Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems
Sounds · one world map for each value
WALS codes 567 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “/p t k b d g/”, covers 255 of them (45%); the least frequent, “Both missing”, covers 3.
That value is most frequent in Africa (65% of the 130 languages coded there) and least frequent in Australia (3% of 32).
All 16 Altaic languages coded have “/p t k b d g/”.
Austro-Asiatic is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 7 of 17.
Other242 languages · 43%
/p t k b d g/255 languages · 45%
Missing /p/33 languages · 6%
Missing /g/34 languages · 6%
Both missing3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other | 14 | 42 | 48 | 31 | 62 | 45 |
| /p t k b d g/ | 84 | 94 | 35 | 1 | 21 | 20 |
| Missing /p/ | 27 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Missing /g/ | 4 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 11 |
| Both missing | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| All values | 130 | 146 | 93 | 32 | 89 | 77 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niger-Congo | 56 | /p t k b d g/ | 71% |
| Austronesian | 45 | /p t k b d g/ | 49% |
| Indo-European | 31 | /p t k b d g/ | 94% |
| Afro-Asiatic | 29 | /p t k b d g/ | 59% |
| Sino-Tibetan | 26 | /p t k b d g/ | 54% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 23 | Other | 48% |
| Austro-Asiatic | 17 | Other | 41% |
| Altaic | 16 | /p t k b d g/ | 100% |
| Eastern Sudanic | 16 | /p t k b d g/ | 50% |
| Pama-Nyungan | 16 | Other | 94% |
| Oto-Manguean | 10 | Other | 60% |
| Tai-Kadai | 9 | Other | 56% |
| Uralic | 9 | /p t k b d g/ | 56% |
| Uto-Aztecan | 9 | Other | 78% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Other: Spanish, Mandarin, Georgian, Korean, Maori, Greenlandic (West)
- /p t k b d g/: English, French, Russian, Finnish, Turkish, Indonesian
- Missing /p/: Amele, Hausa, Arabic (Egyptian), Oromo (Harar), Yoruba, Kanuri
- Missing /g/: Supyire, Hixkaryana, Thai, Lavukaleve, Khasi, Cayuvava
- Both missing: Ket, Una