-
Phonology
-
Consonant Inventories
(319 languages)
(5 values)
- Small (44 languages)
- Moderately small (65 languages)
- Average (127 languages)
- Moderately large (60 languages)
- Large (23 languages)
-
Vowel Quality Inventories
(320 languages)
(3 values)
- Small (2-4) (50 languages)
- Average (5-6) (147 languages)
- Large (7-14) (123 languages)
-
Consonant-Vowel Ratio
(311 languages)
(5 values)
- Low (46 languages)
- Moderately low (55 languages)
- Average (139 languages)
- Moderately high (38 languages)
- High (33 languages)
-
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives
(317 languages)
(4 values)
- No voicing constrast (78 languages)
- In plosives alone (63 languages)
- In fricatives alone (27 languages)
- In both plosives and fricatives (149 languages)
-
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems
(308 languages)
(5 values)
- Other (102 languages)
- None missing in /p t k b d g/ (161 languages)
- Missing /p/ (18 languages)
- Missing /g/ (16 languages)
- Both missing (11 languages)
-
Uvular Consonants
(311 languages)
(4 values)
- None (229 languages)
- Uvular stops only (22 languages)
- Uvular continuants only (34 languages)
- Uvular stops and continuants (26 languages)
-
Glottalized Consonants
(308 languages)
(8 values)
- No glottalized consonants (254 languages)
- Ejectives only (30 languages)
- Implosives only (10 languages)
- Glottalized resonants only (1 language)
- Ejectives and implosives (4 languages)
- Ejectives and glottalized resonants (8 languages)
- Implosives and glottalized resonants (1 language)
- Ejectives, implosives, and glottalized resonants (0 languages)
-
Lateral Consonants
(308 languages)
(5 values)
- No laterals (33 languages)
- /l/, no obstruent laterals (211 languages)
- Laterals, but no /l/, no obstruent laterals (10 languages)
- /l/ and lateral obstruent (42 languages)
- No /l/, but lateral obstruents (12 languages)
-
The Velar Nasal
(311 languages)
(3 values)
- Initial velar nasal (107 languages)
- No initial velar nasal (50 languages)
- No velar nasal (154 languages)
-
Vowel Nasalization
(302 languages)
(2 values)
- Contrast present (52 languages)
- Contrast absent (250 languages)
-
Front Rounded Vowels
(306 languages)
(4 values)
- None (236 languages)
- High and mid (49 languages)
- High only (14 languages)
- Mid only (7 languages)
-
Syllable Structure
(311 languages)
(3 values)
- Simple (67 languages)
- Moderately complex (155 languages)
- Complex (89 languages)
-
Tone
(316 languages)
(3 values)
- No tones (236 languages)
- Simple tone system (54 languages)
- Complex tone system (26 languages)
-
Fixed Stress Locations
(265 languages)
(7 values)
- No fixed stress (135 languages)
- Initial (51 languages)
- Second (6 languages)
- Third (0 languages)
- Antepenultimate (4 languages)
- Penultimate (46 languages)
- Ultimate (23 languages)
-
Weight-Sensitive Stress
(230 languages)
(8 values)
- Left-edge: First or second (10 languages)
- Left-oriented: One of the first three (7 languages)
- Right-edge: Ultimate or penultimate (24 languages)
- Right-oriented: One of the last three (24 languages)
- Unbounded: Stress can be anywhere (26 languages)
- Combined: Right-edge and unbounded (6 languages)
- Not predictable (31 languages)
- Fixed stress (102 languages)
-
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems
(228 languages)
(7 values)
- No weight (113 languages)
- Long vowel (20 languages)
- Coda consonant (8 languages)
- Long vowel or coda consonant (25 languages)
- Prominence (8 languages)
- Lexical stress (36 languages)
- Combined (18 languages)
-
Rhythm Types
(194 languages)
(5 values)
- Trochaic (67 languages)
- Iambic (13 languages)
- Dual: both trochaic and iambic (12 languages)
- Undetermined (20 languages)
- No rhythmic stress (82 languages)
-
Absence of Common Consonants
(304 languages)
(6 values)
- All present (275 languages)
- No bilabials (12 languages)
- No fricatives (12 languages)
- No nasals (4 languages)
- No bilabials or nasals (1 language)
- No fricatives or nasals (0 languages)
-
Presence of Uncommon Consonants
