Waorani
a family of its own in WALS · South America
Waorani is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
WALS lists no other language in the family it assigns to Waorani.
On Red and Yellow, WALS codes Waorani as “Red and yellow not both encoded in any basic color term”, a value held by 3 of the 120 languages coded, the others being Kuku-Yalanji and Murrinh-Patha.
The closest grammar profile to Waorani in the atlas belongs to Suena, a Trans-New Guinea language: the two agree on 31 of the 40 features both have coded.
Contrast Waorani with Suena or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Waorani, rarest first.
- Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingZero realization of some third person singular forms21 of 380
- Number of Non-Derived Basic Colour Categories4 categories9 of 119
- Order of Relative Clause and NounMixed types of relative clause with none dominant64 of 824
- Order of Adjective and NounNo dominant order110 of 1,367
- Absence of Common ConsonantsNo fricatives48 of 567
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Waorani; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Waorani for 56 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 49 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Waorani shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Syllable Structure | Simple syllable structure | 61 of 486 |
| Lateral Consonants | No laterals | 95 of 567 |
| Consonant-Vowel Ratio | Moderately low | 101 of 564 |
| Fixed Stress Locations | Initial: stress is on the first syllable | 92 of 502 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | Voicing contrast in plosives alone | 189 of 567 |
| Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems | /p t k b d g/ | 255 of 567 |
| Rhythm Types | Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong | 153 of 323 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Average vowel inventory (5-6) | 287 of 564 |
| Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems | No weight, or weight factor unknown | 261 of 500 |
| Weight-Sensitive Stress | Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity) | 281 of 500 |
| Tone | No tones | 307 of 527 |
| Glottalized Consonants | No glottalized consonants | 409 of 567 |
| Presence of Uncommon Consonants | None | 449 of 567 |
| Uvular Consonants | No uvulars | 470 of 567 |
| Front Rounded Vowels | None | 525 of 562 |
Word structure 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases | Possessor has no marking | 32 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P has no marking | 42 of 236 |
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | 406 of 969 |
| Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology | Inconsistent marking or other type | 121 of 236 |
| Zero Marking of A and P Arguments | Non-zero marking | 219 of 235 |
Nouns and pronouns 5
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | 3rd person only, but also non-singular | 42 of 378 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are obligatory | 78 of 400 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural suffix | 513 of 1,066 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | Adpositions without person marking | 209 of 378 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + normal negative | 113 of 496 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 131 of 418 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 of 418 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
Word order 6
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Polar Question Particles | No question particle | 355 of 884 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 542 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 Genitive and Noun | Genitive-noun (GenN) | 685 of 1,249 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 8
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin | 40 of 297 |
| Polar Questions | Interrogative verb morphology | 164 of 955 |
| Verbal Person Marking | Person marking of only the A argument | 73 of 378 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative affix | 395 of 1,157 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation: Type SymAsy | 130 of 297 |
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb | 187 of 379 |
| Alignment of Verbal Person Marking | Accusative alignment | 212 of 380 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
Vocabulary 6
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Basic Colour Categories | 3, between 3 and 4, or 4 categories | 20 of 119 |
| M in First Person Singular | m in first person singular | 53 of 230 |
| M in Second Person Singular | m in second person singular | 78 of 230 |
| Green and Blue | Green-or-blue ('grue') | 68 of 120 |
| N-M Pronouns | No N-M pronouns | 194 of 230 |
| M-T Pronouns | No M-T pronouns | 200 of 230 |