Hand and Arm
Vocabulary · one world map for each value
WALS codes 617 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Different”, covers 389 of them (63%); the least frequent, “Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm'”, covers 228.
That value is most frequent in Australia (98% of the 61 languages coded there) and least frequent in Papunesia (24% of 66).
All 10 Pano-Tacanan languages coded have “Different”.
Hokan is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 8 of 16.
Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm'228 languages · 37%
Different389 languages · 63%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 37 | 50 | 50 | 1 | 73 | 17 |
| Different | 19 | 48 | 16 | 60 | 135 | 111 |
| All values | 56 | 98 | 66 | 61 | 208 | 128 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austronesian | 57 | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 74% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 47 | Different | 98% |
| Indo-European | 35 | Different | 63% |
| Algic | 23 | Different | 87% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 23 | Different | 52% |
| Altaic | 21 | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 71% |
| Oto-Manguean | 21 | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 57% |
| Mayan | 20 | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 80% |
| Niger-Congo | 20 | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 70% |
| Tucanoan | 18 | Different | 72% |
| Na-Dene | 17 | Different | 82% |
| Arawakan | 16 | Different | 94% |
| Hokan | 16 | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 50% |
| Penutian | 13 | Different | 92% |