Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation
Simple clauses · one world map for each value
WALS codes 297 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Non-assignable (no asymmetry found)”, covers 114 of them (38%); the least frequent, “In finiteness and reality status: Subtypes A/Fin and A/NonReal”, covers 9.
That value is most frequent in South America (46% of the 48 languages coded there) and least frequent in Africa (21% of 56).
Among families with at least eight coded languages, Sino-Tibetan is the most uniform: 8 of 10 have “In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat”.
Afro-Asiatic is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 5 of 13.
In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin40 languages · 13%
In reality status: Subtype A/NonReal20 languages · 7%
In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat82 languages · 28%
In finiteness and reality status: Subtypes A/Fin and A/NonReal9 languages · 3%
A/Fin and A/Cat21 languages · 7%
A/NonReal and A/Cat11 languages · 4%
Non-assignable (no asymmetry found)114 languages · 38%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin | 5 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 11 |
| In reality status: Subtype A/NonReal | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat | 28 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 15 | 8 |
| In finiteness and reality status: Subtypes A/Fin and A/NonReal | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| A/Fin and A/Cat | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| A/NonReal and A/Cat | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Non-assignable (no asymmetry found) | 12 | 26 | 18 | 8 | 28 | 22 |
| All values | 56 | 68 | 43 | 20 | 62 | 48 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niger-Congo | 22 | In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat | 55% |
| Austronesian | 18 | Non-assignable (no asymmetry found) | 61% |
| Indo-European | 16 | Non-assignable (no asymmetry found) | 69% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 13 | In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat | 38% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 13 | Non-assignable (no asymmetry found) | 46% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 10 | In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat | 80% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 9 | Non-assignable (no asymmetry found) | 67% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- In finiteness: Subtype A/Fin: Finnish, Mandarin, Evenki, Khalkha, Maori, Hixkaryana
- In reality status: Subtype A/NonReal: Tiwi, Jakaltek, Alamblak, Quechua (Imbabura), Wichí, Asmat
- In other grammatical categories: Subtype A/Cat: English, Turkish, Lezgian, Amele, Basque, Abkhaz
- In finiteness and reality status: Subtypes A/Fin and A/NonReal: Korean, Chukchi, Imonda, Nivkh, Zoque (Copainalá), Squamish
- A/Fin and A/Cat: Japanese, Kannada, Supyire, Oromo (Harar), Kayardild, Meithei
- A/NonReal and A/Cat: Mangarrayi, Grebo, Nunggubuyu, Yurok, Tlingit, Kabardian
- Non-assignable (no asymmetry found): French, Russian, Spanish, Indonesian, Hungarian, Georgian