Swahili
Kiswahili — Niger-Congo. SVO like English and nothing else like it: a dozen or more noun classes agreeing across the whole clause, prefixes rather than suffixes, and adjectives, numerals and demonstratives all following the noun.
This is read-only. A copy is an ordinary language of yours, editable everywhere, and it remembers that it started here.
Where the answers came from
36 answers are from a database — WALS, Grambank or PHOIBLE — and every one is checked against the published coding. 262 are from a reference grammar, and those carry the mark below wherever they appear.
from a grammar — no published coding exists for that question, so the answer is a judgement rather than a citation.
Written from: Ashton, Swahili Grammar (2nd ed., 1947); Mohammed, Modern Swahili Grammar (2001)
Sentences
ProtoLingua reproduces 35% of a speaker's own translation of these seven sentences, counted word part by word part, in order.
This measures ProtoLingua rather than Swahili. The databases record where a marker sits and whether it exists, never what it is, and the app carries one suffix per category — so a language that packs several categories into one ending loses a mark on every inflected word. The translation uses the same words as the entry, so the comparison is of word order, agreement, case, tense and the marker forms.
NounPronounVerbAdjectiveAdverbAdpositionConjunctionDeterminerInterjection
grammatical marker
The big cat quickly jumped into the green grass.
Paka
paka
cat
cat
kubwa
kubwa
big
big
a-li-ruka
a-li-ruka
3SG-PST-jump
jumped
quickly
—
quickly
quickly
katika
katika
into
into
nyasi
ɲasi
grass
grass
kijani
—
green
green
A speaker would say: paka kubwa aliruka haraka katika nyasi kijani — 56% of it comes out.
I am going home.
Ni-na-enda
ni-na-enda
1SG-PRS-go
going
nyumbani
ɲumbani
home
home
A speaker would say: mimi ninaenda nyumbani — 25% of it comes out.
She did not see the two birds.
Ha-a-li-ona
ha-a-li-ona
NEG-3SG-PST-see
see
wa-ndege
wa-ndeɡe
PL-bird
birds
mbili
mbili
two
two
A speaker would say: yeye hakuona ndege mbili — 29% of it comes out.
Did the old woman give the child a book?
Je
—
Q
—
mwanamke
mwanamke
woman
woman
mzee
mzee
old
old
a-li-pa
a-li-pa
3SG-PST-give
give
mtoto
mtoto
child
child
kitabu
kitabu
book
book
A speaker would say: je mwanamke mzee alimpa mtoto kitabu — 62% of it comes out.
My brother is a farmer.
Kaka
kaka
brother
brother
my
—
My
My
a-na-be
a-na-
3SG-PRS-be
is
mkulima
mkulima
farmer
farmer
A speaker would say: kaka wangu ni mkulima — 33% of it comes out.
The man who saw me left.
Mwanamume
mwanamume
man
man
a-li-ona
a-li-ona
3SG-PST-see
saw
me
—
me
me
a-li-ondoka
a-li-ondoka
3SG-PST-leave
left
A speaker would say: mwanamume aliyeniona aliondoka — 12% of it comes out.
I know that she left.
Ni-na-jua
ni-na-
1SG-PRS-know
know
kwamba
kwamba
COMP
that
a-li-ondoka
a-li-ondoka
3SG-PST-leave
left
A speaker would say: mimi najua kwamba yeye aliondoka — 14% of it comes out.
Rendered from the answers that govern an ordinary clause — order, adpositions, case, tense, agreement, plural, and where modifiers sit. The answers below that exist to demonstrate one feature each are left out of the rendering, because switching all of them on at once puts every marker on every word. The vocabulary is two dozen words, so anything with no word yet stays in English.
