Warao

a family of its own in WALS · South America

WALS lists no other language in the family it assigns to Warao.

On Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases, WALS codes Warao as “Other types”, a value held by 6 of the 236 languages coded, Tagalog and Malagasy among them.

The closest grammar profile to Warao in the atlas belongs to Wappo, a Wappo-Yukian language: the two agree on 32 of the 45 features both have coded.

On Action Nominal Constructions, WALS codes Warao as “Other: Minor patterns”, a value held by 6 of the 168 languages coded, Chamorro and Burmese among them.

The order Warao uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Warao with Wappo or with any other language

Uncommon values

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

Ordinal NumeralsFirst, two, three12 of 321
Number of Cases5 case categories12 of 261
Nominal and Verbal ConjunctionBoth expressed by juxtaposition15 of 301
Lateral ConsonantsLaterals, but no /l/, no obstruent lateral29 of 567
Third Person Pronouns and DemonstrativesRelated to non-remote demonstratives14 of 225
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of only the P argument24 of 378
Indefinite PronounsMixed indefinites23 of 326
Fusion of Selected Inflectional FormativesIsolating/concatenative13 of 165

Closest profiles

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

Waorani family of its own33 of 49
Sanuma Yanomam61 of 97
Suena Trans-New Guinea48 of 77
Epena Pedee Choco54 of 88

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Warao for 115 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 105 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Warao shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 18

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Syllable Structure	Simple syllable structure	61 of 486
Consonant Inventories	Small	89 of 563
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately low	101 of 564
Fixed Stress Locations	Penultimate	110 of 502
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels present	64 of 244
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	No voicing contrast	182 of 567
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
Rhythm Types	Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong	153 of 323
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
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
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 9

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Case Syncretism	Inflectional case marking is syncretic for core cases only	18 of 198
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Moderate preference for suffixing	123 of 969
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is dependent-marked	63 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	No subject person/number marking	57 of 198
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	4-5 categories per word	52 of 145
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Monoexponential case	71 of 162
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Inconsistent marking or other type	121 of 236
Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection	monoexponential TAM	127 of 160
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Different stems	37 of 201
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Additive-quantitatively asymmetrical case-marking	53 of 261
Distributive Numerals	No distributive numerals	62 of 251
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	Possessive prefixes	255 of 902
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No person marking at all	70 of 200
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Three-way contrast	88 of 234
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
Person Marking on Adpositions	Adpositions without person marking	209 of 378
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical	94 of 168
Number of Genders	None	145 of 257
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	No gender system	145 of 257
Systems of Gender Assignment	No gender system	145 of 257
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode no politeness distinction	136 of 207
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Differentiation	213 of 322
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378

Noun phrases 4

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses	Highly differentiated	77 of 138
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 16

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + normal negative	113 of 496
Situational Possibility	Affixes on verbs	63 of 234
Coding of Evidentiality	Verbal affix or clitic	131 of 418
Epistemic Possibility	Affixes on verbs	84 of 240
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Only indirect evidentials	166 of 418
The Past Tense	Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction	94 of 222
The Future Tense	No inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	112 of 222
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	No overlap	105 of 207
The Perfect	No perfect	114 of 222
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular and second plural	292 of 548
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	121 of 222
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Tense-aspect suffixes	667 of 1,131
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	No suppletion in tense or aspect	123 of 193
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)	153 of 193
Verbal Number and Suppletion	No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples	159 of 193
The Optative	Inflectional optative absent	271 of 319

Word order 10

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial	264 of 902
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Degree word follows adjective (AdjDeg)	192 of 481
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 Numeral and Noun	Numeral follows noun (NNum)	608 of 1,154
Order of Genitive and Noun	Genitive-noun (GenN)	685 of 1,249
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj)	879 of 1,367
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 17

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
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Asymmetric standard negation only: Type Asy	53 of 297
Reciprocal Constructions	Identical to reflexive	44 of 175
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No person marking of the S	96 of 380
Negative Morphemes	Negative affix	395 of 1,157
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Nominative - accusative (standard)	61 of 172
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb	187 of 379
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Indirect-object construction	189 of 378
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Neutral	98 of 190
Applicative Constructions	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
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 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Relativization on Obliques	Not possible	10 of 112
Relativization on Subjects	Non-reduction	24 of 166
'When' Clauses	Deranked	51 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
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 7

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Bases	Pure vigesimal	20 of 196
M in First Person Singular	m in first person singular	53 of 230
Hand and Arm	Different	389 of 617
M in Second Person Singular	No m in second person singular	152 of 230
N-M Pronouns	No N-M pronouns	194 of 230
M-T Pronouns	No M-T pronouns	200 of 230
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593