Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases
Word structure · one world map for each value
WALS codes 236 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Possessor is dependent-marked”, covers 98 of them (42%); the least frequent, “Other types”, covers 6.
That value is most frequent in Australia (67% of the 27 languages coded there) and least frequent in North America (12% of 51).
Among families with at least eight coded languages, Pama-Nyungan is the most uniform: 9 of 10 have “Possessor is dependent-marked”.
Trans-New Guinea is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 5 of 15.
Possessor is head-marked78 languages · 33%
Possessor is dependent-marked98 languages · 42%
Possessor is double-marked22 languages · 9%
Possessor has no marking32 languages · 14%
Other types6 languages · 3%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Possessor is head-marked | 3 | 7 | 17 | 2 | 35 | 14 |
| Possessor is dependent-marked | 21 | 28 | 18 | 18 | 6 | 7 |
| Possessor is double-marked | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Possessor has no marking | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| Other types | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| All values | 34 | 48 | 47 | 27 | 51 | 29 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trans-New Guinea | 15 | Possessor is head-marked | 33% |
| Austronesian | 12 | Possessor is head-marked | 33% |
| Indo-European | 11 | Possessor is dependent-marked | 82% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 10 | Possessor is dependent-marked | 90% |
| Niger-Congo | 9 | Possessor is dependent-marked | 78% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Possessor is head-marked: Hungarian, Abkhaz, Persian, Supyire, Hixkaryana, Slave
- Possessor is dependent-marked: English, French, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese
- Possessor is double-marked: Finnish, Turkish, Greek (Modern), Evenki, Greenlandic (West), Burushaski
- Possessor has no marking: Indonesian, Arabic (Egyptian), Vietnamese, Chukchi, Tiwi, Pirahã
- Other types: Tagalog, Malagasy, Oromo (Harar), Warao, Rama