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Teribe

Chibchan family · Western Isthmic Chibchan branch · North America

Teribe is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

The closest grammar profile to Teribe in the atlas belongs to Japanese, a language WALS places in a family of its own: the two agree on 20 of the 41 features both have coded.

On 'Want' Complement Subjects, WALS codes Teribe as “Both construction types exist”, a value held by 14 of the 283 languages coded, Georgian and Tukang Besi among them.

Teribe: order of head and dependent in 8 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubject80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Subject precedes verb (SV). 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 precedes verb (OV). 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.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 follows noun (NDem). Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounnumeral42%53%Order of Numeral and Noun: Numeral follows noun (NNum). 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.
The order Teribe uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Teribe with Japanese or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Chibchan family

Teribe matches the most frequent Chibchan value on 19 of the 32 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (59%). Among the 4 Chibchan languages profiled here, that rate ranks second from the top.

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Teribe for 41 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 36 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Teribe shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Vowel NasalizationContrastive nasal vowels present64 of 244

Word structure 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyPredominantly suffixing406 of 969

Nouns and pronouns 8

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Occurrence of Nominal PluralityPlural in all nouns, always optional55 of 291
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are obligatory78 of 400
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesNo possessive affixes260 of 902
Conjunctions and Universal QuantifiersFormally different40 of 116
Position of Case AffixesNeither case affixes nor adpositional clitics379 of 1,031
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural suffix513 of 1,066
Person Marking on AdpositionsAdpositions without person marking209 of 378
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsNo gender distinctions254 of 378

Noun phrases 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative ClausesAdjectives and relative clauses collapsed33 of 138
Nominal and Verbal ConjunctionNominal and verbal conjunction are different125 of 301

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect suffixes667 of 1,131

Word order 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle at end of sentence314 of 884
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word follows noun (NDem)562 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject precedes verb (OV)712 of 1,518
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePostpositions577 of 1,184
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral follows noun (NNum)608 of 1,154
Order of Genitive and NounGenitive-noun (GenN)685 of 1,249
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
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 8

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of only the A argument73 of 378
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Order of Person Markers on the VerbA and P do not or do not both occur on the verb187 of 379
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'Indirect-object construction189 of 378
Passive ConstructionsThere is no passive construction211 of 373
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Expression of Pronominal SubjectsPronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs437 of 711
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate NegationNegative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation170 of 206

Vocabulary 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Number of Basic Colour Categories7 or between 7 and 8 categories14 of 119
Green and BlueGreen-or-blue ('grue')68 of 120
Hand and ArmDifferent389 of 617
Red and YellowRed and yellow98 of 120
Finger and HandDifferent521 of 593