(306 languages)
(7 values)
- None (199 languages)
- Clicks (8 languages)
- Labial-velars (13 languages)
- Pharyngeals (11 languages)
- 'Th' sounds (64 languages)
- Clicks, pharyngeals, and 'th' (6 languages)
- Pharyngeals and 'th' (5 languages)
-
Consonant Inventories
(319 languages)
(5 values)
-
Morphology
-
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives
(232 languages)
(7 values)
- Exclusively concatenative (138 languages)
- Exclusively isolating (21 languages)
- Exclusively tonal (2 languages)
- Tonal/isolating (4 languages)
- Tonal/concatenative (5 languages)
- Ablaut/concatenative (20 languages)
- Isolating/concatenative (42 languages)
-
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives
(222 languages)
(5 values)
- Monoexponential case (95 languages)
- Case + number (36 languages)
- Case + referentiality (6 languages)
- Case + TAM (6 languages)
- No case (79 languages)
-
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb
(224 languages)
(7 values)
- 0-1 category per word (21 languages)
- 2-3 categories per word (55 languages)
- 4-5 categories per word (65 languages)
- 6-7 categories per word (40 languages)
- 8-9 categories per word (23 languages)
- 10-11 categories per word (9 languages)
- 12-13 categories per word (11 languages)
-
Locus of Marking in the Clause
(224 languages)
(5 values)
- Head marking (62 languages)
- Dependent marking (80 languages)
- Double marking (48 languages)
- No marking (30 languages)
- Other (4 languages)
-
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases
(225 languages)
(5 values)
- Head marking (56 languages)
- Dependent marking (109 languages)
- Double marking (23 languages)
- No marking (23 languages)
- Other (14 languages)
-
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology
(214 languages)
(5 values)
- Head-marking (39 languages)
- Dependent-marking (64 languages)
- Double-marking (15 languages)
- Zero-marking (9 languages)
- Inconsistent or other (87 languages)
-
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology
(254 languages)
(6 values)
- Little affixation (27 languages)
- Strongly suffixing (107 languages)
- Weakly suffixing (41 languages)
- Equal prefixing and suffixing (42 languages)
- Weakly prefixing (21 languages)
- Strong prefixing (16 languages)
-
Reduplication
(229 languages)
(3 values)
- Productive full and partial reduplication (95 languages)
- Full reduplication only (22 languages)
- No productive reduplication (112 languages)
-
Case Syncretism
(243 languages)
(4 values)
- No case marking (111 languages)
- Core cases only (28 languages)
- Core and non-core (33 languages)
- No syncretism (71 languages)
-
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking
(241 languages)
(3 values)
- No subject person/number marking (81 languages)
- Syncretic (66 languages)
- Not syncretic (94 languages)
-
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives
(232 languages)
(7 values)
-
Nominal Categories
-
Number of Genders
(281 languages)
(5 values)
- None (153 languages)
- Two (46 languages)
- Three (38 languages)
- Four (14 languages)
- Five or more (30 languages)
-
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems
(275 languages)
(3 values)
- No gender (149 languages)
- Sex-based (78 languages)
- Non-sex-based (48 languages)
-
Systems of Gender Assignment
(267 languages)
(3 values)
- No gender (147 languages)
- Semantic (65 languages)
- Semantic and formal (55 languages)
-
Coding of Nominal Plurality
(270 languages)
(9 values)
- Plural prefix (17 languages)
- Plural suffix (140 languages)
- Plural stem change (11 languages)
- Plural tone (2 languages)
- Plural complete reduplication (4 languages)
- Mixed morphological plural (18 languages)
- Plural word (31 languages)
- Plural clitic (12 languages)
- No plural (35 languages)
-
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality
(227 languages)
(6 values)
- No nominal plural (25 languages)
- Only human nouns, optional (11 languages)
- Only human nouns, obligatory (7 languages)
- All nouns, always optional (47 languages)
