Namari language/Feature summary

This page details the features of Namari, based on the categories used by The World Atlas of Language Structures.

Phonology
The following features concern phonology.

Consonant inventory


 * Namari: Average (21)

Notes: The phonemic consonant inventory is: /m n ɲ ɴ p b t d k g ɸ θ x s z ɕ ʑ t͡ɕ j w ɺ/.

Vowel quality inventory


 * Namari: Large (10)

Notes: The phonemic vowel inventory is: /a ɛ e i ø y ɔ o u ɤ/. Some dialects also have phonemic /ɯ/, making the inventory 11.

Consonant-vowel ratio


 * Namari: Moderately low (2.10)

Notes: For some dialects, the ratio is 1.91, making it low.

Voicing contrast


 * Namari: Both stops and fricatives.

Notes: The voiceless-voiced stop pairs are /p b/, /t d/ and /k g/. The voiceless-voiced fricative pairs are /s z/ and /ɕ ʑ/.

Stop system gaps


 * Namari: None (/p t k b d g/)

Notes: None.

Uvular consonants


 * Namari: None

Notes: The moraic nasal, normally denoted as /ɴ/, can take on many pronunciations. However, in the standard language, its default articulation is that of a velar nasal ([ŋ]), similar to that of Okinawan. Some dialects have its default articulation be an uvular nasal ([ɴ]), similar to that of Japanese.

Glottalised consonants


 * Namari: None

Notes: The glottal stop, which is non-phonemic in the standard language, is not considered to be a glotallised consonant.

Lateral consonants


 * Namari: None

Notes: Laterals exist in Namari, however, they are non-phonemic (the relevant phoneme, /ɺ/, has undefined laterality).

Velar nasal


 * Namari: Not word-initial

Notes: The velar nasal ([ŋ]) is the default articulation of the moraic nasal /ɴ/. In some dialects, it is an uvular nasal instead.

Nasal vowels


 * Namari: Present

Notes: Namari has the five long nasal vowels /ãː ẽː ĩː õː ũː/ which contrast with the five regular long vowels /aː eː iː oː uː/. While nasal vowels only form in specific circumstances (when a moraic nasal assimilates with the preceding vowel rather than the following consonant), they are contrastive (かん kan [kãː] vs. かー kā [kaː]).

Front rounded vowels


 * Namari: Both high and mid

Notes: Namari front rounded vowels largely arise from monophthongisation of the sequences /oi/ and /ui/. In some western dialects, vowel harmony also forms front rounded vowels.

Syllable structure


 * Namari: Moderately complex

Notes: The typical syllable structure of Namari is (C)V(N). Palatalised consonants are considered to be single consonants.

Tone


 * Namari: (dialect-dependent)

Notes: Many dialects have lexical pitch accent, which would give it a "simple tone system" (the location of the downstep depends on the lexeme).

Fixed stress locations


 * Namari: (dialect-dependent)

Notes: In Namari, stress and tone are interrelated. Many dialects, due to having lexical pitch accent, have unpredictable stress.

Weight-sensitive stress


 * Namari: No weight sensitivity

Notes: The actual WALS type is "fixed stress", however, that is inaccurate when referring to Namari dialects (which have unpredictable stress). Regardless, weight is not a factor in determining the location of stress (including in the standard language).

Weight factors for weight-sensitive stress


 * Namari: No weight

Notes: See above.

Rhythm type


 * Namari: No rhythm

Notes: Of all pitch accent systems found in Namari, there are at most two factors which determine the pitch of a mora: the tone of the initial mora (for some dialects), and the absolute location of the downstep (and hence stressed mora). None of the pitch accent systems show any sign of rhythm (or any alteration due to relative location of the downstep).

Absence of common consonants


 * Namari: All present

Notes: Bilabials in Namari: /m p b ɸ/. Fricatives in Namari: /ɸ θ x s z ɕ ʑ/. Affricates in Namari: /t͡ɕ/. Nasals in Namari: /m n ɲ ɴ/.

