Imperative-Hortative Systems
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence · one world map for each value
WALS codes 375 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system”, covers 201 of them (54%); the least frequent, “The language has a minimal system, but not a maximal one”, covers 20.
That value is most frequent in South America (72% of the 39 languages coded there) and least frequent in Africa (35% of 103).
Among families with at least eight coded languages, Altaic is the most uniform: 9 of 10 have “The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one”.
Niger-Congo is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 18 of 48.
The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one133 languages · 35%
The language has a minimal system, but not a maximal one20 languages · 5%
The language has both a maximal and a minimal system21 languages · 6%
The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system201 languages · 54%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 36 | 43 | 19 | 4 | 21 | 10 |
| The language has a minimal system, but not a maximal one | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| The language has both a maximal and a minimal system | 18 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 36 | 70 | 28 | 9 | 30 | 28 |
| All values | 103 | 115 | 51 | 13 | 54 | 39 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niger-Congo | 48 | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 38% |
| Indo-European | 39 | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 69% |
| Austronesian | 32 | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 53% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 19 | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 58% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 15 | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 67% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 11 | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 55% |
| Altaic | 10 | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 90% |
| Mande | 9 | The language has a minimal system, but not a maximal one | 44% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 8 | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 88% |
| Mayan | 8 | The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one | 50% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- The language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one: Finnish, Turkish, Hungarian, Amele, Greek (Modern), Evenki
- The language has a minimal system, but not a maximal one: Persian, Supyire, Rama, Grebo, Chinantec (Lealao), Bawm
- The language has both a maximal and a minimal system: Hausa, Fijian, Sango, Koromfe, Koyraboro Senni, Nkore-Kiga
- The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system: English, French, Russian, Spanish, Indonesian, Mandarin