- All nouns, optional in inanimates (8 languages)
- All nouns, always obligatory (129 languages)
-
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns
(250 languages)
(8 values)
- No independent subject pronouns (7 languages)
- Number-indifferent pronouns (22 languages)
- Person-number affixes (18 languages)
- Person-number stem (123 languages)
- Person-number stem + pronominal plural affix (25 languages)
- Person-number stem + nominal plural affix (16 languages)
- Person stem + pronominal plural affix (19 languages)
- Person stem + nominal plural affix (20 languages)
-
The Associative Plural
(188 languages)
(4 values)
- Associative same as additive plural (42 languages)
- Unique affixal associative plural (21 languages)
- Unique periphrastic associative plural (32 languages)
- No associative plural (93 languages)
-
Definite Articles
(260 languages)
(5 values)
- Definite word distinct from demonstrative (79 languages)
- Demonstrative word used as definite article (26 languages)
- Definite affix (26 languages)
- No definite, but indefinite article (20 languages)
- No definite or indefinite article (109 languages)
-
Indefinite Articles
(245 languages)
(5 values)
- Indefinite word distinct from 'one' (47 languages)
- Indefinite word same as 'one' (33 languages)
- Indefinite affix (18 languages)
- No indefinite, but definite article (45 languages)
- No definite or indefinite article (102 languages)
-
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns
(252 languages)
(5 values)
- No 'we' (6 languages)
- 'We' the same as 'I' (14 languages)
- No inclusive/exclusive (142 languages)
- Only inclusive (8 languages)
- Inclusive/exclusive (82 languages)
-
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection
(251 languages)
(5 values)
- No person marking (94 languages)
- 'We' the same as 'I' (14 languages)
- No inclusive/exclusive (102 languages)
- Only inclusive (7 languages)
- Inclusive/exclusive (34 languages)
-
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives
(232 languages)
(5 values)
- No distance contrast (25 languages)
- Two-way contrast (108 languages)
- Three-way contrast (81 languages)
- Four-way contrast (11 languages)
- Five (or more)-way contrast (7 languages)
-
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives
(197 languages)
(3 values)
- Identical (121 languages)
- Different stem (42 languages)
- Different inflection (34 languages)
-
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives
(215 languages)
(6 values)
- Unrelated (122 languages)
- Related for all demonstratives (32 languages)
- Related to remote demonstratives (15 languages)
- Related to non-remote demonstratives (8 languages)
- Related by gender markers (18 languages)
- Related for non-human reference (20 languages)
-
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns
(250 languages)
(6 values)
- In 3rd person + 1st and/or 2nd person (26 languages)
- 3rd person only, but also non-singular (40 languages)
- 3rd person singular only (46 languages)
- 1st or 2nd person but not 3rd (3 languages)
- 3rd person non-singular only (1 language)
- No gender distinctions (134 languages)
-
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns
(243 languages)
(4 values)
- No politeness distinction (162 languages)
- Binary politeness distinction (51 languages)
- Multiple politeness distinctions (16 languages)
- Pronouns avoided for politeness (14 languages)
-
Indefinite Pronouns
(183 languages)
(5 values)
- Interrogative-based (75 languages)
- Generic-noun-based (53 languages)
- Special (33 languages)
- Mixed (18 languages)
- Existential construction (4 languages)
-
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns
(185 languages)
(2 values)
- Identical (77 languages)
- Differentiated (108 languages)
-
Person Marking on Adpositions
(232 languages)
(4 values)
- No adpositions (33 languages)
- No person marking (141 languages)
- Pronouns only (41 languages)
- Pronouns and nouns (17 languages)
-
Number of Cases
(257 languages)
(9 values)
- No morphological case-marking (92 languages)
- 2 cases (17 languages)