Presence of uncommon consonants


 * Namari: 'Th' sounds

Notes: Unusually for a Japonic language, Namari has a 'th' sound (namely, /θ/). This derives from earlier /tʰ/ which was itself borrowed from Chinese.

Morphology
Fusion of selected inflectional formatives


 * Namari: Exclusively concatenative

Notes: As usual for a language descended from an agglutinative ancestor, Namari exclusively relies on concatenation for case and tense-aspect-mood (TAM) marking.

Case exponence


 * Namari: Monoexponential case

Notes: Namari is, with one to three exceptions, monoexponential with regards to case marking. The exceptions are the combined accusative-topic marker (ば -ba instead of the expected おぱ -oha), and arguably the two dative-topic markers (んは -mpa instead of んぱ -mpha for thematic nouns, にゃ -nya instead of にぱ -niha for athematic nouns). None of the number markers fuse with the case markers, and neither does the focus marker.

TAM exponence


 * Namari: Monoexponential TAM

Notes: Namari retains its agglutinative nature with regards to TAM. The tense, aspect and mood markers are kept separate from each other and from voice and negative markers.

Inflectional synthesis of the verb


 * Namari: 10-11 categories per word (see below; out-of-date)

Notes: It is difficult to count the maximal inflectional synthesis of the Namari verb. However, an attempt can be made: おかかせやええたけみっとやべやんだよか okakaseyaētakemittoyabeyandayoka, which can be split into o-kak-ase-yae-e-ta-kemit-toy-abey-an-day-oka. This comes out to be " HON -write- CAUS - PASS - POT - DES - FUT - PROG - POL - NEG - PFT - INTERROG ". This is the polite negative future perfect progressive causative passive potential desiderative interrogative of the verb かく kaku, meaning "to write", with an honorific agent. It means "Will one not have been wanting to be able to be made to write?", and combines eleven different affixes onto a single verb. Note that this example is highly contrived, and certain forms, such as the causative passive potential, as well as the future perfect progressive (and arguably the future perfect itself), are rare.

Note: The assignment of Namari within this category is out of date. A revised analysis may change the given value.

Locus of marking in the clause


 * Namari: P is dependent-marked

Notes: Namari is a nominative-accusative language which also displays split ergativity. This means that agents and direct objects take different cases based on their roles, which in Namari is reflected in their declensions (as opposed to head-marking languages, which use agreement markers on the verb instead). Namari does not have any agreement markers for the direct object.

Locus of marking in possessive noun phrases


 * Namari: Possessor is dependent-marked

Notes: Namari possessors are marked using the genitive case. However, the head noun (the possessee) does not change form regardless of whether it is possessed, or who or what is possessing it.

Prefixing vs. suffixing in inflectional morphology


 * Namari: Predominantly suffixing

Notes: In Namari, all but two affixes in inflectional morphology are suffixing. The exceptions are the superlative degree for adjectives (すぎ sugi-) and the honorific agreement marker for adjectives and verbs (お o-). Note that honorific prefixes for nouns are considered to be part of the derivational morphology, and are not inflections.

Reduplication


 * Namari: Full reduplication only

Notes: In Old Namari, some nouns could form collectives and plurals via reduplication (e.g. ひと pito "person" becomes ひとびと pitobito "people"). In the modern language, productive reduplication is only found in onomatopoeia; reduplicated nouns are fossil words.

Case syncretism


 * Namari: Never syncretic

Notes: In Namari, the core cases are the nominative (which may act as an absolutive), accusative and genitive (when it acts as an ergative). Apart from the gerund (where the nominative and genitive have fallen together due to haplology, although the standard language and many dialects accept the animate genitive が -ga as a substitute for the actual genitive), syncretism is never observed.

Syncretism in verbal person/number marking


 * Namari: No subject person/number marking (dialect-dependent)

Notes: Namari verbs and verbal adjectives agree with the subject only with regards to an honorific/non-honorific distinction (which is currently evolving into a gender system). There are no compulsory person markers, and no number markers. Hence syncretism within this category is not applicable to Namari. In categories with personal agreement, the markers are not syncretic.

