-
Phonology
-
Consonant Inventories
(352 languages)
(5 values)
- Small (49 languages)
- Moderately small (76 languages)
- Average (136 languages)
- Moderately large (67 languages)
- Large (24 languages)
-
Vowel Quality Inventories
(356 languages)
(3 values)
- Small (2-4) (54 languages)
- Average (5-6) (159 languages)
- Large (7-14) (143 languages)
-
Consonant-Vowel Ratio
(346 languages)
(5 values)
- Low (49 languages)
- Moderately low (64 languages)
- Average (161 languages)
- Moderately high (39 languages)
- High (33 languages)
-
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives
(351 languages)
(4 values)
- No voicing constrast (87 languages)
- In plosives alone (70 languages)
- In fricatives alone (31 languages)
- In both plosives and fricatives (163 languages)
-
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems
(340 languages)
(5 values)
- Other (112 languages)
- None missing in /p t k b d g/ (178 languages)
- Missing /p/ (21 languages)
- Missing /g/ (18 languages)
- Both missing (11 languages)
-
Uvular Consonants
(347 languages)
(4 values)
- None (255 languages)
- Uvular stops only (25 languages)
- Uvular continuants only (38 languages)
- Uvular stops and continuants (29 languages)
-
Glottalized Consonants
(345 languages)
(8 values)
- No glottalized consonants (285 languages)
- Ejectives only (34 languages)
- Implosives only (11 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 (1 language)
-
Lateral Consonants
(341 languages)
(5 values)
- No laterals (39 languages)
- /l/, no obstruent laterals (235 languages)
- Laterals, but no /l/, no obstruent laterals (10 languages)
- /l/ and lateral obstruent (44 languages)
- No /l/, but lateral obstruents (13 languages)
-
The Velar Nasal
(347 languages)
(3 values)
- Initial velar nasal (124 languages)
- No initial velar nasal (57 languages)
- No velar nasal (166 languages)
-
Vowel Nasalization
(338 languages)
(2 values)
- Contrast present (55 languages)
- Contrast absent (283 languages)
-
Front Rounded Vowels
(341 languages)
(4 values)
- None (258 languages)
- High and mid (58 languages)
- High only (18 languages)
- Mid only (7 languages)
-
Syllable Structure
(346 languages)
(3 values)
- Simple (73 languages)
- Moderately complex (174 languages)
- Complex (99 languages)
-
Tone
(351 languages)
(3 values)
- No tones (266 languages)
- Simple tone system (57 languages)
- Complex tone system (28 languages)
-
Fixed Stress Locations
(289 languages)
(7 values)
- No fixed stress (148 languages)
- Initial (56 languages)
- Second (6 languages)
- Third (0 languages)
- Antepenultimate (4 languages)
- Penultimate (49 languages)
- Ultimate (26 languages)
-
Weight-Sensitive Stress
(255 languages)
(8 values)
- Left-edge: First or second (10 languages)
- Left-oriented: One of the first three (8 languages)
- Right-edge: Ultimate or penultimate (24 languages)
- Right-oriented: One of the last three (29 languages)
- Unbounded: Stress can be anywhere (32 languages)
- Combined: Right-edge and unbounded (8 languages)
- Not predictable (33 languages)
- Fixed stress (111 languages)
-
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems
(250 languages)
(7 values)
- No weight (120 languages)
- Long vowel (22 languages)
- Coda consonant (10 languages)
- Long vowel or coda consonant (29 languages)
- Prominence (8 languages)
- Lexical stress (40 languages)
- Combined (21 languages)
-
Rhythm Types
(212 languages)
(5 values)
- Trochaic (72 languages)
- Iambic (16 languages)
- Dual: both trochaic and iambic (13 languages)
- Undetermined (22 languages)
- No rhythmic stress (89 languages)
-
Absence of Common Consonants
(335 languages)
(6 values)
- All present (305 languages)
- No bilabials (11 languages)
- No fricatives (14 languages)
- No nasals (4 languages)
- No bilabials or nasals (1 language)
- No fricatives or nasals (0 languages)
-
Presence of Uncommon Consonants
(339 languages)
(7 values)
- None (219 languages)
- Clicks (10 languages)
- Labial-velars (10 languages)
- Pharyngeals (12 languages)
- 'Th' sounds (74 languages)
- Clicks, pharyngeals, and 'th' (7 languages)
- Pharyngeals and 'th' (7 languages)
-
Consonant Inventories
(352 languages)
(5 values)
-
Morphology
-
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives
(253 languages)
(7 values)
- Exclusively concatenative (155 languages)
- Exclusively isolating (24 languages)
- Exclusively tonal (2 languages)
- Tonal/isolating (4 languages)
- Tonal/concatenative (5 languages)
- Ablaut/concatenative (19 languages)
- Isolating/concatenative (44 languages)
-
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives
(246 languages)
(5 values)
- Monoexponential case (108 languages)
- Case + number (41 languages)
- Case + referentiality (7 languages)
- Case + TAM (7 languages)
- No case (83 languages)
-
