Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology
Word structure · one world map for each value
WALS codes 236 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Inconsistent marking or other type”, covers 121 of them (51%); the least frequent, “Consistently zero-marking”, covers 6.
That value is most frequent in Africa (65% of the 34 languages coded there) and least frequent in North America (39% of 51).
Among families with at least eight coded languages, Niger-Congo is the most uniform: 8 of 9 have “Inconsistent marking or other type”.
Austronesian is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 6 of 12.
Consistently head-marking47 languages · 20%
Consistently dependent-marking46 languages · 19%
Consistently double-marking16 languages · 7%
Consistently zero-marking6 languages · 3%
Inconsistent marking or other type121 languages · 51%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consistently head-marking | 1 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 24 | 5 |
| Consistently dependent-marking | 9 | 17 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 3 |
| Consistently double-marking | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Consistently zero-marking | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Inconsistent marking or other type | 22 | 22 | 27 | 12 | 20 | 18 |
| All values | 34 | 48 | 47 | 27 | 51 | 29 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trans-New Guinea | 15 | Inconsistent marking or other type | 60% |
| Austronesian | 12 | Inconsistent marking or other type | 50% |
| Indo-European | 11 | Consistently dependent-marking | 55% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 10 | Consistently dependent-marking | 80% |
| Niger-Congo | 9 | Inconsistent marking or other type | 89% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Consistently head-marking: Abkhaz, Hixkaryana, Slave, Fijian, Lango, Guaraní
- Consistently dependent-marking: English, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Lezgian, German
- Consistently double-marking: Greek (Modern), Greenlandic (West), Burushaski, Yaqui, Mangarrayi, Imonda
- Consistently zero-marking: Indonesian, Vietnamese, Pirahã, Ju|'hoan, Ijo (Kolokuma)
- Inconsistent marking or other type: French, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish, Hungarian, Georgian
From the same chapter
- Zero Marking of A and P Arguments 235 languages