Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives

Nouns and pronouns · one world map for each value

WALS codes 234 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Two-way contrast”, covers 126 of them (54%); the least frequent, “Five (or more)-way contrast”, covers 4.

That value is most frequent in Eurasia (72% of the 67 languages coded there) and least frequent in Papunesia (32% of 40).

All 10 Sino-Tibetan languages coded have “Two-way contrast”.

Eastern Sudanic is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 4 of 8.

No distance contrast7 languages · 3%

Two-way contrast126 languages · 54%

Three-way contrast88 languages · 38%

Four-way contrast9 languages · 4%

Five (or more)-way contrast4 languages · 2%

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
No distance contrast	4	2	0	0	1	0
Two-way contrast	24	48	13	12	18	11
Three-way contrast	15	17	24	8	12	12
Four-way contrast	3	0	3	1	2	0
Five (or more)-way contrast	1	0	0	0	3	0
All values	47	67	40	21	36	23

Inside the largest families

Family	Coded	Most frequent value	Share
Austronesian	28	Three-way contrast	61%
Afro-Asiatic	20	Two-way contrast	60%
Indo-European	19	Two-way contrast	74%
Pama-Nyungan	13	Two-way contrast	54%
Niger-Congo	12	Two-way contrast	58%
Sino-Tibetan	10	Two-way contrast	100%
Eastern Sudanic	8	Two-way contrast	50%

Languages to explore

The most fully coded languages with each value.

No distance contrast: French, German, Supyire, Koromfe, Koyraboro Senni, Kera
Two-way contrast: English, Russian, Finnish, Turkish, Indonesian, Mandarin
Three-way contrast: Spanish, Japanese, Georgian, Lezgian, Amele, Basque
Four-way contrast: Hausa, Asmat, Iraqw, Tlingit, Somali, Quileute
Five (or more)-way contrast: Malagasy, Maricopa, Koasati, Navajo