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb
(244 languages)
(7 values)
- 0-1 category per word (24 languages)
- 2-3 categories per word (55 languages)
- 4-5 categories per word (75 languages)
- 6-7 categories per word (44 languages)
- 8-9 categories per word (25 languages)
- 10-11 categories per word (9 languages)
- 12-13 categories per word (12 languages)
-
Locus of Marking in the Clause
(253 languages)
(5 values)
- Head marking (69 languages)
- Dependent marking (93 languages)
- Double marking (49 languages)
- No marking (37 languages)
- Other (5 languages)
-
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases
(254 languages)
(5 values)
- Head marking (64 languages)
- Dependent marking (127 languages)
- Double marking (23 languages)
- No marking (26 languages)
- Other (14 languages)
-
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology
(241 languages)
(5 values)
- Head-marking (45 languages)
- Dependent-marking (77 languages)
- Double-marking (15 languages)
- Zero-marking (11 languages)
- Inconsistent or other (93 languages)
-
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology
(280 languages)
(6 values)
- Little affixation (30 languages)
- Strongly suffixing (120 languages)
- Weakly suffixing (43 languages)
- Equal prefixing and suffixing (45 languages)
- Weakly prefixing (23 languages)
- Strong prefixing (19 languages)
-
Reduplication
(255 languages)
(3 values)
- Productive full and partial reduplication (98 languages)
- Full reduplication only (25 languages)
- No productive reduplication (132 languages)
-
Case Syncretism
(267 languages)
(4 values)
- No case marking (119 languages)
- Core cases only (29 languages)
- Core and non-core (36 languages)
- No syncretism (83 languages)
-
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking
(262 languages)
(3 values)
- No subject person/number marking (92 languages)
- Syncretic (71 languages)
- Not syncretic (99 languages)
-
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives
(253 languages)
(7 values)
-
Nominal Categories
-
Number of Genders
(310 languages)
(5 values)
- None (171 languages)
- Two (50 languages)
- Three (44 languages)
- Four (14 languages)
- Five or more (31 languages)
-
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems
(306 languages)
(3 values)
- No gender (167 languages)
- Sex-based (82 languages)
- Non-sex-based (57 languages)
-
Systems of Gender Assignment
(298 languages)
(3 values)
- No gender (164 languages)
- Semantic (72 languages)
- Semantic and formal (62 languages)
-
Coding of Nominal Plurality
(301 languages)
(9 values)
- Plural prefix (21 languages)
- Plural suffix (150 languages)
- Plural stem change (12 languages)
- Plural tone (2 languages)
- Plural complete reduplication (4 languages)
- Mixed morphological plural (21 languages)
- Plural word (33 languages)
- Plural clitic (16 languages)
- No plural (42 languages)
-
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality
(253 languages)
(6 values)
- No nominal plural (32 languages)
- Only human nouns, optional (10 languages)
- Only human nouns, obligatory (7 languages)
- All nouns, always optional (51 languages)
- All nouns, optional in inanimates (10 languages)
- All nouns, always obligatory (143 languages)
-
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns
(276 languages)
(8 values)
- No independent subject pronouns (10 languages)
- Number-indifferent pronouns (24 languages)
- Person-number affixes (18 languages)
- Person-number stem (133 languages)
- Person-number stem + pronominal plural affix (25 languages)
- Person-number stem + nominal plural affix (16 languages)
- Person stem + pronominal plural affix (26 languages)
- Person stem + nominal plural affix (24 languages)
-
The Associative Plural
(207 languages)
(4 values)
- Associative same as additive plural (46 languages)
- Unique affixal associative plural (22 languages)
- Unique periphrastic associative plural (32 languages)
- No associative plural (107 languages)
-
Definite Articles
(282 languages)
(5 values)
- Definite word distinct from demonstrative (81 languages)
- Demonstrative word used as definite article (27 languages)
- Definite affix (29 languages)
- No definite, but indefinite article (22 languages)
- No definite or indefinite article (123 languages)
-
Indefinite Articles
(269 languages)
(5 values)
- Indefinite word distinct from 'one' (51 languages)
- Indefinite word same as 'one' (35 languages)
- Indefinite affix (20 languages)
- No indefinite, but definite article (48 languages)
- No definite or indefinite article (115 languages)
-
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns
(278 languages)
(5 values)
- No 'we' (6 languages)
- 'We' the same as 'I' (16 languages)
- No inclusive/exclusive (153 languages)
- Only inclusive (9 languages)
- Inclusive/exclusive (94 languages)
