Verbal Number and Suppletion
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence · one world map for each value
WALS codes 193 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples”, covers 159 of them (82%); the least frequent, “Singular-dual-plural triples, suppletion”, covers 2.
That value is most frequent in Eurasia (92% of the 62 languages coded there) and least frequent in North America (53% of 34).
All 25 Indo-European languages coded have “No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples”.
Uto-Aztecan is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 3 of 8.
No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples159 languages · 82%
Singular-plural pairs, no suppletion12 languages · 6%
Singular-plural pairs, suppletion15 languages · 8%
Singular-dual-plural triples, no suppletion5 languages · 3%
Singular-dual-plural triples, suppletion2 languages · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 30 | 57 | 22 | 11 | 18 | 21 |
| Singular-plural pairs, no suppletion | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| Singular-plural pairs, suppletion | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| Singular-dual-plural triples, no suppletion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Singular-dual-plural triples, suppletion | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| All values | 35 | 62 | 26 | 11 | 34 | 25 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indo-European | 25 | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 100% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 13 | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 92% |
| Austronesian | 12 | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 92% |
| Niger-Congo | 11 | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 100% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 8 | Singular-plural pairs, no suppletion | 38% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples: English, French, Russian, Finnish, Spanish, Turkish
- Singular-plural pairs, no suppletion: Georgian, Amele, Burushaski, Yaqui, Imonda, Kiowa
- Singular-plural pairs, suppletion: Krongo, Wari', Ainu, Canela, Ket, Ingush
- Singular-dual-plural triples, no suppletion: Maricopa, Koasati, Wichita, Navajo
- Singular-dual-plural triples, suppletion: Slave, Kunama