The answers
Syntax
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| In a plain statement, what order do the subject, the verb and the object come in? | SVO — subject, verb, object (English, Mandarin, Swahili) | WALS 81A, Grambank GB130 |
| Do words like "in", "to" and "with" come before or after the noun? | Before — prepositions ("in the house") | WALS 85A, Grambank GB074, Grambank GB075 |
| In a question like "what did she see?", where does the question word go? | Where the answer would go — "she saw what" | WALS 93A |
| Does an adjective come before or after the noun it describes? | After the noun | WALS 87A, Grambank GB193 |
| Does a numeral come before or after the noun? | After ("birds two") | WALS 89A, Grambank GB024 |
| Do articles and demonstratives come before or after the noun? | After ("cat the" — Scandinavian, Romanian) | WALS 88A, Grambank GB025 |
| Does a possessor come before or after the thing possessed? | After ("brother my", "dog the-farmer") | WALS 86A, Grambank GB065 |
| Where does the negative particle go? | Before the verb ("not go") | WALS 143A |
| Where does a relative clause go? | After the noun — "the man who saw me". English, Arabic, Swahili | WALS 90A |
| What happens to the missing argument inside the clause? | Nothing at all — the hole is simply left. Japanese, Mandarin | from a grammar |
| How far down can relativisation reach? | Down to direct objects — "the book that she read". Welsh | from a grammar |
| Which side of the main clause does it go? | After — "I left when she arrived" | from a grammar |
| How is a yes/no question formed? | A question particle (Japanese ka, Mandarin ma, Polish czy) | WALS 116A, Grambank GB260 |
| Where does the question particle go? | At the start of the sentence | WALS 92A, Grambank GB262, Grambank GB263 |
| In "she gave the child a book", which one is treated as the object? | Both, equally — neither is marked | WALS 105A |
| Where do phrases like "in the garden" or "with a knife" sit? | Always after the verb | from a grammar |
| Where does a manner adverb like "quickly" sit? | After the verb | from a grammar |
| Can a clause modify a noun? ("the man who saw me") | Yes | from a grammar |
| Can a clause be the object of a verb? ("I know that she left") | Yes | from a grammar |
| How is such a clause joined on? | A little word introduces it — "that", "to", Japanese "to" | from a grammar |
| Where does the complementiser sit? | At the front of its clause — "that she left" | from a grammar |
| What is the complementiser? | kwamba | from a grammar |
| What is the relativiser? | amba- | from a grammar |
| Can a clause set the circumstances? ("when she arrived, I left") | Yes | from a grammar |
| How is a circumstance clause marked? | A conjunction opens it — "when", "because", "although" | from a grammar |
| What is the general-purpose subordinator? | wakati | from a grammar |
| What turns a clause into a noun? | ku- | from a grammar |
| Does a subordinate verb carry the same marking as a main verb? | Yes — fully marked, exactly like a main verb | from a grammar |
| Do subordinate clauses have their own word order? | No | from a grammar |
| Can unlike things be joined — a noun and a clause? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Can a repeated verb be left out of the second half? | No — the verb is repeated | from a grammar |
| How is a comparison made? | An "exceed" verb — "the cat is big exceeds the dog". West Africa, Mandarin | from a grammar |
| What is the "exceed" verb? | kuliko | from a grammar |
| How is a superlative made? | The comparative plus "all" — "bigger than all" | from a grammar |
| How is "as big as" expressed? | A dedicated equative marker | from a grammar |
| What is the equative marker? | sawa na | from a grammar |
| How does the language say "himself"? | A mark on the verb — Russian -sja, Romance se | from a grammar |
| What is the reflexive marker? | -ji- | from a grammar |
| How does the language say "each other"? | A separate reciprocal marker | from a grammar |
| What is the reciprocal marker? | -ana | from a grammar |
| Which arguments can bind a reflexive? | Only a subject — the commonest arrangement | from a grammar |
| Must a reflexive and its antecedent share a clause? | Yes — as in English | from a grammar |
| How is "I have a book" expressed? | "I am with a book" — many African languages | from a grammar |
| Are body parts and kin possessed differently from objects? | No — one construction for everything | from a grammar |
| Is a temporary possession marked differently from a lasting one? | No — one construction for both | from a grammar |
| Is a possession that has ended marked differently from a current one? | No — the tense of the clause does it | from a grammar |