- 3 cases (13 languages)
- 4 cases (19 languages)
- 5 cases (13 languages)
- 6-7 cases (29 languages)
- 8-9 cases (21 languages)
- 10 or more cases (41 languages)
- Exclusively borderline case-marking (12 languages)
-
Asymmetrical Case-Marking
(230 languages)
(6 values)
- No case-marking (81 languages)
- Symmetrical (86 languages)
- Additive-quantitatively asymmetrical (31 languages)
- Subtractive-quantitatively asymmetrical (13 languages)
- Qualitatively asymmetrical (4 languages)
- Syncretism in relevant NP-types (15 languages)
-
Position of Case Affixes
(244 languages)
(9 values)
- Case suffixes (103 languages)
- Case prefixes (16 languages)
- Case tone (0 languages)
- Case stem change (3 languages)
- Mixed morphological case (13 languages)
- Postpositional clitics (19 languages)
- Prepositional clitics (10 languages)
- Inpositional clitics (1 language)
- No case affixes or adpositional clitics (79 languages)
-
Comitatives and Instrumentals
(196 languages)
(3 values)
- Identity (35 languages)
- Differentiation (146 languages)
- Mixed (15 languages)
-
Ordinal Numerals
(214 languages)
(8 values)
- None (21 languages)
- One, two, three (11 languages)
- First, two, three (8 languages)
- One-th, two-th, three-th (63 languages)
- First/one-th, two-th, three-th (22 languages)
- First, two-th, three-th (42 languages)
- First, second, three-th (28 languages)
- Various (19 languages)
-
Distributive Numerals
(155 languages)
(7 values)
- No distributive numerals (70 languages)
- Marked by reduplication (22 languages)
- Marked by prefix (8 languages)
- Marked by suffix (23 languages)
- Marked by preceding word (12 languages)
- Marked by following word (5 languages)
- Marked by mixed or other strategies (15 languages)
-
Numeral Classifiers
(209 languages)
(3 values)
- Absent (164 languages)
- Optional (28 languages)
- Obligatory (17 languages)
-
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers
(140 languages)
(3 values)
- Formally different (92 languages)
- Formally similar, without interrogative (23 languages)
- Formally similar, with interrogative (25 languages)
-
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes
(227 languages)
(4 values)
- Possessive prefixes (43 languages)
- Possessive suffixes (74 languages)
- Prefixes and suffixes (4 languages)
- No possessive affixes (106 languages)
-
Number of Genders
(281 languages)
(5 values)
-
Nominal Syntax
- Obligatory Possessive Inflection (224 languages) (2 values)
-
Possessive Classification
(220 languages)
(4 values)
- No possessive classification (146 languages)
- Two classes (58 languages)
- Three to five classes (12 languages)
- More than five classes (4 languages)
-
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses
(170 languages)
(6 values)
- Weakly differentiated (25 languages)
- Genitives and adjectives collapsed (16 languages)
- Genitives and relative clauses collapsed (4 languages)
- Adjectives and relative clauses collapsed (29 languages)
- Moderately differentiated in other ways (5 languages)
- Highly differentiated (91 languages)
-
Adjectives without Nouns
(175 languages)
(7 values)
- Not without noun (21 languages)
- Without marking (81 languages)
- Marked by prefix (7 languages)
- Marked by suffix (31 languages)
- Marked by preceding word (16 languages)
- Marked by following word (12 languages)
- Marked by mixed or other strategies (7 languages)
-
Action Nominal Constructions
(170 languages)
(8 values)
- Sentential (24 languages)
- Possessive-Accusative (32 languages)
- Ergative-Possessive (22 languages)
- Double-Possessive (9 languages)
- Other (10 languages)
- Mixed (21 languages)
- Restricted (16 languages)
- No action nominals (36 languages)
-
Noun Phrase Conjunction
(180 languages)
(2 values)
- 'And' different from 'with' (137 languages)
- 'And' identical to 'with' (43 languages)
-
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction
(193 languages)
(3 values)
- Identity (103 languages)
- Differentiation (78 languages)
- Both expressed by juxtaposition (12 languages)
-
Verbal Categories
-