Nominal categories
Number of genders


 * Namari: None (dialect-dependent)

Notes: Namari is currently in the process of developing a gender system, based on the old honorific prefixes. While some words are inherently honorific (and can be considered to have a gender due to their effects on attributive and predicative adjectives and verbs), the fact remains that just about any noun can be made honorific. Some dialects, especially the western dialects, have gone all the way and formed a two-gender system (completely eliminating the honorific noun prefixes in the process; compare Haguya dialect ゆ　もー　おぬくかい yu mō onukukai to Yaezora dialect おゆ　もー　おぬくかい oyu mō onukukai and ゆ　もー　ぬくかい yu mō nukukai, all of which mean "the water is now warm [enough]").

Sex-based and non-sex-based gender systems


 * Namari: No gender system (dialect-dependent)

Notes: While most dialects (including the standard dialect) do not have a gender system, the dialects which do have one do not use a sex-based system (instead using a system somewhat based on animacy).

Systems of gender assignment


 * Namari: No gender system (dialect-dependent)

Notes: For the dialects with gender, both semantic and formal assignment are used (the common gender, which derives from honorific nouns, includes all animate nouns, but also includes words like ゆ yu "hot water" and みち michi "road", which were either inherently honorific or heavily associated with honorific prefixes).

Coding of nominal plurality


 * Namari: Plural suffix

Notes: The dual and plural are optional for all nouns; only pronouns require dual and plural marking. However, the plural marker や -ya is clearly a suffix; it derives from earlier ら -ra, and no word in Old Namari could begin with a rhotic.

Occurrence of nominal plurality


 * Namari: Plural in all nouns, always optional (dialect-dependent)

Notes: While the dual and plural suffixes are optional, in what nouns they can be used depends on the dialect. The general trend from east to west is to allow plural marking further down the animacy hierarchy; eastern dialects only allow marking on human nouns, while the Yaezora dialect allows it in all nouns. However, in all but the westernmost dialects (even further west than Haguya), plural marking is optional (and even forbidden if an explicit number is given).

Plurality in independent personal pronouns


 * Namari: Person stem with nominal affix

Notes: Pronouns require dual and plural marking for dual and plural meaning, respectively; their unmarked forms are exclusively singular.

The associative plural


 * Namari: Associative plural marker also used for additive plurals

Notes: In Namari, there are three markers which can be used for collectives: the dual な -na, the plural や -ya, and the associative たち -tachi. Their use varies by dialect; in the standard language, the associative marker is only used with names, which normally do not form plurals. However, to denote a pair, the dual marker is always used.

Definite article


 * Namari: Neither definite nor indefinite article

Notes: Namari does not have any articles which are separate lexemes in their own right. Note that その sono can be used as a definite article, but this is the distal demonstrative determiner.

Indefinite article


 * Namari: Neither indefinite nor definite

Notes: See above. The closest thing to an indefinite article is the attributive とあよ toayo, however, this is only used for emphasis.

Inclusive/exclusive distinction in independent pronouns


 * Namari: Inclusive and exclusive differentiated (dialect-dependent)

Notes: The inclusive/exclusive distinction is primarily an areal feature, affecting a region between Haguya and Yaezora. In these dialects, there is a separate inclusive pronoun みー mī, which is only found in its dual and plural forms, while the original first-person pronoun's dual and plural forms are exclusive. This distinction is not found in other dialects, where みー mī does not exist.

Inclusive/exclusive distinction in verbal inflection


 * Namari: No person marking at all (dialect-dependent)

Notes: Even in dialects with an inclusive/exclusive distinction, this category does not apply at all to Namari because of the lack of person marking on verbs.

Distance contrasts in demonstratives


 * Namari: Three-way contrast

Notes: Proximal いの ino, medial この kono, distal その sono.

Pronominal and adnominal demonstratives


 * Namari: Different inflection

Notes: In Namari, the attributive demonstratives are simply genitive forms of the pronominal demonstratives.

Third person pronouns and demonstratives


 * Namari: Third person pronouns and demonstratives are unrelated to demonstratives

Notes: The third person pronoun しえ shie appears to share the same stem as the distal demonstrative そえ soe. However, not much is known about their affinity to each other.

