Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns
Nouns and pronouns · one world map for each value
WALS codes 200 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “No inclusive/exclusive opposition”, covers 120 of them (60%); the least frequent, “No grammaticalised marking at all”, covers 2.
That value is most frequent in Africa (77% of the 35 languages coded there) and least frequent in South America (48% of 29).
All 11 Indo-European languages coded have “No inclusive/exclusive opposition”.
Sino-Tibetan is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 4 of 8.
No grammaticalised marking at all2 languages · 1%
'We' and 'I' identical10 languages · 5%
No inclusive/exclusive opposition120 languages · 60%
Only inclusive differentiated5 languages · 2%
Inclusive and exclusive differentiated63 languages · 32%
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 grammaticalised marking at all | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 'We' and 'I' identical | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 27 | 39 | 17 | 2 | 21 | 14 |
| Only inclusive differentiated | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 8 | 9 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 9 |
| All values | 35 | 52 | 33 | 14 | 37 | 29 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austronesian | 15 | Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 87% |
| Niger-Congo | 13 | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 92% |
| Indo-European | 11 | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 100% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 11 | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 82% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 8 | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 88% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 8 | No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 50% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- No grammaticalised marking at all: Pirahã, Acoma
- 'We' and 'I' identical: Vietnamese, Mapudungun, Thai, Burmese, Maricopa, Oneida
- No inclusive/exclusive opposition: English, French, Russian, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish
- Only inclusive differentiated: Mixtec (Chalcatongo), Canela, Imonda, Semelai, Aymara (Central)
- Inclusive and exclusive differentiated: Indonesian, Mandarin, Abkhaz, Evenki, Tagalog, Malagasy
Closely related features
WALS codes inclusive/exclusive distinction in verbal inflection with the same kind of values, for largely the same languages.
| Value | Languages | Share |
|---|---|---|
| No person marking at all | 70 | 35% |
| 'We' and 'I' identical | 12 | 6% |
| No inclusive/exclusive opposition | 79 | 40% |
| Only inclusive differentiated | 9 | 4% |
| Inclusive and exclusive differentiated | 30 | 15% |