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect
(236 languages)
(2 values)
- Grammatical marking (140 languages)
- No grammatical marking (96 languages)
-
The Past Tense
(252 languages)
(4 values)
- Present, no remoteness distinctions (141 languages)
- Present, 2-3 remoteness distinctions (33 languages)
- Present, 4 or more remoteness distinctions (5 languages)
- No past tense (73 languages)
-
The Future Tense
(250 languages)
(2 values)
- Inflectional future exists (150 languages)
- No inflectional future (100 languages)
-
The Perfect
(232 languages)
(4 values)
- From possessive (14 languages)
- From 'finish', 'already' (17 languages)
- Other perfect (103 languages)
- No perfect (98 languages)
-
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes
(248 languages)
(5 values)
- Tense-aspect prefixes (25 languages)
- Tense-aspect suffixes (143 languages)
- Tense-aspect tone (3 languages)
- Mixed type (34 languages)
- No tense-aspect inflection (43 languages)
-
The Morphological Imperative
(231 languages)
(5 values)
- Second singular and second plural (96 languages)
- Second singular (12 languages)
- Second plural (2 languages)
- Second person number-neutral (59 languages)
- No second-person imperatives (62 languages)
-
The Prohibitive
(208 languages)
(4 values)
- Normal imperative + normal negative (99 languages)
- Normal imperative + special negative (53 languages)
- Special imperative + normal negative (14 languages)
- Special imperative + special negative (42 languages)
-
Imperative-Hortative Systems
(181 languages)
(4 values)
- Maximal system (69 languages)
- Minimal system (20 languages)
- Both types of system (8 languages)
- Neither type of system (84 languages)
-
The Optative
(214 languages)
(2 values)
- Inflectional optative present (53 languages)
- Inflectional optative absent (161 languages)
-
Situational Possibility
(180 languages)
(3 values)
- Affixes on verbs (54 languages)
- Verbal constructions (113 languages)
- Other kinds of markers (13 languages)
-
Epistemic Possibility
(183 languages)
(3 values)
- Verbal constructions (69 languages)
- Affixes on verbs (57 languages)
- Other (57 languages)
-
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking
(151 languages)
(3 values)
- Overlap for both possibility and necessity (37 languages)
- Overlap for either possibility or necessity (42 languages)
- No overlap (72 languages)
-
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality
(203 languages)
(3 values)
- No grammatical evidentials (118 languages)
- Indirect only (46 languages)
- Direct and indirect (39 languages)
-
Coding of Evidentiality
(203 languages)
(6 values)
- No grammatical evidentials (119 languages)
- Verbal affix or clitic (43 languages)
- Part of the tense system (12 languages)
- Separate particle (16 languages)
- Modal morpheme (8 languages)
- Mixed (5 languages)
-
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect
(196 languages)
(4 values)
- Tense (29 languages)
- Aspect (16 languages)
- Tense and aspect (21 languages)
- None (130 languages)
-
Verbal Number and Suppletion
(195 languages)
(5 values)
- None (166 languages)
- Singular-plural pairs, no suppletion (11 languages)
- Singular-plural pairs, suppletion (9 languages)
- Singular-dual-plural triples, no suppletion (8 languages)
- Singular-dual-plural triples, suppletion (1 language)
-
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect
(236 languages)
(2 values)
-
Word Order
- Order of Subject, Object and Verb (276 languages) (7 values)
-
Order of Subject and Verb
(266 languages)
(3 values)
- SV (182 languages)
- VS (58 languages)
- No dominant order (26 languages)
-
Order of Object and Verb
(265 languages)
(3 values)
- OV (106 languages)
- VO (132 languages)
- No dominant order (27 languages)
- Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb (197 languages) (6 values)
-
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase
(246 languages)
(5 values)
- Postpositions (96 languages)
- Prepositions (116 languages)
- Inpositions (1 language)
- No dominant order (7 languages)
