Presence of Uncommon Consonants
Sounds · one world map for each value
WALS codes 567 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “None”, covers 449 of them (79%); the least frequent, “Clicks, pharyngeals, and 'th'”, is recorded for a single language.
That value is most frequent in Australia (97% of the 32 languages coded there) and least frequent in Africa (48% of 130).
All 9 Uto-Aztecan languages coded have “None”.
Oto-Manguean is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 6 of 10.
None449 languages · 79%
Clicks9 languages · 2%
Labial-velars45 languages · 8%
Pharyngeals21 languages · 4%
'Th' sounds40 languages · 7%
Clicks, pharyngeals, and 'th'1 language · under 1%
Pharyngeals and 'th'2 languages · under 1%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | 63 | 123 | 84 | 31 | 77 | 71 |
| Clicks | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Labial-velars | 43 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pharyngeals | 8 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 'Th' sounds | 6 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 6 |
| Clicks, pharyngeals, and 'th' | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pharyngeals and 'th' | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| All values | 130 | 146 | 93 | 32 | 89 | 77 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niger-Congo | 56 | Labial-velars | 62% |
| Austronesian | 45 | None | 87% |
| Indo-European | 31 | None | 84% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 29 | None | 69% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 26 | None | 92% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 23 | None | 96% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 17 | None | 94% |
| Altaic | 16 | None | 94% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 16 | None | 81% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 16 | None | 94% |
| Oto-Manguean | 10 | None | 60% |
| Tai-Kadai | 9 | None | 78% |
| Uralic | 9 | None | 67% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 9 | None | 100% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- None: French, Russian, Finnish, Turkish, Indonesian, Mandarin
- Clicks: Zulu, Nama, Ju|'hoan, Sandawe
- Labial-velars: Amele, Yoruba, Sango, Grebo, Ewe, Igbo
- Pharyngeals: Abkhaz, Arabic (Egyptian), Berber (Middle Atlas), Ingush, Hunzib, Iraqw
- 'Th' sounds: English, Spanish, Greek (Modern), Swahili, Fijian, Mapudungun
- Pharyngeals and 'th': Nenets, Kabardian