Gender distinctions in independent personal pronouns


 * Namari: No gender distinctions (dialect-dependent)

Notes: Unlike Japanese, Namari never adopted gendered pronouns, them being seen as an unnecessary intrusion of European languages. However, some eastern dialects have gendered third person pronouns in both singular and plural (and dual, if applicable).

Politeness distinctions in pronouns


 * Namari: Second person pronouns encode a binary politeness distinction (dialect-dependent)

Notes: This is highly variable between dialects, and often a source of complaints and misunderstandings between speakers of dialects. In general, the Yaezora and Haguya dialects have a binary distinction (なえ nae vs. あなた anata; c.f. わえ wae vs. わたくし watakushi for the first person), while the eastern dialects avoid pronouns in polite conversation altogether.

Indefinite pronouns


 * Namari: Interrogative-based indefinites

Notes: The か -ka suffix is attached to interrogatives to make them indefinites (e.g. なにか nanika means "something"). They decline like normal nouns.

Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns


 * Namari: Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical

Notes: In Namari, おのえ onoe is the normal reflexive pronoun, used for animates. In its instrumental case (おので onode), it can be used as an intensifier.

Person marking on adpositions


 * Namari: Adpositions without person marking.

Notes: In Namari, all postpositions are governed by the genitive case, regardless of whether it is a noun or a pronoun attached to the postposition. Pronouns do not have separate forms where they are fused to the postposition.

Number of cases


 * Namari: 10 or more categories

Notes: Not including the vocative, short vocative, topic and focus forms, Namari has the following 11 cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, comitative, ablative, allative, comparative, terminative and locative. In comparison, Japanese traditionally has nine cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, comitative, ablative, allative and comparative; based on the nine case particles), although a thorough analysis suggests additional cases (such as the terminative).

Asymmetrical case-marking


 * Namari: Symmetrical case-marking

Notes: All cases in Namari apply to all nouns and pronouns.

Position of case affixes


 * Namari: Case suffixes

Notes: All case markers are suffixes, which may or may not alter the stem via sandhi.

Comitatives and instrumentals


 * Namari: Differentiation

Notes: The instrumental (で -de) and comitative (と -to) are separate cases and neither can replace the other.

Ordinal numerals


 * Namari: One-th

Notes: While there are dedicated words for "first" and "second" (はじめ pajime and おつぎ otugi, respectively) they coexist with the more common regular ordinals.

Distributive numerals


 * Namari: Marked by suffix

Notes: ずつ -zutu is attached to a cardinal number to turn it into a distributive.

Numeral classifiers


 * Namari: Numeral classifiers are obligatory (dialect-dependent)

Notes: This varies by dialect. For western dialects, numeral classifiers are optional and often numerals attach directly to their noun. The Yaezora dialect possesses many classifiers, however, all but three (outside of modern borrowings such as めーつる mēturu, which means "metre") are no longer used to modify nouns, instead becoming standalone nouns when used with numerals (evidence that they are still classifiers comes from the fact that the classifier and the corresponding noun may not resemble each other at all). Only the eastern dialects retain a usage of classifiers which resembles Japanese.

Conjunctions and universal qualifiers


 * Namari: Formally similar, using interrogative expression

Notes: The universal (indefinite non-specific) pronouns are formed by suffixing も -mo to an interrogative declined for case.

Position of pronominal possessive affixes


 * Namari: No possessive affixes

Notes: All pronouns indicate possession by using the genitive case.

Nominal syntax
Obligatory possessive inflection


 * Namari: No obligatory possessed nouns

Notes: As a dependent-marking language, Namari does not mark the possessed noun for its possessor.

Possessive classification


 * Namari: No possessive classification

Notes: In Namari, there is only one way to form possessive noun phrases: by marking the possessor in the genitive case.

Genitives, adjectives and relative clauses


 * Namari: Moderately differentiated, with genitives and adjectives collapsed

Notes: It is important to note the difference between verbal and nominal adjectives with regards to this category. For the purposes of classification, verbal adjectives (and verbs) in their attributive form are considered "relative clauses" and nominal adjectives are "adjectives". Nominal adjectives modify their head via the genitive case (the attributive form of the copula, やよ yayo, is only used to form relative clauses in cases where simply using the genitive would result in ambiguity).