- No adpositions (26 languages)
-
Order of Genitive and Noun
(254 languages)
(3 values)
- Genitive-Noun (116 languages)
- Noun-Genitive (115 languages)
- No dominant order (23 languages)
-
Order of Adjective and Noun
(264 languages)
(4 values)
- Adjective-Noun (101 languages)
- Noun-Adjective (141 languages)
- No dominant order (18 languages)
- Only internally-headed relative clauses (4 languages)
-
Order of Demonstrative and Noun
(251 languages)
(6 values)
- Demonstrative-Noun (145 languages)
- Noun-Demonstrative (76 languages)
- Demonstrative prefix (6 languages)
- Demonstrative suffix (8 languages)
- Demonstrative before and after Noun (3 languages)
- Mixed (13 languages)
-
Order of Numeral and Noun
(247 languages)
(4 values)
- Numeral-Noun (155 languages)
- Noun-Numeral (76 languages)
- No dominant order (14 languages)
- Numeral only modifies verb (2 languages)
-
Order of Relative Clause and Noun
(225 languages)
(7 values)
- Noun-Relative clause (138 languages)
- Relative clause-Noun (49 languages)
- Internally headed (6 languages)
- Correlative (5 languages)
- Adjoined (5 languages)
- Doubly headed (2 languages)
- Mixed (20 languages)
-
Order of Degree Word and Adjective
(166 languages)
(3 values)
- Degree word-Adjective (92 languages)
- Adjective-Degree word (58 languages)
- No dominant order (16 languages)
-
Position of Polar Question Particles
(217 languages)
(6 values)
- Initial (53 languages)
- Final (58 languages)
- Second position (16 languages)
- Other position (11 languages)
- In either of two positions (12 languages)
- No question particle (67 languages)
-
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions
(218 languages)
(3 values)
- Initial interrogative phrase (77 languages)
- Not initial interrogative phrase (111 languages)
- Mixed (30 languages)
-
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause
(191 languages)
(5 values)
- Initial subordinator word (122 languages)
- Final subordinator word (20 languages)
- Internal subordinator word (6 languages)
- Subordinating suffix (16 languages)
- Mixed (27 languages)
-
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase
(215 languages)
(5 values)
- OV and Postpositions (72 languages)
- OV and Prepositions (11 languages)
- VO and Postpositions (14 languages)
- VO and Prepositions (85 languages)
- Other (33 languages)
-
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Relative Clause and Noun
(205 languages)
(5 values)
- OV and RelN (38 languages)
- OV and NRel (27 languages)
- VO and RelN (5 languages)
- VO and NRel (91 languages)
- Other (44 languages)
-
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adjective and Noun
(218 languages)
(5 values)
- OV and AdjN (47 languages)
- OV and NAdj (41 languages)
- VO and AdjN (31 languages)
- VO and NAdj (71 languages)
- Other (28 languages)
-
Simple Clauses
-
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases
(223 languages)
(6 values)
- Neutral (92 languages)
- Nominative - accusative (standard) (75 languages)
- Nominative - accusative (marked nominative) (8 languages)
- Ergative - absolutive (26 languages)
- Tripartite (5 languages)
- Active-inactive (17 languages)
-
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns
(209 languages)
(7 values)
- Neutral (70 languages)
- Nominative - accusative (standard) (90 languages)
- Nominative - accusative (marked nominative) (3 languages)
- Ergative - absolutive (19 languages)
- Tripartite (4 languages)
- Active - inactive (17 languages)
- None (6 languages)
-
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking
(217 languages)
(6 values)
- Neutral (65 languages)
- Accusative (101 languages)
- Ergative (11 languages)
- Active (22 languages)
- Hierarchical (8 languages)
- Split (10 languages)
-
Expression of Pronominal Subjects
(201 languages)
(6 values)
- Obligatory pronouns in subject position (44 languages)
- Subject affixes on verb (91 languages)
- Subject clitics on variable host (7 languages)
- Subject pronouns in different position (6 languages)
- Optional pronouns in subject position (39 languages)
