Coding of Nominal Plurality
Nouns and pronouns · one world map for each value
WALS codes 1,066 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Plural suffix”, covers 513 of them (48%); the least frequent, “Plural tone”, covers 4.
That value is most frequent in Eurasia (70% of the 256 languages coded there) and least frequent in Papunesia (27% of 206).
All 15 Arawakan languages coded have “Plural suffix”.
Central Sudanic is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 8 of 23.
Plural prefix126 languages · 12%
Plural suffix513 languages · 48%
Plural stem change6 languages · 1%
Plural tone4 languages · under 1%
Plural by complete reduplication of stem8 languages · 1%
Morphological plural with no method primary60 languages · 6%
Plural word170 languages · 16%
Plural clitic81 languages · 8%
No plural98 languages · 9%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plural prefix | 90 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 16 | 0 |
| Plural suffix | 102 | 180 | 55 | 28 | 76 | 72 |
| Plural stem change | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Plural tone | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Plural by complete reduplication of stem | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Morphological plural with no method primary | 28 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 0 |
| Plural word | 27 | 30 | 79 | 2 | 16 | 16 |
| Plural clitic | 30 | 16 | 17 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| No plural | 12 | 19 | 32 | 12 | 15 | 8 |
| All values | 296 | 256 | 206 | 58 | 144 | 106 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niger-Congo | 127 | Plural prefix | 61% |
| Austronesian | 115 | Plural word | 58% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 81 | Plural suffix | 44% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 67 | Plural suffix | 51% |
| Indo-European | 56 | Plural suffix | 95% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 38 | Plural suffix | 63% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 37 | Plural suffix | 70% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 34 | Plural suffix | 62% |
| Altaic | 30 | Plural suffix | 90% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 26 | Plural suffix | 65% |
| Central Sudanic | 23 | Plural suffix | 35% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 17 | Plural suffix | 35% |
| Oto-Manguean | 17 | Plural word | 41% |
| Arawakan | 15 | Plural suffix | 100% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Plural prefix: Swahili, Zulu, Krongo, Kutenai, Sango, Nunggubuyu
- Plural suffix: English, French, Russian, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish
- Plural stem change: Maricopa, Tiipay (Jamul), Dinka
- Plural tone: Ngiti
- Plural by complete reduplication of stem: Indonesian, Batak (Karo), Ungarinjin, Kuku-Yalanji, Sundanese
- Morphological plural with no method primary: Amele, Khalkha, Arabic (Egyptian), Berber (Middle Atlas), Oneida, Kilivila
- Plural word: Tagalog, Maori, Hixkaryana, Vietnamese, Chamorro, Mapudungun
- Plural clitic: Basque, Alamblak, Gooniyandi, Rama, Koasati, Epena Pedee
- No plural: Malagasy, Tukang Besi, Oromo (Harar), Maybrat, Kayardild, Pirahã