Indefinite Pronouns
Nouns and pronouns · one world map for each value
WALS codes 326 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Interrogative-based indefinites”, covers 194 of them (60%); the least frequent, “Existential construction”, covers 2.
That value is most frequent in Australia (88% of the 49 languages coded there) and absent from the 44 languages coded in Africa.
All 19 Niger-Congo languages coded have “Generic-noun-based indefinites”.
Indo-European is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 17 of 33.
Interrogative-based indefinites194 languages · 60%
Generic-noun-based indefinites85 languages · 26%
Special indefinites22 languages · 7%
Mixed indefinites23 languages · 7%
Existential construction2 languages · 1%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interrogative-based indefinites | 0 | 92 | 3 | 43 | 42 | 14 |
| Generic-noun-based indefinites | 41 | 12 | 26 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Special indefinites | 0 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Mixed indefinites | 3 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Existential construction | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| All values | 44 | 128 | 34 | 49 | 49 | 22 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indo-European | 33 | Interrogative-based indefinites | 52% |
| Altaic | 27 | Interrogative-based indefinites | 78% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 27 | Interrogative-based indefinites | 85% |
| Austronesian | 26 | Generic-noun-based indefinites | 62% |
| Niger-Congo | 19 | Generic-noun-based indefinites | 100% |
| Uralic | 19 | Interrogative-based indefinites | 89% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 14 | Generic-noun-based indefinites | 86% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 12 | Interrogative-based indefinites | 58% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 9 | Interrogative-based indefinites | 67% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 9 | Interrogative-based indefinites | 78% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Interrogative-based indefinites: Russian, Hungarian, Japanese, Georgian, Lezgian, Basque
- Generic-noun-based indefinites: English, French, Turkish, Indonesian, Amele, Persian
- Special indefinites: Finnish, Spanish, Abkhaz, Hindi, Yagua, Brahui
- Mixed indefinites: Mandarin, German, Maori, Guaraní, Pirahã, Warao
- Existential construction: Tagalog