- Mixed (14 languages)
-
Verbal Person Marking
(232 languages)
(5 values)
- No person marking (79 languages)
- Only the A argument (59 languages)
- Only the P argument (5 languages)
- A or P argument (9 languages)
- Both the A and P arguments (80 languages)
-
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking
(208 languages)
(6 values)
- No person marking (74 languages)
- No zero realization (89 languages)
- Zero in some 3sg forms (15 languages)
- Zero in all 3sg forms (19 languages)
- Zero in all 3rd person forms (10 languages)
- Zero only in 3rd nonsingular (1 language)
-
Order of Person Markers on the Verb
(206 languages)
(5 values)
- A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb (124 languages)
- A precedes P (38 languages)
- P precedes A (23 languages)
- Both orders of A and P occur (10 languages)
- A and P are fused (11 languages)
-
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'
(196 languages)
(4 values)
- Indirect-object construction (128 languages)
- Double-object construction (22 languages)
- Secondary-object construction (31 languages)
- Mixed (15 languages)
-
Reciprocal Constructions
(175 languages)
(4 values)
- No reciprocals (14 languages)
- Distinct from reflexive (100 languages)
- Mixed (19 languages)
- Identical to reflexive (42 languages)
- Passive Constructions (231 languages) (2 values)
-
Antipassive Constructions
(210 languages)
(3 values)
- Implicit patient (12 languages)
- Oblique patient (20 languages)
- No antipassive (178 languages)
-
Applicative Constructions
(178 languages)
(8 values)
- Benefactive object; both bases (7 languages)
- Benefactive object; only transitive (5 languages)
- Benefactive and other; both bases (37 languages)
- Benefactive and other; only transitive (1 language)
- Non-benefactive object; both bases (5 languages)
- Non-benefactive object; only transitive (1 language)
- Non-benefactive object; only intransitive (1 language)
- No applicative construction (121 languages)
-
Periphrastic Causative Constructions
(109 languages)
(3 values)
- Sequential but no purposive (32 languages)
- Purposive but no sequential (47 languages)
- Both (30 languages)
-
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions
(173 languages)
(4 values)
- Neither (25 languages)
- Morphological but no compound (123 languages)
- Compound but no morphological (10 languages)
- Both (15 languages)
-
Negative Morphemes
(220 languages)
(6 values)
- Negative affix (65 languages)
- Negative particle (100 languages)
- Negative auxiliary verb (18 languages)
- Negative word, unclear if verb or particle (15 languages)
- Variation between negative word and affix (13 languages)
- Double negation (9 languages)
-
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation
(187 languages)
(3 values)
- Symmetric (104 languages)
- Asymmetric (22 languages)
- Both (61 languages)
-
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation
(157 languages)
(7 values)
- A/Fin (16 languages)
- A/NonReal (10 languages)
- A/Cat (33 languages)
- A/Fin and A/NonReal (4 languages)
- A/Fin and A/Cat (14 languages)
- A/NonReal and A/Cat (4 languages)
- Non-assignable (76 languages)
-
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation
(127 languages)
(4 values)
- Predicate negation also present (85 languages)
- No predicate negation (24 languages)
- Mixed behaviour (11 languages)
- Negative existential construction (7 languages)
-
Polar Questions
(202 languages)
(7 values)
- Question particle (128 languages)
- Interrogative verb morphology (31 languages)
- Mixture of previous two types (3 languages)
- Interrogative word order (7 languages)
- Absence of declarative morphemes (1 language)
- Interrogative intonation only (29 languages)
- No interrogative-declarative distinction (3 languages)
-
Predicative Possession
(150 languages)
(5 values)
- Locational (37 languages)
- Genitive (18 languages)
- Topic (14 languages)
- Conjunctional (16 languages)
- 'Have' (65 languages)
-
Predicative Adjectives
(175 languages)
(3 values)
- Verbal encoding (78 languages)
- Nonverbal encoding (66 languages)
