Wichita
Caddoan family · Northern Caddoan branch · North America
WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for Wichita, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.
On Rhythm Types, WALS codes Wichita as “Dual: system has both trochaic and iambic feet”, a value held by 4 of the 323 languages coded, Yidiny among them.
On Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb, WALS codes Wichita as “12-13 categories per word”, a value held by 2 of the 145 languages coded, the other being Koasati.
The closest grammar profile to Wichita in the atlas belongs to Oneida, an Iroquoian language: the two agree on 65 of the 99 features both have coded.
Contrast Wichita with Oneida or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Wichita, rarest first.
- Absence of Common ConsonantsNo bilabials4 of 567
- Alignment of Case Marking of PronounsNone3 of 172
- Order of Adposition and Noun PhraseNo adpositions30 of 1,184
- Verbal Number and SuppletionSingular-dual-plural triples, no suppletion5 of 193
- Glottalized ConsonantsEjectives and glottalized resonants20 of 567
- Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal InflectionOnly inclusive differentiated9 of 200
- Suppletion According to Tense and AspectSuppletion according to aspect10 of 193
- Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingActive alignment26 of 380
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Wichita; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Wichita for 108 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 97 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Wichita shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 15
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems | Prominence: other factors are heavy for stress | 41 of 500 |
| Weight-Sensitive Stress | Unbounded: Stress can be anywhere in the word | 54 of 500 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Small vowel inventory (2-4) | 93 of 564 |
| Lateral Consonants | No laterals | 95 of 567 |
| Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives | No voicing contrast | 182 of 567 |
| Consonant Inventories | Average | 201 of 563 |
| 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 |
| The Velar Nasal | No velar nasal | 235 of 469 |
| Tone | No tones | 307 of 527 |
| 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 11
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Moderate preference for prefixing | 94 of 969 |
| Reduplication | No productive reduplication | 55 of 368 |
| Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology | Consistently head-marking | 47 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in the Clause | P is head-marked | 71 of 236 |
| Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases | Possessor is head-marked | 78 of 236 |
| Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking | Subject person/number marking is never syncretic | 81 of 198 |
| Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives | Monoexponential case | 71 of 162 |
| Case Syncretism | Inflectional case marking is absent or minimal | 123 of 198 |
| Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives | Exclusively concatenative | 125 of 165 |
| 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 19
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | No plural | 98 of 1,066 |
| Number of Cases | Exclusively borderline morphological case-marking | 24 of 261 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number affixes | 25 of 261 |
| The Associative Plural | Associative plural absent | 37 of 236 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | No adpositions | 63 of 378 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | Possessive prefixes | 255 of 902 |
| Asymmetrical Case-Marking | Symmetrical case-marking | 79 of 261 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 63 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 |
| Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives | Unrelated | 100 of 225 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Two-way contrast | 126 of 234 |
| 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 |
| 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 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Action Nominal Constructions | No action nominals | 42 of 168 |
| Possessive Classification | No possessive classification | 125 of 243 |
| Obligatory Possessive Inflection | No obligatorily possessed nouns | 201 of 244 |
| Number of Possessive Nouns | None reported | 233 of 243 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 12
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Combination of tense-aspect strategies with none primary | 146 of 1,131 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative present | 48 of 319 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + normal negative | 113 of 496 |
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 131 of 418 |
| The Past Tense | No grammatical marking of past/non-past distinction | 88 of 222 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 166 of 418 |
| Perfective/Imperfective Aspect | Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction | 101 of 222 |
| The Future Tense | Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction | 110 of 222 |
| The Perfect | No perfect | 114 of 222 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| Situational Possibility | Verbal constructions | 158 of 234 |
| Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives | None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material) | 153 of 193 |
Word order 8
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Subject and Verb | Both orders with neither order dominant | 110 of 1,496 |
| Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb | More than one order with none dominant | 167 of 500 |
| Order of Numeral and Noun | Numeral precedes noun (NumN) | 479 of 1,154 |
| 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 Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | Initial subordinator word | 398 of 659 |
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective follows noun (NAdj) | 879 of 1,367 |
| Order of Relative Clause and Noun | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 579 of 824 |
Simple clauses 21
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Reciprocal Constructions | There are no non-iconic reciprocal constructions. | 16 of 175 |
| Other Roles of Applied Objects | Instrument | 17 of 183 |
| Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking | Zero in all 3rd person forms | 36 of 380 |
| Predicative Possession | Locational Possessive | 48 of 240 |
| Order of Person Markers on the Verb | A precedes P | 96 of 379 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have mixed encoding | 103 of 386 |
| Applicative Constructions | Benefactive and other; both bases | 49 of 183 |
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat | 82 of 297 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is impossible | 211 of 386 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
| Periphrastic Causative Constructions | Purposive type but no sequential type | 68 of 118 |
| Polar Questions | Question particle | 585 of 955 |
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs | 437 of 711 |
| 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 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Relativization on Subjects | Gap | 125 of 166 |
Vocabulary 6
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Hand and Arm | Different | 389 of 617 |
| 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 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |