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Tetun

Austronesian family · Central Malayo-Polynesian branch · Papunesia

Tetun is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

The closest grammar profile to Tetun in the atlas belongs to Khmer, an Austro-Asiatic language: the two agree on 32 of the 41 features both have coded.

Within the Central Malayo-Polynesian branch, all 4 other languages coded for Position of Polar Question Particles have the value “No question particle”; Tetun has “Question particle at end of sentence”.

Tetun: order of head and dependent in 9 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 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.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.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 Tetun uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Tetun with Khmer or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Austronesian family

Tetun matches the most frequent Austronesian value on 33 of the 46 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (72%). Among the 38 Austronesian languages profiled here, that rate ranks seventh from the top.

Closest profiles

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

  • Maybrat family of its own33 of 46
  • Thai Tai-Kadai31 of 44
  • Taba Austronesian30 of 44
  • Bawm Sino-Tibetan28 of 43

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Tetun for 46 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 43 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Tetun shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 12

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Consonant InventoriesSmall89 of 563
Consonant-Vowel RatioModerately low101 of 564
Syllable StructureComplex syllable structure151 of 486
Voicing in Plosives and FricativesVoicing contrast in plosives alone189 of 567
Vowel Quality InventoriesAverage vowel inventory (5-6)287 of 564
ToneNo tones307 of 527
Lateral Consonants/l/, no obstruent laterals388 of 567
Glottalized ConsonantsNo glottalized consonants409 of 567
Presence of Uncommon ConsonantsNone449 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 MorphologyLittle or no inflectional morphology141 of 969

Nouns and pronouns 9

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are optional62 of 400
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural word170 of 1,066
Occurrence of Nominal PluralityPlural in all nouns, always optional55 of 291
Indefinite ArticlesNumeral for 'one' is used as indefinite article112 of 534
Politeness Distinctions in PronounsSecond person pronouns encode a binary politeness distinction49 of 207
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesNo possessive affixes260 of 902
Distributive NumeralsMarked by reduplication85 of 251
Definite ArticlesDefinite word distinct from demonstrative216 of 620
Position of Case AffixesNeither case affixes nor adpositional clitics379 of 1,031

Noun phrases 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Nominal and Verbal ConjunctionNominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical161 of 301

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesNo tense-aspect inflection152 of 1,131
The Morphological ImperativeNo second-person imperatives122 of 548
The ProhibitiveNormal imperative + special negative182 of 496

Word order 12

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Degree Word and AdjectiveDegree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)192 of 481
Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbVerb-object-oblique (VOX)210 of 500
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePrepositions511 of 1,184
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word follows noun (NDem)562 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject follows verb (VO)705 of 1,518
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 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
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'Mixed40 of 378
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate NegationNegative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation170 of 206

Complex sentences 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
'Want' Complement SubjectsThe complement subject is expressed overtly72 of 283