Yidiny
Pama-Nyungan family · Northern Pama-Nyungan branch · Australia
Yidiny is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Order of Relative Clause and Noun, WALS codes Yidiny as “Adjoined relative clause”, a value held by 8 of the 824 languages coded, Martuthunira and Diyari among them.
On Rhythm Types, WALS codes Yidiny as “Dual: system has both trochaic and iambic feet”, a value held by 4 of the 323 languages coded, Wichita among them.
Within the Northern Pama-Nyungan branch, all 4 other languages coded for Nominal and Locational Predication have the value “Different”; Yidiny has “Identical”.
Contrast Yidiny with Guugu Yimidhirr or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Yidiny, rarest first.
- Order of Adposition and Noun PhraseNo adpositions30 of 1,184
- Asymmetrical Case-MarkingQualitatively asymmetrical case-marking7 of 261
- Applicative ConstructionsNon-benefactive object only; both bases9 of 183
- Order of Demonstrative and NounTwo or more of above types with none dominant67 of 1,225
- Absence of Common ConsonantsNo fricatives48 of 567
- Expression of Pronominal SubjectsOptional pronouns in subject position61 of 711
- Number of Cases8-9 case categories23 of 261
- Order of Object, Oblique, and VerbObject-verb-oblique (OVX)45 of 500
Inside the Pama-Nyungan family
Yidiny matches the most frequent Pama-Nyungan value on 67 of the 97 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (69%). Among the 12 Pama-Nyungan languages profiled here, that rate ranks eighth from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Yidiny; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Yidiny for 100 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 88 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Yidiny shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 17
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Weight-Sensitive Stress | Unbounded: Stress can be anywhere in the word | 54 of 500 |
| Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems | Long vowel: long vowels are heavy for stress | 65 of 500 |
| Consonant Inventories | Small | 89 of 563 |
| Vowel Quality Inventories | Small vowel inventory (2-4) | 93 of 564 |
| 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 |
| 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 7
| 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 | No subject person/number marking | 57 of 198 |
| Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology | Predominantly suffixing | 406 of 969 |
| Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives | Monoexponential case | 71 of 162 |
| Reduplication | Productive full and partial reduplication | 278 of 368 |
| Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives | Exclusively concatenative | 125 of 165 |
| Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection | monoexponential TAM | 127 of 160 |
Nouns and pronouns 20
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | No plural | 98 of 1,066 |
| Occurrence of Nominal Plurality | No nominal plural | 28 of 291 |
| Person Marking on Adpositions | No adpositions | 63 of 378 |
| The Associative Plural | Special bound associative plural marker | 48 of 236 |
| Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives | Related for all demonstratives | 52 of 225 |
| Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers | Formally similar, not involving interrogative expression | 33 of 116 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Definite Articles | Neither definite nor indefinite article | 198 of 620 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection | No person marking at all | 70 of 200 |
| Indefinite Articles | Neither indefinite nor definite | 198 of 534 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Three-way contrast | 88 of 234 |
| Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns | Person-number stem | 114 of 261 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| 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 |
| Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 120 of 200 |
| Numeral Classifiers | Numeral classifiers are absent | 260 of 400 |
| Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns | No gender distinctions | 254 of 378 |
Noun phrases 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal and Verbal Conjunction | Nominal and verbal conjunction are different | 125 of 301 |
| Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses | Highly differentiated | 77 of 138 |
| Noun Phrase Conjunction | AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical | 131 of 234 |
| Adjectives without Nouns | Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking | 73 of 124 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 8
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| The Morphological Imperative | Second person number-neutral | 89 of 548 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 133 of 375 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + special negative | 182 of 496 |
| 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 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Tense-aspect suffixes | 667 of 1,131 |
| The Optative | Inflectional optative absent | 271 of 319 |
Word order 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Position of Polar Question Particles | No question particle | 355 of 884 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object precedes verb (OV) | 712 of 1,518 |
| 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 |
| Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions | Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial | 615 of 902 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 21
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Reciprocal Constructions | There are no non-iconic reciprocal constructions. | 16 of 175 |
| Productivity of the Antipassive Construction | productive | 24 of 186 |
| Antipassive Constructions | Oblique patient | 30 of 194 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases | Ergative - absolutive | 32 of 190 |
| Polar Questions | Interrogative intonation only | 173 of 955 |
| Other Roles of Applied Objects | No other roles (= Only benefactive) | 36 of 183 |
| Verbal Person Marking | No person marking of any argument | 82 of 378 |
| Alignment of Verbal Person Marking | Neutral alignment (no verbal person marking) | 84 of 380 |
| Predicative Possession | Conjunctional Possessive | 59 of 240 |
| Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking | No person marking of the S | 96 of 380 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding | 132 of 386 |
| Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns | Nominative - accusative (standard) | 61 of 172 |
| Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation | Symmetric standard negation only: Type Sym | 114 of 297 |
| Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation | Non-assignable (no asymmetry found) | 114 of 297 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative particle | 502 of 1,157 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is possible | 175 of 386 |
| 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 |
| Passive Constructions | There is no passive construction | 211 of 373 |
| Periphrastic Causative Constructions | Purposive type but no sequential type | 68 of 118 |
| Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions | Morphological type but no compound type | 254 of 310 |
Complex sentences 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Relativization on Subjects | Non-reduction | 24 of 166 |
| 'When' Clauses | Deranked | 51 of 174 |
| Purpose Clauses | Deranked | 102 of 170 |
Vocabulary 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Numeral Bases | Restricted | 20 of 196 |