Adjectives without Nouns
Noun phrases · one world map for each value
WALS codes 124 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking”, covers 73 of them (59%); the least frequent, “Adjective may not occur without noun”, is recorded for a single language.
That value is most frequent in Australia (93% of the 15 languages coded there) and least frequent in Eurasia (49% of 45).
All 8 Pama-Nyungan languages coded have “Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking”.
Sino-Tibetan is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 3 of 8.
Adjective may not occur without noun1 language · 1%
Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking73 languages · 59%
Adjective may occur without noun, obligatorily marked by prefix7 languages · 6%
Adjective may occur without noun, obligatorily marked by suffix13 languages · 10%
Marked by preceding word18 languages · 15%
Marked by following word7 languages · 6%
Marked by mixed or other strategies5 languages · 4%
One map per value; each dot is a language WALS codes with that value.
By macro-area
| Value | Africa | Eurasia | Papunesia | Australia | North America | South America |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adjective may not occur without noun | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking | 14 | 22 | 12 | 14 | 4 | 7 |
| Adjective may occur without noun, obligatorily marked by prefix | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Adjective may occur without noun, obligatorily marked by suffix | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Marked by preceding word | 6 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marked by following word | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Marked by mixed or other strategies | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| All values | 21 | 45 | 23 | 15 | 6 | 14 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austronesian | 16 | Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking | 50% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 9 | Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking | 56% |
| Indo-European | 9 | Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking | 56% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 8 | Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking | 100% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 8 | Marked by following word | 38% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Adjective may not occur without noun: Kayardild
- Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking: French, Russian, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish, Hungarian
- Adjective may occur without noun, obligatorily marked by prefix: Mixtec (Chalcatongo), Semelai, Koyra Chiini, Hatam
- Adjective may occur without noun, obligatorily marked by suffix: Lezgian, Yukaghir (Kolyma), Imonda, Yagua, Ingush, Hunzib
- Marked by preceding word: Indonesian, Malagasy, Vietnamese, Lango, Maybrat, Iraqw
- Marked by following word: English, Mandarin, Korean, Hindi, Cantonese
- Marked by mixed or other strategies: Japanese, Chukchi, Epena Pedee, Kayah Li (Eastern), Lai