Order of Relative Clause and Noun
Word order · one world map for each value
WALS codes 824 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Relative clause follows noun (NRel)”, covers 579 of them (70%); the least frequent, “Double-headed relative clause”, is recorded for a single language.
That value is most frequent in Africa (91% of the 231 languages coded there) and least frequent in Eurasia (39% of 213).
All 29 Eastern Sudanic languages coded have “Relative clause follows noun (NRel)”.
Trans-New Guinea is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 8 of 22.
Relative clause follows noun (NRel)579 languages · 70%
Relative clause precedes noun (RelN)141 languages · 17%
Internally-headed relative clause24 languages · 3%
Correlative relative clause7 languages · 1%
Adjoined relative clause8 languages · 1%
Double-headed relative clause1 language · under 1%
Mixed types of relative clause with none dominant64 languages · 8%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 210 | 83 | 161 | 18 | 73 | 34 |
| Relative clause precedes noun (RelN) | 10 | 101 | 19 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Internally-headed relative clause | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 3 |
| Correlative relative clause | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adjoined relative clause | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Double-headed relative clause | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mixed types of relative clause with none dominant | 5 | 24 | 15 | 4 | 10 | 6 |
| All values | 231 | 213 | 199 | 29 | 99 | 53 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austronesian | 140 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 96% |
| Niger-Congo | 96 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 98% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 74 | Relative clause precedes noun (RelN) | 73% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 61 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 85% |
| Indo-European | 57 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 79% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 29 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 100% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 23 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 87% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 22 | Relative clause precedes noun (RelN) | 36% |
| Altaic | 19 | Relative clause precedes noun (RelN) | 84% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 18 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 50% |
| Central Sudanic | 17 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 94% |
| Oto-Manguean | 15 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 100% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 14 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 64% |
| Arawakan | 10 | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 80% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Relative clause follows noun (NRel): English, French, Russian, Finnish, Spanish, Indonesian
- Relative clause precedes noun (RelN): Turkish, Mandarin, Japanese, Lezgian, Basque, Abkhaz
- Internally-headed relative clause: Lakhota, Kutenai, Lavukaleve, Oneida, Kiowa, Epena Pedee
- Correlative relative clause: Supyire, Hindi, Bambara
- Adjoined relative clause: Martuthunira, Yidiny, Diyari, Kuku-Yalanji
- Mixed types of relative clause with none dominant: Hungarian, Kannada, Slave, Tukang Besi, Chukchi, Ngiyambaa