| How is one part of a sentence emphasised? | By moving it to a dedicated position | from a grammar |
| Is there a dedicated position for the topic? | Yes — the topic comes first, whatever its role | from a grammar |
| How is "there is a cat" expressed? | The ordinary copula plus a location | from a grammar |
| Do multiple negatives reinforce rather than cancel? | Yes — "I didn't see nobody" means I saw nobody | from a grammar |
| How is a negative command formed? | A dedicated prohibitive form — Latin "noli", Greek "mē" | from a grammar |
| Is the word joining two nouns the same as the one joining two clauses? | Yes — one word for both | from a grammar |
| Where does a degree word like "very" go? | After the adjective — big very | from a grammar |
| How does the language say "the house is big"? | Some adjectives take a copula and others behave as verbs | from a grammar |
| Is "she is a doctor" built the same way as "she is in the house"? | The same — one copula covers both | from a grammar |
| Is the word for "and" also the word for "all"? | No — separate words | from a grammar |
| Can an adjective stand without its noun — "the big one"? | Yes, but it takes a marker | from a grammar |
| Is the emphatic "herself" the same word as the reflexive one? | No — separate words | from a grammar |
| Are there nouns that must always be possessed? | No — any noun can stand alone | from a grammar |
| In "she went to the market to buy bread", does "buy" carry its own tense? | No — it gives up tense and agreement | from a grammar |
| The word that opens a purpose clause | ili | from a grammar |
| In "I left because she arrived", does "arrived" carry its own tense? | Yes — it is marked like any other verb | from a grammar |
| How does the language say "I want her to leave"? | It has one, as English does | from a grammar |
| In "her leaving surprised me", what is "her"? | A possessor, as English has it — and any object stays an object | from a grammar |
| In "she made him leave", how is "leave" joined on? | It is marked the way a purpose clause is | from a grammar |
Grammar
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Does the language distinguish singular from plural? | Yes | WALS 33A, Grambank GB044 |
| Does it distinguish "the" from "a"? | No | WALS 37A, Grambank GB020 |
| How does it keep subjects and objects apart? | Word order alone — no case | WALS 98A, Grambank GB409 |
| What tenses does the verb distinguish? | Past, present and future | from a grammar |
| Does it distinguish "is going" from "goes"? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Does the verb agree with its subject? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Does "be" appear as a verb — "my brother is a farmer"? | Yes, "be" is a real verb | WALS 120A |
| Which voices does the verb have? | Active and passive — "the bird was seen" | from a grammar |
| How is voice marked on the verb? | A suffix | from a grammar |
| What marks the passive? | -wa | from a grammar |
| Can a passive say who did it? | Yes, introduced by an adposition — "by the cat" | from a grammar |
| Which adposition introduces the agent? | na | from a grammar |
| What number distinctions are there? | Singular against plural | from a grammar |
| Does the language sort nouns into classes? | Many classes, by shape and kind — Bantu languages have a dozen or more | Grambank GB051, Grambank GB052 |
| Do adjectives and verbs change to match the noun's class? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Which moods does the verb distinguish? | Statement, command, and a subjunctive for the unreal | from a grammar |
| Must a speaker say how they know? | No — it is optional or absent | from a grammar |
| Is there a way to say "make someone do it" on the verb? | Yes — a causative form | from a grammar |
| Can the verb promote an oblique to object? | Yes — an applicative | from a grammar |
| What aspects does the verb distinguish? | A full set — habitual, iterative, inceptive and more | from a grammar |
| Does "we" distinguish whether the hearer is included? | No — one word for both | WALS 39A, WALS 40A |
| Does the verb change according to who is being addressed? | No | from a grammar |
| Does negating a sentence change anything else about the verb? | Yes — tense, aspect or agreement is marked differently under negation | from a grammar |
| How many cases does the language distinguish? | None | from a grammar |
| Where is the relationship between words marked — on the head or on the dependent? | On the head — agreement on the verb, as many American languages do | from a grammar |
