Occurrence of Nominal Plurality
Nouns and pronouns · one world map for each value
WALS codes 291 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Plural in all nouns, always obligatory”, covers 133 of them (46%); the least frequent, “Plural in all nouns, optional in inanimates”, covers 15.
That value is most frequent in Africa (75% of the 63 languages coded there) and absent from the 27 languages coded in Australia.
Among families with at least eight coded languages, Indo-European is the most uniform: 24 of 28 have “Plural in all nouns, always obligatory”.
Altaic is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 3 of 10.
No nominal plural28 languages · 10%
Plural only in human nouns, optional20 languages · 7%
Plural only in human nouns, obligatory40 languages · 14%
Plural in all nouns, always optional55 languages · 19%
Plural in all nouns, optional in inanimates15 languages · 5%
Plural in all nouns, always obligatory133 languages · 46%
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 nominal plural | 1 | 3 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 2 |
| Plural only in human nouns, optional | 1 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Plural only in human nouns, obligatory | 6 | 5 | 11 | 4 | 9 | 5 |
| Plural in all nouns, always optional | 6 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 3 |
| Plural in all nouns, optional in inanimates | 2 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Plural in all nouns, always obligatory | 47 | 54 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 4 |
| All values | 63 | 92 | 52 | 27 | 37 | 20 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austronesian | 33 | Plural in all nouns, always obligatory | 30% |
| Indo-European | 28 | Plural in all nouns, always obligatory | 86% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 24 | Plural in all nouns, always obligatory | 75% |
| Niger-Congo | 24 | Plural in all nouns, always obligatory | 83% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 15 | Plural in all nouns, always optional | 47% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 14 | Plural in all nouns, always optional | 43% |
| Altaic | 10 | Plural in all nouns, always optional | 30% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 10 | No nominal plural | 30% |
| Dravidian | 8 | Plural in all nouns, always obligatory | 50% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 8 | Plural in all nouns, always obligatory | 75% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 8 | Plural in all nouns, always obligatory | 62% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- No nominal plural: Mapudungun, Maybrat, Kayardild, Pirahã, Imonda, Hmong Njua
- Plural only in human nouns, optional: Mandarin, Japanese, Hixkaryana, Chamorro, Oromo (Harar), Guaraní
- Plural only in human nouns, obligatory: Amele, Lango, Tiwi, Kutenai, Kobon, Rama
- Plural in all nouns, always optional: Indonesian, Tagalog, Khalkha, Vietnamese, Yoruba, Ngiyambaa
- Plural in all nouns, optional in inanimates: Kannada, Dyirbal, Tamil, Chuvash, Macushi, Lugbara
- Plural in all nouns, always obligatory: English, French, Russian, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish