Word Order Facts
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The Indo-European languages

Language family · Eurasia, Africa

WALS includes 176 Indo-European languages in 11 branches; 175 of them are in Eurasia.

Basic word order: SOV in 30 of the 69 members coded, then SVO in 27, no dominant order in 8, VSO in 4.

The most solid shared trait: all 35 members coded for Finger and Hand have different.

Of these, 39 have a full page on this site.

Every Indo-European language in WALS, placed at the point the atlas gives for it.

Word order against the world

Members with at least 30 coded features, compared with every language WALS codes for each pairing.

dependent before the headboth or otherafter the head

  • Subject and verb
    Indo-Europeanbefore: 31both or other: 7after: 474% · 10% of 42
    All WALSbefore: 1192both or other: 110after: 19480% · 13% of 1,496
  • Object and verb
    Indo-Europeanbefore: 12both or other: 3after: 2729% · 64% of 42
    All WALSbefore: 712both or other: 101after: 70547% · 46% of 1,518
  • Noun phrase and adposition
    Indo-Europeanbefore: 11after: 3027% · 73% of 41
    All WALSbefore: 577both or other: 96after: 51149% · 43% of 1,184
  • Genitive and noun
    Indo-Europeanbefore: 13both or other: 6after: 1934% · 50% of 38
    All WALSbefore: 685both or other: 96after: 46855% · 37% of 1,249
  • Adjective and noun
    Indo-Europeanbefore: 28after: 1368% · 32% of 41
    All WALSbefore: 373both or other: 115after: 87927% · 64% of 1,367
  • Demonstrative and noun
    Indo-Europeanbefore: 34both or other: 2after: 485% · 10% of 40
    All WALSbefore: 551both or other: 84after: 59045% · 48% of 1,225
  • Numeral and noun
    Indo-Europeanbefore: 39both or other: 198% · none of 40
    All WALSbefore: 479both or other: 67after: 60842% · 53% of 1,154
  • Relative clause and noun
    Indo-Europeanbefore: 1both or other: 5after: 313% · 84% of 37
    All WALSbefore: 141both or other: 104after: 57917% · 70% of 824
  • Degree word and adjective
    Indo-Europeanbefore: 29both or other: 294% · none of 31
    All WALSbefore: 227both or other: 62after: 19247% · 40% of 481

Shared and split traits

Where the family agrees most
FeatureMost frequent valueMembers
Finger and HandDifferent35 of 35
Absence of Common ConsonantsAll present31 of 31
Predicative AdjectivesPredicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding29 of 29
Verbal Number and SuppletionNo singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples25 of 25
Noun Phrase ConjunctionAND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical23 of 23
Passive ConstructionsThere is a passive construction19 of 19
Antipassive ConstructionsNo antipassive16 of 16
Productivity of the Antipassive Constructionno antipassive16 of 16
Where it is most divided
FeatureLargest groupMembers
Number of CasesNo morphological case-marking8 of 32
Indefinite ArticlesNumeral for 'one' is used as indefinite article15 of 44
Coding of EvidentialityNo grammatical evidentials8 of 23
Definite ArticlesDefinite word distinct from demonstrative17 of 47
Exponence of Selected Inflectional FormativesMonoexponential case3 of 8

Members

LanguageBranchBasic orderFeatures coded
AlbanianAlbanianSVO75
Armenian (Eastern)Armenianno dominant order106
Armenian (Western)ArmenianSOV30
AssameseIndicnot coded22
BelorussianSlavicnot coded22
BengaliIndicSOV42
BhojpuriIndicnot coded23
BretonCelticSVO54
BulgarianSlavicSVO69
CatalanRomanceSVO47
CornishCelticnot coded29
CzechSlavicSVO44
DanishGermanicSVO43
DutchGermanicno dominant order66
EnglishGermanicSVO144
FrenchRomanceSVO141
Gaelic (Scots)CelticVSO47
GermanGermanicno dominant order134
Greek (Modern)Greekno dominant order134
GujaratiIndicnot coded27
HindiIndicSOV129
IcelandicGermanicSVO62
IrishCelticVSO92
ItalianRomanceSVO66
KashmiriIndicSVO67
Kurdish (Central)IranianSOV46
LamaniIndicnot coded24
LatvianBalticSVO112
LithuanianBalticSVO66
MacedonianSlavicnot coded25
MaithiliIndicnot coded35
MarathiIndicSOV57
NepaliIndicSOV53
NorwegianGermanicSVO52
OsseticIranianSOV45
PanjabiIndicSOV60
PashtoIranianSOV55
PersianIranianSOV133
PolishSlavicSVO74
PortugueseRomanceSVO44
RomanianRomanceSVO67
RussianSlavicSVO141
SardinianRomancenot coded20
Serbian-CroatianSlavicSVO50
ShinaIndicnot coded20
SinhalaIndicSOV41
SloveneSlavicSVO30
SpanishRomanceSVO140
SwedishGermanicSVO63
TajikIraniannot coded28
UkrainianSlavicSVO41
UrduIndicnot coded27
WakhiIraniannot coded21
WelshCelticVSO55
ZazakiIraniannot coded24

Not listed: 121 further Indo-European languages with fewer than 20 coded features.