Word Order Facts
Menu

Tolai

Austronesian family · Oceanic branch · Papunesia

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

On Fixed Stress Locations, WALS codes Tolai as “Second: stress is on the second syllable”, a value held by 16 of the 502 languages coded, Mapudungun and Araona among them.

On Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions, WALS codes Tolai as “Mixed, some interrogative phrases obligatorily initial, some not”, a value held by 23 of the 902 languages coded, Indonesian and Tukang Besi among them.

Tolai: order of head and dependent in 9 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.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: Noun-genitive (NGen). 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 worddegree wordno dominant order47%40%Order of Degree Word and Adjective: Both orders occur with neither order dominant. Of 481 languages coded, 227 put the degree word before the adjective and 192 after it.
The order Tolai uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Tolai with Indonesian or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Inside the Austronesian family

Tolai matches the most frequent Austronesian value on 28 of the 41 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (68%). Among the 38 Austronesian languages profiled here, that rate ranks 12th from the top.

Closest profiles

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

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Tolai for 41 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 34 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Tolai shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 2

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsNo weight, or weight factor unknown261 of 500
Weight-Sensitive StressFixed stress (no weight-sensitivity)281 of 500

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
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural word170 of 1,066
Indefinite ArticlesIndefinite word distinct from numeral for 'one'102 of 534
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
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesPossessive suffixes355 of 902
Person Marking on AdpositionsAdpositions without person marking209 of 378
Numeral ClassifiersNumeral classifiers are absent260 of 400
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsNo gender distinctions254 of 378

Noun phrases 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Noun Phrase ConjunctionWITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical103 of 234

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesNo tense-aspect inflection152 of 1,131

Word order 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Degree Word and AdjectiveBoth orders occur with neither order dominant62 of 481
Position of Polar Question ParticlesQuestion particle at beginning of sentence129 of 884
Order of Genitive and NounNoun-genitive (NGen)468 of 1,249
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral precedes noun (NumN)479 of 1,154
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 precedes noun (DemN)542 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject follows verb (VO)705 of 1,518
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseInitial subordinator word398 of 659
Order of Relative Clause and NounRelative clause follows noun (NRel)579 of 824

Simple clauses 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of only the A argument73 of 378
Predicative PossessionTopic Possessive48 of 240
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have verbal encoding151 of 386
Zero Copula for Predicate NominalsZero copula is possible175 of 386
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingNo zero realization of third person S forms181 of 380
Order of Person Markers on the VerbA and P do not or do not both occur on the verb187 of 379
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingAccusative alignment212 of 380
Passive ConstructionsThere is no passive construction211 of 373
Polar QuestionsQuestion particle585 of 955
Nominal and Locational PredicationDifferent269 of 386