Uvular Consonants
Sounds · one world map for each value
WALS codes 567 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “No uvulars”, covers 470 of them (83%); the least frequent, “Uvular continuants only”, covers 11.
That value is most frequent in Australia (100% of the 32 languages coded there) and least frequent in North America (65% of 89).
All 56 Niger-Congo languages coded have “No uvulars”.
Hokan is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 4 of 8.
No uvulars470 languages · 83%
Uvular stops only38 languages · 7%
Uvular continuants only11 languages · 2%
Uvular stops and continuants48 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No uvulars | 120 | 101 | 89 | 32 | 58 | 70 |
| Uvular stops only | 7 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 5 |
| Uvular continuants only | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Uvular stops and continuants | 2 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 2 |
| All values | 130 | 146 | 93 | 32 | 89 | 77 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niger-Congo | 56 | No uvulars | 100% |
| Austronesian | 45 | No uvulars | 96% |
| Indo-European | 31 | No uvulars | 74% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 29 | No uvulars | 69% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 26 | No uvulars | 92% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 23 | No uvulars | 91% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 17 | No uvulars | 100% |
| Altaic | 16 | No uvulars | 69% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 16 | No uvulars | 94% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 16 | No uvulars | 100% |
| Oto-Manguean | 10 | No uvulars | 100% |
| Tai-Kadai | 9 | No uvulars | 67% |
| Uralic | 9 | No uvulars | 89% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 9 | No uvulars | 67% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- No uvulars: English, Russian, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish, Indonesian
- Uvular stops only: Abkhaz, Persian, Chukchi, Maricopa, Berber (Middle Atlas), Wichí
- Uvular continuants only: French, Japanese, German, Armenian (Eastern), Pashto, Dong (Southern)
- Uvular stops and continuants: Georgian, Lezgian, Arabic (Egyptian), Greenlandic (West), Burushaski, Yukaghir (Kolyma)