Fixed Stress Locations
Sounds · one world map for each value
WALS codes 502 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)”, covers 220 of them (44%); the least frequent, “Third: stress is on the third syllable”, is recorded for a single language.
That value is most frequent in North America (59% of the 81 languages coded there) and least frequent in Australia (26% of 66).
Among families with at least eight coded languages, Afro-Asiatic is the most uniform: 16 of 21 have “No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)”.
Trans-New Guinea is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 6 of 15.
No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)220 languages · 44%
Initial: stress is on the first syllable92 languages · 18%
Second: stress is on the second syllable16 languages · 3%
Third: stress is on the third syllable1 language · under 1%
Antepenultimate12 languages · 2%
Penultimate110 languages · 22%
Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable51 languages · 10%
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 fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 13 | 71 | 57 | 17 | 48 | 14 |
| Initial: stress is on the first syllable | 6 | 25 | 12 | 31 | 12 | 6 |
| Second: stress is on the second syllable | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Third: stress is on the third syllable | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Antepenultimate | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Penultimate | 4 | 9 | 68 | 10 | 7 | 12 |
| Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable | 3 | 19 | 11 | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| All values | 26 | 129 | 155 | 66 | 81 | 45 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austronesian | 116 | Penultimate | 53% |
| Indo-European | 53 | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 60% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 47 | Initial: stress is on the first syllable | 53% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 21 | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 76% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 15 | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 40% |
| Uralic | 15 | Initial: stress is on the first syllable | 60% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 12 | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 42% |
| Basque | 11 | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 45% |
| Hokan | 9 | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 56% |
| Niger-Congo | 9 | Initial: stress is on the first syllable | 56% |
| Nakh-Daghestanian | 8 | No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress) | 75% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress): English, French, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Mandarin
- Initial: stress is on the first syllable: Finnish, Hungarian, Supyire, Chukchi, Lango, Yaqui
- Second: stress is on the second syllable: Mapudungun, Araona, Uradhi, Tolai
- Antepenultimate: Georgian, Greek (Modern), Cree (Plains), Paumarí, Paamese, Cayuvava
- Penultimate: Indonesian, Tagalog, Malagasy, Swahili, Tukang Besi, Zulu
- Ultimate: stress is on the ultimate (last) syllable: Persian, Greenlandic (West), Hebrew (Modern), Guaraní, Wari', Maricopa