| How does a noun get its gender? | By meaning alone — what the noun refers to decides | from a grammar |
| Is there a way to say "X and those with X"? | No — a plural means more of the same thing | from a grammar |
| Does the verb itself show whether "we" includes the hearer? | No — only the pronoun makes the distinction | from a grammar |
| Is subject agreement shown in every tense? | Yes — every tense shows it | from a grammar |
| What else changes when a clause is negated? | A distinction the verb normally makes disappears | from a grammar |
| How do the subject and object cases differ in form? | Both are marked, and neither is built from the other | from a grammar |
| Do pronouns take the same cases as ordinary nouns? | Pronouns take no case at all | from a grammar |
| Does a command use a special form of the verb? | No — the ordinary verb, with the subject left out | from a grammar |
| Is there a form for "may it be so" — a wish? | No | from a grammar |
| Does the past distinguish how long ago? | No — one past | from a grammar |
| Is the future a tense, or a mood? | A tense — grouped with past and present | from a grammar |
| Is there a perfect — a past with present relevance? | Yes — "I have eaten" against "I ate" | from a grammar |
| What does the article system track? | There is no article | from a grammar |
| Do possessed nouns change form? | No | from a grammar |
| Does the verb say whether the next clause has the same subject? | No | from a grammar |
| Does the verb agree with the object as well as the subject? | Yes | from a grammar |
| What kind of classifier does counting need? | None | from a grammar |
| Is plural marking optional? | No — obligatory whenever plural | from a grammar |
| Can part of a sentence be negated on its own? | No — negation is always the whole clause | from a grammar |
| Does negation take two parts? | No — one marker | from a grammar |
| Who can be commanded? | The hearer only | from a grammar |
| Are there verbs with irregular negative forms? | None | from a grammar |
Morphology
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What is the question particle? | je | from a grammar |
| First person singular ("I") | ni- | from a grammar |
| Second person singular ("you") | u- | from a grammar |
| Plural ("we", "they") | tu- | from a grammar |
| How much does the language bind onto a word? | Agglutinative — affixes stack, one meaning each (Turkish, Swahili) | WALS 20A |
| How is the plural attached? | A prefix on the word | from a grammar |
| What is the plural marker? | wa- | from a grammar |
| How is case attached? | Not expressed at all | WALS 51A, Grambank GB070 |
| How is tense attached? | A prefix on the word | WALS 69A |
| What marks the past? | li- | from a grammar |
| What marks the present, or the non-past? | na- | from a grammar |
| What marks the future? | ta- | from a grammar |
| How is the progressive attached? | A prefix on the word | from a grammar |
| What marks the progressive? | — | from a grammar |
| How is subject agreement attached? | A prefix on the word | WALS 26A |
| Third person singular ("she", "the cat") | a- | from a grammar |
| Is the negator a separate word or part of the verb? | A prefix on the verb | WALS 112A |
| What is the negator? | ha- | from a grammar |
| How is definiteness attached? | Not expressed at all | from a grammar |
| Do third-person pronouns distinguish gender? | By noun class | from a grammar |
| Is there more than one word for "you"? | One — English | from a grammar |
| How many degrees of distance do demonstratives have? | Three — here, there, yonder. Spanish, Japanese, Latin | from a grammar |
| Do demonstratives mark elevation or direction? | No | from a grammar |
| What does the counting system group by? | Tens | from a grammar |
| Where do numerals sit relative to what they count? | After — dogs three | from a grammar |
| Are there separate ordinal numbers? | Yes — first, second, third | from a grammar |
| How are new words most often made? | By affix — happy, unhappiness | from a grammar |
| How is "one who does X" formed? | m- | from a grammar |
| How is a diminutive formed? | ki- | from a grammar |
| How is an abstract noun formed from an adjective? | u- | from a grammar |
| Are there infixes — pieces inserted inside a word? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Are the commonest words irregular in a way no rule explains? | No — everything is regular | from a grammar |
| Where do clitics attach? | To a particular kind of word | from a grammar |
| Where does a possessive marker attach? | Suffixed to the thing possessed — Turkish ev-im "house-my" | from a grammar |
| Do adpositions change form for their object? | No — the adposition is invariant | from a grammar |