Adjectives without nouns


 * Namari: Adjective may occur without noun, obligatorily marked by mixed or other strategies

Notes: Adjectives in Namari use different strategies to denote a noun phrase with an absent head. Verbal adjectives may use the following forms (with あかかい akakai "to be red" as an example): あか aka, あかもの akamono, あかけ　もの akake mono. Nominal adjectives may use the adjective directly as a noun, use the nominal genitive (which has the same form as the attributive/possessive genitive and can decline for case and act as a predicate with the copula), or be the attributive adjective to もの mono.

Action nominal constructions


 * Namari: Double-possessive: All major arguments treated as possessors

Notes: In action nominal constructions, the action nominal is the infinitive form of the verb, while all arguments are declined for the genitive case, with word order distinguishing A and P.

Noun phrase conjunction


 * Namari: WITH-languages: 'and' and 'with' are identical

Notes: Many linguists consider Namari to lack noun phrase conjunctions. To join two or more noun phrases, Namari uses apposition, typically by applying the comitative case to all but one component, and declining the final component as normal. The noun phrases in the comitative case all directly precede the final noun phrase. Old Namari originally had a noun phrase conjunction や ya; however, it fell out of use due to conflation with the plural. Incomplete lists (unlike in Japanese, which uses や) are formed by turing the final noun phrase into a nominal comitative (which has a special nominative form て -te instead of the expected と -to), and "or" and "nor" constructions by turning every noun phrase (except the final phrase in exclusive or constructions) into nominal comitatives and enforcing case agreement.

Not included in this analysis is the zero-marking "and" construction. This entails declining all of the construction's constituents such that they agree in case. This construction, unlike the other "and" constructions, permits scrambling, and can be used for both complete and incomplete lists.

Nominal and verbal conjunction


 * Namari: Nominal and verbal conjunction are different.

Notes: Noun phrases are joined using the above construction, while clauses are joined by using a verb form in all but the final clause (usually the participle, but sometimes the infinitive). Coordinative conjunction of clauses via the participle is used if there is a relation between the two clauses, but the infinitive is used if there is no relation.

Verbal categories
Perfective/imperfective aspect


 * Namari: Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction

Notes: The imperfective (progressive) and perfective (aorist) aspects are distinguished in all verbs. In Namari, the imperfective encompasses progressive, continuous and habitual aspects, while the perfective denotes a single event.

The past tense


 * Namari: Past/non-past distinction marked, no remoteness distinction

Notes: Namari has a past tense, applicable to all aspects.

The future tense


 * Namari: Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction

Notes: Unlike in Japanese, Namari has a future tense marker, applicable to all aspects. Unlike in English, where in some cases the future tense is optional, the use of this marker is obligatory.

The perfect


 * Namari: Other perfect

Notes: The etymological origin of the Namari perfect is a combination of the participle with the inanimate existential verb, which corresponds to the "be"-perfect of European languages. The Namari perfect is related to the Japanese past/perfect. In Namari, the perfect reflects a stative, resultative or experiential aspect.

Position of tense-aspect affixes


 * Namari: Tense-aspect suffixes

Notes: All tense and aspect markers in Namari are suffixes.

The morphological imperative


 * Namari: Second person imperatives that do not distinguish between singular and plural

Notes: Most, if not all, verbs in Namari have a special second person imperative form which is distinct from other forms (and is sometimes analysed as a principal part instead of the imperfective).

The prohibitive


 * Namari: The prohibitive uses a special imperative and a special negative (see below)

Notes: In both Japanese and Namari, there are multiple ways to form imperatives and prohibitives. The plain prohibitive in Namari is formed by using the attributive stem followed by the suffix な -na, which resembles neither the indicative negative (imperfective + ん -n) nor the imperative (imperative stem only), and it is this form which is used for classification purposes.

