
Order of Relative Clause and NounRelative clause follows noun (NRel)579 of 824

Simple clauses 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Person Markers on the VerbP precedes A57 of 379
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Passive ConstructionsThere is a passive construction162 of 373
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of both the A and P arguments193 of 378
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingAccusative alignment212 of 380
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate NegationNegative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation170 of 206