| How is "someone" or "something" formed? | From a generic noun — "person", "thing" | from a grammar |
| Is "this" the same word standing alone as it is before a noun? | Different words entirely | from a grammar |
| Is the third-person pronoun related to a demonstrative? | Unrelated — separate words with separate histories | from a grammar |
| Is there a way to say "two each"? | Yes, by saying the numeral twice | from a grammar |
| How does a pronoun become plural? | A plural marker used only on pronouns | from a grammar |
| Does a verb change shape for how many are doing it? | No | from a grammar |
| How is "she can leave" — ability or circumstance — marked? | A separate word, as English does | from a grammar |
| The form for ability or circumstance | weza | from a grammar |
| How is "she may leave" — possibility — marked? | A separate word | from a grammar |
| The form for possibility | labda | from a grammar |
| How is "she must leave" — obligation — marked? | A separate word | from a grammar |
| The form for obligation | lazima | from a grammar |
Phonology
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What may a syllable look like? | (C)(C)V | from a grammar |
| Fewest syllables in a word | 2 | from a grammar |
| Most syllables in a word | 6 | from a grammar |
| Which syllable is stressed? | The second-to-last (Polish, Swahili) | from a grammar |
| Does vowel length change a word's meaning? | No — length is not contrastive | PHOIBLE segments |
| Does consonant length change a word's meaning? | No | from a grammar |
| Does pitch on a syllable change a word's meaning? | No tone | PHOIBLE segments |
| Where does stress fall? | Always the same syllable — first, last, penultimate | from a grammar |
| Can stress alone tell two words apart? | No | from a grammar |
| Are there nasal vowels distinct from oral ones? | No | PHOIBLE segments |
| How do stops contrast? | Voiced against voiceless — /b/ against /p/. English, French | from a grammar |
| Are there ejective or implosive consonants? | No | PHOIBLE segments |
| Are there retroflex consonants? | No | PHOIBLE segments |
| Are there uvular consonants? | No | PHOIBLE segments |
| Are there clicks? | No | PHOIBLE segments |
| Do the vowels in a word have to match? | No | from a grammar |
| What happens to a voiced consonant at the end of a word? | Nothing — it stays voiced | from a grammar |
| How many consonants may start a syllable? | Up to two — Spanish, Greek | from a grammar |
| How may a syllable end? | Open only — every syllable ends in a vowel | from a grammar |
| Can a consonant be a syllable on its own? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Is there a minimum size a word must reach? | Yes — a word must be at least two syllables or one heavy one | from a grammar |
| Does the language repeat part of a word to change its meaning? | No | from a grammar |
| What makes a syllable heavy? | A long vowel | from a grammar |
| What is the rhythm of the language? | Syllable-timed — every syllable takes about the same time. Spanish, Italian, Japanese | from a grammar |
| Do unstressed vowels weaken? | No — every vowel keeps its quality | from a grammar |
| What does the pitch do at the end of a statement? | Falls | from a grammar |
| What does the pitch do in a yes/no question? | Rises | from a grammar |
| How large is the sound inventory meant to be? | Average — around 25 to 35 | from a grammar |
| How many vowels? | Five — the world's commonest system | from a grammar |
| Are some vowels transparent to harmony? | No | from a grammar |
| Do neighbouring consonants become more alike? | In place — "in-possible" becomes "impossible" | from a grammar |
| Is a vowel inserted to break up an awkward cluster? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Are sounds dropped in fast or casual speech? | No | from a grammar |
| Which syllable carries the accent, when it is fixed? | The second from last — Polish, Swahili | from a grammar |
| Do long words carry a secondary stress? | No | from a grammar |
| Do tones change when they meet? | No | from a grammar |
| What happens to a borrowed word with foreign sounds? | It is remade in native sounds | from a grammar |
| Does the writing show predictable sound changes? | No — spelling keeps the underlying form | from a grammar |
| Does syllable weight matter? | No | from a grammar |
| How long is a typical word? | Four or more — agglutinating languages routinely | from a grammar |
| May a word begin with a vowel? | Yes | from a grammar |
Writing system
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What does one glyph stand for? | A sound — vowels written too (Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Korean) | from a grammar |