Imperative-hortative systems


 * Namari: Neither a maximal nor a minimal system

Notes: The imperatives and hortatives used in Namari are exclusively for imperative and hortative senses. Also, there is no general pattern between the hortative mood and the second and third person imperatives (1p: -amu/-kemu and -omakai/-yomakai, 2p: -e/-yo and -ona/-yona, 3p: -a/- and -ana/-na).

The optative


 * Namari: Inflectional optative present

Notes: Unlike in Japanese, where the optative is formed analytically, the Namari optative is considered to be an inflection.

Situational possibility


 * Namari: Situational possibility is expressed with affixes on verbs

Notes: In Namari, the potential voice denotes one's ability to perform an action, while the suffix てかい -tekai, derived from combining the participle with the adjective えい ei "good", denotes permission.

Epistemic possibility


 * Namari: Other markers used

Notes: Epistemic possibility is denoted in Namari by using the adverb わけん waken, which is considered a particle-like adverb.

Overlap between situational and epistemic modal marking


 * Namari: Overlap only for possibility or necessity

Notes: The suffix てかい -tekai can be used both situationally and epistemically, but only for necessity.

Semantic divisions of evidentiality


 * Namari: Only indirect evidentials

Notes: The suffix そー -sō, attached to the attributive, indicates indirect evidentiality (direct evidentiality is unmarked). This marker is a nominalising marker, meaning it must be followed by the copula in predicative positions.

Coding of evidentiality


 * Namari: Verbal affix or clitic

Notes: See above.

Suppletion according to tense or aspect


 * Namari: No suppletion in tense or aspect

Notes: Namari verbs all conjugate regularly for tense and aspect.

Suppletion in imperatives and hortatives


 * Namari: None

Notes: All imperatives, prohibitives and hortatives are formed regularly.

Verbal number and suppletion


 * Namari: No verbal number pairs/triples

Notes: Namari does not have any verbs or verbal markers which inherently denote verbal number. The number of actions must be denoted via numerals.

Word order
Order of subject, object and verb


 * Namari: Subject-object-verb (SOV)

Notes: SOV is the preferred word order in Namari. Other word orders include OSV, and if the verb is topicalised, VSO and VOS. There is some evidence that Namari and Japanese are descended from an SVO language, however, that hypothesis is not widely accepted.

Order of subject and verb


 * Namari: Subject precedes verb (SV)

Notes: See above.

Order of object and verb


 * Namari: Object precedes verb (OV)

Notes: See above.

Order of object, oblique and verb


 * Namari: Oblique-object-verb (XOV)

Notes: The preferred word order in Namari places indirect objects and oblique arguments before the direct object. Other word orders found in Namari are OXV, and if the verb is topicalised, VXO and VOX.

Order of adposition and noun phrase


 * Namari: Postpositions

Notes: Namari only has postpositions, due to its strict head-final nature.

Order of genitive and noun


 * Namari: Genitive-noun (GenN)

Notes: Namari is head-final.

Order of adjective and noun


 * Namari: Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)

Notes: See above.

Order of demonstrative and noun


 * Namari: Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)

Notes: See above.

Order of numeral and noun


 * Namari: Numeral precedes noun (NumN)

Notes: See above.

Order of relative clause and noun


 * Namari: Relative clause precedes noun (RelN)

Notes: See above.

Order of degree word and adjective


 * Namari: Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)

Notes: See above.

Position of polar question particles


 * Namari: See below

Notes: The actual classification within this category is dependent on whether the interrogative marker is a clitic or a suffix (most analyses see it as a suffix). In any case, it occurs at the end of the sentence.

Position of interrogative phrases in content questions


 * Namari: Not obligatorily initial

Notes: Interrogative phrases can occur anywhere in the sentence.

Order of adverbial subordinator and clause


 * Namari: End of the subordinate clause

Notes: Namari is a head-final language.

Relationship between the order of object and verb and the order of adposition and noun phrase


 * Namari: OV and postpositional

Notes: See above.

Relationship between the order of object and verb and the order of relative clause and noun


 * Namari: OV and RelN

Notes: See above.

Relationship between the order of object and verb and the order of adjective and noun


 * Namari: OV and AdjN

Notes: See above.

