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301 LANGUAGE FILE
Language name Mam
Language name Maltese mɔ�l�ti�z, mɒl�ti�z
Autonym (if known and different)
Autonym (if known and different)
Language family Penutian Mayan
Language family Afro-Asiatic Semitic
Spoken in Guatemala
Spoken in Malta
Approximate number of speakers 440k
Approximate number of speakers 400k
Writing system Roman
Writing system Roman
Phonetics/phonology
Phonetics/phonology
Stress weight-based
Stress word-penultimate
Contains following rare retroflex; uvular; ejective; implosive
consonant (types)
Contains following rare pharyngeal (variably)
consonant (types)
Said to have how many vowels? 5�length
Said to have how many vowels? 5�length�7 diphthongs
Marked vowel types
Marked vowel types
Tone none
Tone none
Rhythm no information
Rhythm no information
Vowel harmony some marginal semi-productive vowel harmony
Vowel harmony very restricted, affects only 1 vowel
Morphology agglutinative stem-based verbs
and word-based
nouns and
adjectives
Morphology fusional stem-based
Particular formation types prefix; root-and-pattern; suffix
Particular formation types incorporation; prefix; partial suffixed reduplication;
suffix; synaffix
Syntax
Word order SVO NA prepositions
NPoss
Syntax
Word order VSO AN prepositions and
NPoss postpositions
Particular syntactic phenomena gender; dual; conjugation classes
Points of interest
Particular syntactic phenomena absolutive / ergative marking; classifier; inclusive /
exclusive 1st plural; morphological aspect; inflecting
adpositions; noun classes; evidentials
Sources Borg & Azzopardi-Alexander (1997), Campbell (1991),
Katzner (1977)
Points of interest
Sources Campbell (1991), England (1983), Haspelmath et al. (2005),
Katzner (1977), Mithun (1984), Ruhlen (1976)