| Which way does the writing run? | Left to right | from a grammar |
| Are there spaces between words? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Is the end of a sentence marked? | Yes | from a grammar |
| What marks the end of a sentence? | . | from a grammar |
| Does the script have two cases? | Yes — capitals and small letters | from a grammar |
| How are words separated? | By spaces | from a grammar |
| Is vowel length written? | No | from a grammar |
| Is tone written? | No | from a grammar |
| How are numbers written? | With digits, positionally | from a grammar |
| Which way do multi-digit numbers run? | The same way as the text | from a grammar |
| How much punctuation is there? | A full set — stops, commas, quotes, questions | from a grammar |
| Is there a mark for a new section or paragraph? | No | from a grammar |
| How closely does spelling follow sound? | Very closely — Finnish, Spanish, Korean | from a grammar |
| Are there conventional abbreviations? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Where did the script come from? | Imposed from outside | from a grammar |
| What was it first written on? | Paper or parchment — free-flowing | from a grammar |
| Do letters join or merge when adjacent? | No | from a grammar |
| Do letters change shape by position in the word? | No | from a grammar |
| Does the direction alternate line by line? | No — every line runs the same way | from a grammar |
| Has the spelling been reformed? | Once | from a grammar |
| Is there a calligraphic tradition? | No | from a grammar |
| Is there a shorthand or cursive for fast writing? | No | from a grammar |
| What is the script called? | Latin | from a grammar |
Transliteration
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Should the spelling recover the SPELLING, or the SOUND? | The spelling — one sound, one spelling, always, so the original can be recovered | from a grammar |
| How should a sound with no Latin letter be written? | Two letters — ʃ as "sh". Familiar, but ambiguous with a real s followed by h | from a grammar |
| Show hyphens between morphemes? | No | from a grammar |
| What gets a capital letter? | The first word, and proper nouns | from a grammar |
| Mark the stressed syllable? | No | from a grammar |
| Write words in IPA instead of in your own symbols? | No | from a grammar |
| How are foreign names written? | Kept in their own spelling | from a grammar |
| Are romanised proper nouns marked? | Yes — with a capital | from a grammar |
| May diacritics be dropped when typing? | Yes — the bare letters are acceptable | from a grammar |
| Is there more than one accepted romanisation? | One standard | from a grammar |
| Is tone written with numbers rather than marks? | No | from a grammar |
Semantics
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| How many basic colour words does the language have? | The full set -- black, white, red, green, yellow, blue and more | from a grammar |
| What does the counting system group by? | Tens | WALS 131A, Grambank GB333, Grambank GB334, Grambank GB335 |
| Who raises a child? | Several generations under one roof, with seniority marked | from a grammar |
| Do they name relatives at all? | Yes — some relations are still recognised and named | from a grammar |
| Which relatives share a word? | Iroquois -- mother's sister is 'mother', father's sister is not | from a grammar |
| Where does the PATH of a movement get said? | In the verb itself -- "exit running" (Spanish, Turkish, Japanese) | from a grammar |
| Which way does the future lie? | Ahead is the future, behind is the past (English) | from a grammar |
| Are some things possessed differently from others? | No | Grambank GB059 |
| Does counting a noun require a classifier? | No | WALS 55A, Grambank GB057 |
| Are there ideophones — words that depict rather than describe? | A large open class covering sound, movement, texture and feeling | from a grammar |
| How do ideophones fit into a sentence? | Like adverbs | from a grammar |
| Do ideophones break the ordinary sound rules? | Yes — they use sounds and shapes no other word may | from a grammar |
| How is location described? | Relative to the speaker — left, right, in front | from a grammar |
| Is the future ahead and the past behind? | No — the past is ahead, because it can be seen | from a grammar |
| Is a repeated time said differently from a single one? | No — the same construction, and context does the rest | from a grammar |
| How is time divided? | By the sun, tides or seasons | from a grammar |
| Are nouns and verbs clearly different classes? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Are adjectives their own word class? | Yes, but a small closed set — Igbo has about eight | from a grammar |