Order of negative morpheme and verb


 * Namari: [V-Neg]

Notes: The negative morpheme is a suffix which attaches to the verb.

'''Position of negative word with respect to subject, object and verb


 * Namari: Morphological negation only

Notes: See above.

Simple clauses
Alignment of case marking of full noun phrases


 * Namari: Nominative-accusative (standard)

Notes: Most verbs use a nominative-accusative alignment system, where A is marked in the nominative case and P is marked in the accusative case. However, there are two lexical verbs and one voice which uses ergative-absolutive alignment, using the genitive as an ergative for A and repurposing the nominative as an absolutive.

Alignment of case marking of pronouns


 * Namari: Nominative-accusative (standard)

Notes: See above.

Alignment of verbal person marking


 * Namari: Neutral alignment (no verbal person marking; dialect-dependent)

Notes: Namari lacks compulsory verbal person markers. Any such markers (found only in a few dialects) which exist have not been standardised, and may represent any argument. However, the honorific agreement markers agree with the nominative argument. The dialects with subject-verb agreement display accusative alignment for most verbs (the rule is that the nominative argument determines the form to be used).

Expression of pronominal subjects


 * Namari: Optional pronouns in subject position

Notes: Namari is a pro-drop language which is heavily reliant on context. This means that any argument can be dropped if it can be inferred.

Verbal person marking


 * Namari: No person marking of any argument (dialect-dependent)

Notes: The only agreement markers found in many Namari dialects are the honorific agreement markers. In dialects with subject-verb agreement, only the agentive is marked.

Third person zero of verbal person marking


 * Namari: No person marking of the S (dialect-dependent)

Notes: See above. In dialects with agreement, the third person is actually the most highly marked form (the unmarked form is the first person).

Order of person markers on the verb


 * Namari: A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb

Notes: See above. P agreement is not observed in any dialect.

Ditransitive constructions: the verb 'give'


 * Namari: Indirect-object construction

Notes: In Namari, there are several verbs meaning "to give". However, they share the same relationship with its arguments. In this case the giver is in the nominative case, the item to be given is in the accusative case, and the recipient is in the dative case.

Reciprocal constructions


 * Namari: Distinct reflexive and reciprocal constructions

Notes: The Namari reciprocal is たがい tagai, while the reflexive is おのえ onoe.

Passive constructions


 * Namari: There is a passive construction

Notes: Namari has a morphological passive. The similar adversative passive uses the same form as the standard passive.

Antipassive constructions


 * Namari: No antipassive

Notes: Namari has no dedicated antipassive.

Applicative constructions


 * Namari: No applicative construction

Notes: Any benefactive arguments in Namari are denoted using the postposition たん tan.

Periphrastic causative constructions


 * Namari: Not applicable (out-of-date)

Notes: The existence of periphrastic causative constructions in Namari has yet to be established (note that WALS does not have information on Japanese with regards to this category). This is likely due to the ubiquity of the morphological causative. The search for periphrastic causative constructions in Namari continues to this day (one possible candidate is a construction involving the gerund and the causative of す su "to do").

Nonperiphrastic causative constructions


 * Namari: Morphological type but no compound type

Notes: The causative in Namari is only marked via a productive morphological suffix and is considered a voice.

Negative morphemes


 * Namari: Negative affix

Notes: The declarative negative is formed by combining the imperfective root with ん -n.

Symmetric and asymmetric standard negation


 * Namari: Asymmetric negation

Notes: In Namari, negation uses forms which differ structurally from the affirmative forms.

Subtypes of asymmetric standard negation


 * Namari: In finiteness and other grammatical categories

Notes: In an affirmative verb, the main verb is finite (in its attributive or conclusive form). However, when negated, the verb is placed in its imperfective form (a non-finite form) and the negation suffix is added; the negation suffix is part of its own conjugational class, which resembles the quinquegrade class. Because of the recursive nature of Namari conjugation, this applies to all voices, moods, tenses and aspects. Perfects are negated differently; the negation suffix is conjugated for the perfect instead of the other way around.

