Ungarinjin

Worrorran family · Australia

Ungarinjin puts its words in object-verb-subject order (OVS), one of only 11 with that basic order among the 1,376 languages WALS codes for this feature.

On Coding of Nominal Plurality, WALS codes Ungarinjin as “Plural by complete reduplication of stem”, a value held by 8 of the 1,066 languages coded, Indonesian and Batak (Karo) among them.

The closest grammar profile to Ungarinjin in the atlas belongs to Malakmalak, a Northern Daly language: the two agree on 38 of the 53 features both have coded.

On Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes, WALS codes Ungarinjin as “Prefixes and suffixes”, a value held by 32 of the 902 languages coded, Paumarí and Trumai among them.

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

Contrast Ungarinjin with Malakmalak or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Situational PossibilityOther kinds of markers13 of 234
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationIn reality status: Subtype A/NonReal20 of 297
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingSplit alignment28 of 380
Weight-Sensitive StressLeft-edge: Stress is on the first or second syllable37 of 500
Nonperiphrastic Causative ConstructionsNo morphological type or compound type23 of 310
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSubtractive-quantitatively asymmetrical case-marking20 of 261
Order of Genitive and NounBoth orders occur with neither order dominant96 of 1,249
Possessive ClassificationThree to five classes20 of 243

Closest profiles

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

Arrernte (Mparntwe) Pama-Nyungan30 of 44
Lusi Austronesian27 of 40
Wambaya Mirndi36 of 57
Nara (in Ethiopia) Eastern Sudanic27 of 42

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Ungarinjin for 89 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 78 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Ungarinjin shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 18

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Absence of Common Consonants	No fricatives	48 of 567
Rhythm Types	Undetermined: no clear foot type	37 of 323
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	Long vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress	65 of 500
Consonant Inventories	Moderately small	122 of 563
The Velar Nasal	Velar nasal, also initially	147 of 469
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	No voicing contrast	182 of 567
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Average	234 of 564
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
Syllable Structure	Moderately complex syllable structure	274 of 486
Tone	No tones	307 of 527
Lateral Consonants	/l/, no obstruent laterals	388 of 567
Glottalized Consonants	No glottalized consonants	409 of 567
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels absent	180 of 244
Presence of Uncommon Consonants	None	449 of 567
Uvular Consonants	No uvulars	470 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Little or no inflectional morphology	141 of 969
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is head-marked	71 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is never syncretic	81 of 198
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is dependent-marked	98 of 236
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Inconsistent marking or other type	121 of 236
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal	123 of 198
Reduplication	Productive full and partial reduplication	278 of 368
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Number of Cases	8-9 case categories	23 of 261
Position of Case Affixes	Postpositional clitics	123 of 1,031
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	30 of 200
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only	61 of 378
Person Marking on Adpositions	No adpositions	63 of 378
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix	47 of 261
Indefinite Articles	No indefinite article but definite article	98 of 534
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	Inclusive and exclusive differentiated	63 of 200
Definite Articles	Definite word distinct from demonstrative	216 of 620
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical	94 of 168
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400

Noun phrases 2

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	No tense-aspect inflection	152 of 1,131
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Coding of Evidentiality	No grammatical evidentials	181 of 418
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	No overlap	105 of 207

Word order 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	Object-verb-oblique (OVX)	45 of 500
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)	192 of 481
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word follows noun (NDem)	562 of 1,225
Order of Object and Verb	Object precedes verb (OV)	712 of 1,518
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase	Postpositions	577 of 1,184
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral follows noun (NNum)	608 of 1,154
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Initial subordinator word	398 of 659
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)	879 of 1,367
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial	615 of 902
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause follows noun (NRel)	579 of 824
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 13

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	P precedes A	57 of 379
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have mixed encoding	103 of 386
Nominal and Locational Predication	Identical	117 of 386
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	502 of 1,157
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy	130 of 297
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is possible	175 of 386
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Neutral	79 of 172
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No zero realization of third person S forms	181 of 380
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of both the A and P arguments	193 of 378
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Neutral	98 of 190
Passive Constructions	There is no passive construction	211 of 373
Periphrastic Causative Constructions	Purposive type but no sequential type	68 of 118
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs	437 of 711

Complex sentences 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
'When' Clauses	Balanced	84 of 174
Relativization on Obliques	Gap Strategy	55 of 112
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169
Purpose Clauses	Deranked	102 of 170
Relativization on Subjects	Gap	125 of 166
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
M in Second Person Singular	No m in second person singular	152 of 230
M in First Person Singular	No m in first person singular	177 of 230
N-M Pronouns	No N-M pronouns	194 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230