The Velar Nasal
Sounds · one world map for each value
WALS codes 469 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “No velar nasal”, covers 235 of them (50%); the least frequent, “Velar nasal, but not initially”, covers 87.
That value is most frequent in South America (87% of the 70 languages coded there) and least frequent in Papunesia (31% of 65).
All 22 Nakh-Daghestanian languages coded have “No velar nasal”.
Trans-New Guinea is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 9 of 18.
Velar nasal, also initially147 languages · 31%
Velar nasal, but not initially87 languages · 19%
No velar nasal235 languages · 50%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Velar nasal, also initially | 20 | 57 | 37 | 14 | 14 | 5 |
| Velar nasal, but not initially | 4 | 57 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 4 |
| No velar nasal | 20 | 61 | 20 | 0 | 73 | 61 |
| All values | 44 | 175 | 65 | 14 | 101 | 70 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altaic | 55 | Velar nasal, but not initially | 69% |
| Austronesian | 30 | Velar nasal, also initially | 77% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 23 | No velar nasal | 91% |
| Nakh-Daghestanian | 22 | No velar nasal | 100% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 19 | Velar nasal, also initially | 89% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 18 | Velar nasal, also initially | 50% |
| Indo-European | 17 | No velar nasal | 76% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 17 | No velar nasal | 59% |
| Niger-Congo | 14 | Velar nasal, also initially | 57% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 13 | Velar nasal, also initially | 85% |
| Salishan | 10 | Velar nasal, also initially | 50% |
| Hokan | 9 | No velar nasal | 78% |
| Oto-Manguean | 9 | No velar nasal | 67% |
| Uralic | 8 | Velar nasal, but not initially | 50% |