- Mixed (31 languages)
- Nominal and Locational Predication (173 languages) (2 values)
-
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals
(185 languages)
(2 values)
- Impossible (104 languages)
- Possible (81 languages)
-
Comparative Constructions
(121 languages)
(4 values)
- Locational (40 languages)
- Exceed (26 languages)
- Conjoined (17 languages)
- Particle (38 languages)
-
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases
(223 languages)
(6 values)
-
Complex Sentences
-
Relativization on Subjects
(169 languages)
(4 values)
- Relative pronoun (44 languages)
- Non-reduction (20 languages)
- Pronoun-retention (8 languages)
- Gap (97 languages)
-
Relativization on Obliques
(149 languages)
(5 values)
- Relative pronoun (42 languages)
- Non-reduction (15 languages)
- Pronoun-retention (25 languages)
- Gap (54 languages)
- Not possible (13 languages)
-
'Want' Complement Subjects
(153 languages)
(5 values)
- Subject is left implicit (80 languages)
- Subject is expressed overtly (30 languages)
- Both construction types exist (14 languages)
- Desiderative verbal affix (20 languages)
- Desiderative particle (9 languages)
-
Purpose Clauses
(144 languages)
(3 values)
- Balanced (44 languages)
- Balanced/deranked (29 languages)
- Deranked (71 languages)
-
'When' Clauses
(150 languages)
(3 values)
- Balanced (77 languages)
- Balanced/deranked (34 languages)
- Deranked (39 languages)
-
Reason Clauses
(146 languages)
(3 values)
- Balanced (85 languages)
- Balanced/deranked (26 languages)
- Deranked (35 languages)
-
Utterance Complement Clauses
(126 languages)
(3 values)
- Balanced (90 languages)
- Balanced/deranked (24 languages)
- Deranked (12 languages)
-
Relativization on Subjects
(169 languages)
(4 values)
-
Lexicon
- Hand and Arm (189 languages) (2 values)
- Finger and Hand (186 languages) (2 values)
-
Numeral Bases
(224 languages)
(6 values)
- Decimal (145 languages)
- Hybrid vigesimal-decimal (17 languages)
- Pure vigesimal (11 languages)
- Other base (36 languages)
- Extended body-part system (2 languages)
- Restricted (13 languages)
- Number of Non-Derived Basic Colour Categories (75 languages) (7 values)
- Number of Basic Colour Categories (83 languages) (7 values)
-
Green and Blue
(125 languages)
(7 values)
- Green vs. blue (98 languages)
- Green/blue (19 languages)
- Black/green/blue (1 language)
- Black/blue vs. green (3 languages)
- Yellow/green/blue (0 languages)
- Yellow/green vs. blue (3 languages)
- None (1 language)
-
Red and Yellow
(126 languages)
(5 values)
- Red vs. yellow (110 languages)
- Red/yellow (9 languages)
- Yellow/green/blue vs. red (1 language)
- Yellow/green vs. red (4 languages)
- None (2 languages)
-
M-T Pronouns
(189 languages)
(3 values)
- No M-T pronouns (139 languages)
- M-T pronouns, paradigmatic (45 languages)
- M-T pronouns, non-paradigmatic (5 languages)
-
N-M Pronouns
(187 languages)
(3 values)
- No N-M pronouns (166 languages)
- N-M pronouns, paradigmatic (12 languages)
- N-M pronouns, non-paradigmatic (9 languages)
-
Tea
(134 languages)
(3 values)
- Words derived from Sinitic cha (41 languages)
- Words derived from Min Nan Chinese te (36 languages)
- Others (57 languages)
-
Sign Languages
-
Irregular Negatives in Sign Languages
(13 languages)
(4 values)
- None (12 languages)
- One (0 languages)
- Some (2-5) (0 languages)
- Many (more than 5) (1 language)
-
Question Particles in Sign Languages
(14 languages)
(3 values)
- None (9 languages)
- One (2 languages)
- More than one (3 languages)
-
Irregular Negatives in Sign Languages
(13 languages)
(4 values)
-
Other
-
Writing Systems
(138 languages)
(6 values)
- Alphabetic (101 languages)
- Consonantal (1 language)
- Alphasyllabic (16 languages)
- Syllabic (12 languages)
- Logographic (2 languages)
- Mixed logographic–syllabic (6 languages)
-
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks
(112 languages)
(3 values)
- Logical meanings (13 languages)
- Affective meanings (51 languages)
- Other or none (48 languages)
-
Writing Systems
(138 languages)
(6 values)
- Conlang-specific