Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns
Nouns and pronouns · one world map for each value
WALS codes 378 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “No gender distinctions”, covers 254 of them (67%); the least frequent, “Gender distinctions in 3rd person non-singular only”, is recorded for a single language.
That value is most frequent in North America (83% of the 71 languages coded there) and least frequent in Africa (49% of 72).
All 9 Eastern Sudanic languages coded have “No gender distinctions”.
Indo-European is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 10 of 19.
Gender distinctions in 3rd person plus 1st and/or 2nd person18 languages · 5%
3rd person only, but also non-singular42 languages · 11%
Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only61 languages · 16%
Gender distinctions in 1st or 2nd person but not 3rd2 languages · 1%
Gender distinctions in 3rd person non-singular only1 language · under 1%
No gender distinctions254 languages · 67%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender distinctions in 3rd person plus 1st and/or 2nd person | 11 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 3rd person only, but also non-singular | 14 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only | 9 | 17 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 10 |
| Gender distinctions in 1st or 2nd person but not 3rd | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gender distinctions in 3rd person non-singular only | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No gender distinctions | 35 | 49 | 61 | 17 | 59 | 33 |
| All values | 72 | 77 | 80 | 26 | 71 | 52 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austronesian | 42 | No gender distinctions | 95% |
| Niger-Congo | 24 | 3rd person only, but also non-singular | 54% |
| Indo-European | 19 | Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only | 53% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 18 | Gender distinctions in 3rd person plus 1st and/or 2nd person | 56% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 18 | No gender distinctions | 89% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 14 | No gender distinctions | 79% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 10 | No gender distinctions | 70% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 10 | No gender distinctions | 90% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 9 | No gender distinctions | 100% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 8 | No gender distinctions | 88% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Gender distinctions in 3rd person plus 1st and/or 2nd person: Spanish, Abkhaz, Hausa, Arabic (Egyptian), Hebrew (Modern), Nama
- 3rd person only, but also non-singular: Japanese, Kannada, Supyire, Hixkaryana, Swahili, Zulu
- Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only: English, French, Russian, Mandarin, German, Greek (Modern)
- Gender distinctions in 1st or 2nd person but not 3rd: Iraqw
- No gender distinctions: Finnish, Turkish, Indonesian, Hungarian, Georgian, Lezgian