| How is the body divided into named parts? | Finely — separate words for hand and arm, foot and leg | from a grammar |
| Is there one verb for eating and drinking, or two? | Two | from a grammar |
| How are siblings named? | By relative age — elder and younger, regardless of sex | from a grammar |
| Are maternal and paternal grandparents named differently? | No | from a grammar |
| Are left and right named after anything? | With moral or ritual weight attached | from a grammar |
| How does the language take in foreign words? | Freely, adapted to its own sounds | from a grammar |
| Which languages does it borrow from, and for what? | Arabic, then English | from a grammar |
| How many basic colour terms are there? | Five or six | from a grammar |
| Is blue distinguished from green? | No — one word covers both | from a grammar |
| How rich is the vocabulary for smell? | Poor — smells are described by their source | from a grammar |
| Is "with a friend" the same word as "with a knife"? | No — company and instrument take different words | from a grammar |
| Are red and yellow separate colours? | Separate words | from a grammar |
Pragmatics
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| How does the language mark respect for the person being addressed? | It does not -- one way of addressing everyone | WALS 45A, Grambank GB415 |
| Must a speaker say how they know what they are asserting? | No -- a plain statement says nothing about the source | WALS 78A, Grambank GB322, Grambank GB323 |
| How does a sentence say "this is what we are talking about"? | By putting it first | from a grammar |
| How does a sentence say "this bit is the news"? | By moving it to a special position | from a grammar |
| May a pronoun be left out when it is obvious who is meant? | The subject may be dropped (Spanish, Italian) | WALS 101A |
| Is there a separate way of speaking to particular people? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Are there little words whose whole job is managing the conversation? | Yes | from a grammar |
| How are people addressed? | By kin term, extended to non-kin | from a grammar |
| Are some names or words forbidden in some company? | No | from a grammar |
| What does a greeting ask about? | How you are | from a grammar |
| How is a request usually made? | Directly, with an imperative | from a grammar |
| Do listeners signal attention while someone else speaks? | Yes, frequently — Japanese aizuchi | from a grammar |
| What does silence mean in conversation? | Nothing — it is comfortable | from a grammar |
| Does "yes" agree with the question or with the fact? | With the question | from a grammar |
| Do speakers use clicks outside words? | Yes — to show feeling, as English tsk-tsk does | from a grammar |
| How many distinct registers are there? | Formal and informal | from a grammar |
| Is there a separate language or register for ritual? | Yes | from a grammar |
| Do speakers use different forms depending on who they are? | No | from a grammar |
| Is there a distinct way of speaking to children? | Yes — a separate vocabulary | from a grammar |
| Is reported speech marked as such? | Yes — a quotative particle or verb | from a grammar |
| How is turn-taking managed? | Overlap is normal and cooperative | from a grammar |
What it is
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Who or what uses this? | People — a language that could have evolved on Earth | from a grammar |
| What channel does a message travel down? | Sound made with a vocal tract — every spoken human language | from a grammar |
| Can the channel carry more than one thing at once? | No — one thing at a time, in a line | from a grammar |
| Are signals built from smaller, meaningless pieces? | Yes — meaningless units combine into meaningful ones | from a grammar |
| Can it refer to what is not here and now? | Yes — the past, the distant, the hypothetical | from a grammar |
| Can new messages be made that have never been made before? | Yes — the set of possible messages has no end | from a grammar |
| Is the link between signal and meaning a convention? | Yes — arbitrary, agreed rather than resembling | from a grammar |
| Do signals fall into distinct categories? | Yes — discrete, one signal or another | from a grammar |
| Is it learned rather than inherited? | Yes — learned from others, and it drifts | from a grammar |
| Can they see? | Yes — sight is a main sense | from a grammar |
| How long does one of them live? | Decades, as people do | from a grammar |
| Is there anyone else to talk to? | Many neighbours, and constant contact | from a grammar |