Wambaya
Mirndi family · Wambayan branch · Australia
WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Wambaya, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.
On Applicative Constructions, WALS codes Wambaya as “Non-benefactive object only; intransitive base only”, a value held by 2 of the 183 languages coded, the other being Fijian.
The closest grammar profile to Wambaya in the atlas belongs to Ngiyambaa, a Pama-Nyungan language: the two agree on 47 of the 75 features both have coded.
On Number of Genders, WALS codes Wambaya as “Four”, a value held by 12 of the 257 languages coded, Burushaski and Pirahã among them.
Contrast Wambaya with Ngiyambaa or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Wambaya, rarest first.
- Asymmetrical Case-MarkingQualitatively asymmetrical case-marking7 of 261
- Situational PossibilityOther kinds of markers13 of 234
- Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard NegationIn reality status: Subtype A/NonReal20 of 297
- Order of Subject and VerbBoth orders with neither order dominant110 of 1,496
- Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingSplit alignment28 of 380
- Weight-Sensitive StressLeft-edge: Stress is on the first or second syllable37 of 500
- Absence of Common ConsonantsNo fricatives48 of 567
- Number of Cases8-9 case categories23 of 261
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Wambaya; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Wambaya for 79 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 68 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Wambaya shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 17
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems | Long vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress | 65 of 500 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Small vowel inventory (2-4) | 93 of 564 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately high | 102 of 564 |
| 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 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | Other | 242 of 567 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 220 of 502 |
| Rhythm Types | Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong | 153 of 323 |
| 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 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Case Syncretism | Inflectional case marking is syncretic for core cases only | 18 of 198 |
| Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking | Subject person/number marking is never syncretic | 81 of 198 |
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | 406 of 969 |
Nouns and pronouns 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Occurrence of Nominal Plurality | Plural in all nouns, always optional | 55 of 291 |
| Systems of Gender Assignment | Semantic assignment | 53 of 257 |
| Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives | Related for all demonstratives | 52 of 225 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 63 of 200 |
| Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems | Sex-based gender system | 84 of 257 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No person marking at all | 70 of 200 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns | Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated | 74 of 168 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Two-way contrast | 126 of 234 |
| Indefinite Pronouns | Interrogative-based indefinites | 194 of 326 |
| Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns | Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction | 136 of 207 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
| Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives | Same forms | 143 of 201 |
Noun phrases 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Action Nominal Constructions | No action nominals | 42 of 168 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Morphological Imperative | No second-person imperatives | 122 of 548 |
| Epistemic Possibility | Affixes on verbs | 84 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 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 2
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 542 of 1,225 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object follows verb (VO) | 705 of 1,518 |
Simple clauses 16
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Subject pronouns in different position | 67 of 711 |
| Other Roles of Applied Objects | Locative | 18 of 183 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases | Ergative - absolutive | 32 of 190 |
| Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give' | Double-object construction | 84 of 378 |
| Reciprocal Constructions | Identical to reflexive | 44 of 175 |
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | A precedes P | 96 of 379 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns | Nominative - accusative (standard) | 61 of 172 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy | 130 of 297 |
| 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 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
| Periphrastic Causative Constructions | Purposive type but no sequential type | 68 of 118 |
| Antipassive Constructions | No antipassive | 146 of 194 |
| Productivity of the Antipassive Construction | no antipassive | 146 of 186 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Complex sentences 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| 'When' Clauses | Balanced | 84 of 174 |
| 'Want' Complement Subjects | The complement subject is left implicit | 144 of 283 |
| Reason Clauses | Balanced | 90 of 169 |
| Purpose Clauses | Deranked | 102 of 170 |
Vocabulary 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Finger and Hand | Identical | 72 of 593 |
| Tea | Others | 36 of 230 |
| Hand and Arm | Different | 389 of 617 |