Negative indefinite pronouns and predicate negation


 * Namari: Negative indefinites co-occur with predicate negation

Notes: There are actually no negative indefinites in Namari, however, such distinctions are not made in this category. The universal (non-specific indefinite) pronouns are used in these clauses.

Polar questions


 * Namari: See below

Notes: The type within this category Namari falls into depends on the interpretation of the verbal interrogative marker (namely, whether it is a clitic or a suffix). Most analyses state that it is a suffix, and hence questions are marked via inflectional morphology.

Predicative possession


 * Namari: Locational possessive

Notes: The predominant way in which one can indicate predicative possession in Namari is a mihi est ("to me is" in Latin) construction. In this case, the possessor is declined in the dative case, while the object possessed is in the nominative case. An existential verb is used in this construction. Namari also has a word which corresponds to "to have" in English (もつ motu), however, it is not used as often and is mainly used for proximal possession (that is, the object is close to or on the possessor).

Predicative adjectives


 * Namari: Predicative adjectives have mixed encoding

Notes: Verbal and nominal adjectives form their predicates differently. Verbal adjectives are simply conjugated in its conclusive form, while nominal adjectives require the copula to act as a predicate. As such, Namari shows split encoding when it comes to predicative adjectives.

Nominal and locational predication


 * Namari: Split

Notes: Nominal predicates use the copula, while locational predicates use the dative or locative case (depending on dialect; in the standard language the two are interchangeable) in conjunction with an existential verb.

Zero copula for predicate nominals


 * Namari: Zero copula is impossible (see below)

Notes: Normally, the copula must be present for nominal predicates. However, in colloquial language, the copula may be left out (although this is considered incorrect by prescriptive grammarians).

Comparative constructions


 * Namari: Locational comparative

Notes: In Namari, the standard of comparison is declined in the comparative case. It can be considered a from-comparative as the comparative case has some functions similar to the ablative case (and is, in fact, the original ablative).

Lexicon
Hand and arm


 * Namari: Identical

Notes: The Namari word for "hand", て te can also be used for "arm". However, if disambiguation is needed, the word うで ude for "arm" can be used. Note that Namari also has the same word for "foot" and "leg" (あし ashi).

Finger and hand


 * Namari: Different

Notes: The Namari word for "finger" is ゆび yubi, while "hand" is て te.

Numeral bases


 * Namari: Decimal

Notes: Even if Namari has a separate word for "twenty" (はた pata) it uses a decimal system for its numerals. Namari has special terms for 100 (もも momo), 1,000 (ち chi) and 10,000 (よよ yoyo). From there on a myriad (10,000) system is used.

Number of non-derived basic colour categories


 * Namari: Six

Notes: The colours are: white (しよ shiyo), red (あか aka), yellow (き ki), green (みどい midoi), blue (あお ao) and black (くよ kuyo).

Number of basic colour categories


 * Namari: 11

Notes: In addition to the above, there are orange (だいだい daidai), pink (either もも momo or さくや sakuya), purple (むやさき muyasaki), grey (はいえよ paieyo) and brown (ちゃえよ chaeyo).

 Green and blue


 * Namari: Green and blue

Notes: In some cases, the word for blue is used in place of the word for green.

Red and yellow


 * Namari: Red and yellow

Notes: There are a few cases in which red is used in place of yellow.

M-T pronouns


 * Namari: No M-T pronouns

Notes: The first person pronoun is わえ wae; the second person pronoun is なえ nae.

N-M pronouns


 * Namari: No N-M pronouns

Notes: See above.

Tea


 * Namari: Derived from Sinitic cha

Notes: The Namari word for tea is ちゃ cha.

Other
Writing systems


 * Namari: Syllabic

Notes: The Namari writing system is a moraic syllabry, where each mora is represented by one (full-sized) character. Originally, Namari used a mixture of logographic and syllabic scripts; however, the 1919 reforms eliminated Han characters from the standard language.

Para-linguistic usage of clicks


 * Namari: Affective meanings

Notes: Clicks are interpreted by Namari speakers to have affective meanings, depending on the articulation and repetiiton of the click.