-
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection
(278 languages)
(5 values)
- No person marking (106 languages)
- 'We' the same as 'I' (15 languages)
- No inclusive/exclusive (109 languages)
- Only inclusive (8 languages)
- Inclusive/exclusive (40 languages)
-
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives
(256 languages)
(5 values)
- No distance contrast (28 languages)
- Two-way contrast (114 languages)
- Three-way contrast (91 languages)
- Four-way contrast (14 languages)
- Five (or more)-way contrast (9 languages)
-
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives
(217 languages)
(3 values)
- Identical (132 languages)
- Different stem (45 languages)
- Different inflection (40 languages)
-
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives
(238 languages)
(6 values)
- Unrelated (137 languages)
- Related for all demonstratives (38 languages)
- Related to remote demonstratives (15 languages)
- Related to non-remote demonstratives (8 languages)
- Related by gender markers (20 languages)
- Related for non-human reference (20 languages)
-
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns
(277 languages)
(6 values)
- In 3rd person + 1st and/or 2nd person (26 languages)
- 3rd person only, but also non-singular (48 languages)
- 3rd person singular only (51 languages)
- 1st or 2nd person but not 3rd (4 languages)
- 3rd person non-singular only (1 language)
- No gender distinctions (147 languages)
-
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns
(266 languages)
(4 values)
- No politeness distinction (176 languages)
- Binary politeness distinction (54 languages)
- Multiple politeness distinctions (19 languages)
- Pronouns avoided for politeness (17 languages)
-
Indefinite Pronouns
(201 languages)
(5 values)
- Interrogative-based (80 languages)
- Generic-noun-based (58 languages)
- Special (39 languages)
- Mixed (20 languages)
- Existential construction (4 languages)
-
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns
(208 languages)
(2 values)
- Identical (88 languages)
- Differentiated (120 languages)
-
Person Marking on Adpositions
(253 languages)
(4 values)
- No adpositions (36 languages)
- No person marking (156 languages)
- Pronouns only (43 languages)
- Pronouns and nouns (18 languages)
-
Number of Cases
(283 languages)
(9 values)
- No morphological case-marking (99 languages)
- 2 cases (18 languages)
- 3 cases (18 languages)
- 4 cases (20 languages)
- 5 cases (16 languages)
- 6-7 cases (31 languages)
- 8-9 cases (24 languages)
- 10 or more cases (45 languages)
- Exclusively borderline case-marking (12 languages)
-
Asymmetrical Case-Marking
(251 languages)
(6 values)
- No case-marking (86 languages)
- Symmetrical (94 languages)
- Additive-quantitatively asymmetrical (36 languages)
- Subtractive-quantitatively asymmetrical (16 languages)
- Qualitatively asymmetrical (4 languages)
- Syncretism in relevant NP-types (15 languages)
-
Position of Case Affixes
(270 languages)
(9 values)
- Case suffixes (116 languages)
- Case prefixes (16 languages)
- Case tone (0 languages)
- Case stem change (4 languages)
- Mixed morphological case (15 languages)
- Postpositional clitics (22 languages)
- Prepositional clitics (12 languages)
- Inpositional clitics (1 language)
- No case affixes or adpositional clitics (84 languages)
-
Comitatives and Instrumentals
(215 languages)
(3 values)
- Identity (43 languages)
- Differentiation (157 languages)
- Mixed (15 languages)
-
Ordinal Numerals
(235 languages)
(8 values)
- None (22 languages)
- One, two, three (12 languages)
- First, two, three (8 languages)
- One-th, two-th, three-th (76 languages)
- First/one-th, two-th, three-th (24 languages)
- First, two-th, three-th (41 languages)
- First, second, three-th (32 languages)
- Various (20 languages)
-
Distributive Numerals
(169 languages)
(7 values)
- No distributive numerals (79 languages)
- Marked by reduplication (22 languages)
- Marked by prefix (8 languages)
- Marked by suffix (25 languages)
- Marked by preceding word (13 languages)
- Marked by following word (7 languages)
- Marked by mixed or other strategies (15 languages)
-
Numeral Classifiers
(225 languages)
(3 values)
- Absent (174 languages)
- Optional (30 languages)
- Obligatory (21 languages)
-
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers
(152 languages)
(3 values)
- Formally different (101 languages)
- Formally similar, without interrogative (25 languages)
- Formally similar, with interrogative (26 languages)
-
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes
(251 languages)
(4 values)
- Possessive prefixes (45 languages)
- Possessive suffixes (84 languages)
- Prefixes and suffixes (4 languages)
- No possessive affixes (118 languages)
-
Number of Genders
(310 languages)
(5 values)
-
Nominal Syntax
- