Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns
Nouns and pronouns · one world map for each value
WALS codes 261 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Person-number stem”, covers 114 of them (44%); the least frequent, “No independent subject pronouns”, covers 2.
That value is most frequent in Africa (64% of the 39 languages coded there) and least frequent in North America (29% of 49).
Among families with at least eight coded languages, Niger-Congo is the most uniform: 12 of 15 have “Person-number stem”.
Austronesian is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 14 of 28.
No independent subject pronouns2 languages · 1%
Number-indifferent pronouns9 languages · 3%
Person-number affixes25 languages · 10%
Person-number stem114 languages · 44%
Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix47 languages · 18%
Person-number stem with a nominal plural affix22 languages · 8%
Person stem with a pronominal plural affix23 languages · 9%
Person stem with a nominal plural affix19 languages · 7%
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 independent subject pronouns | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Number-indifferent pronouns | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| Person-number affixes | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 3 |
| Person-number stem | 25 | 29 | 24 | 8 | 14 | 14 |
| Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix | 7 | 9 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 3 |
| Person-number stem with a nominal plural affix | 2 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 1 |
| Person stem with a pronominal plural affix | 2 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Person stem with a nominal plural affix | 0 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| All values | 39 | 72 | 47 | 22 | 49 | 32 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austronesian | 28 | Person-number stem | 50% |
| Niger-Congo | 15 | Person-number stem | 80% |
| Indo-European | 12 | Person-number stem | 58% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 12 | Person-number stem | 58% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 12 | Person stem with a nominal plural affix | 50% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 11 | Person-number stem | 55% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 10 | Person-number stem | 80% |
| Altaic | 10 | Person stem with a pronominal plural affix | 50% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- No independent subject pronouns: Wari', Acoma
- Number-indifferent pronouns: Burmese, Pirahã, Maricopa, Canela, Imonda, Oneida
- Person-number affixes: Lango, Nama, Jakaltek, Lakhota, Ainu, Apurinã
- Person-number stem: English, Finnish, Indonesian, Hungarian, Lezgian, Basque
- Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix: Spanish, Georgian, Amele, Greek (Modern), Hausa, Maori
- Person-number stem with a nominal plural affix: French, Russian, Korean, Mangarrayi, Alamblak, Gooniyandi
- Person stem with a pronominal plural affix: Evenki, Kannada, Vietnamese, Chukchi, Yukaghir (Kolyma), Asmat
- Person stem with a nominal plural affix: Turkish, Mandarin, Japanese, Khalkha, Meithei, Mixtec (Chalcatongo)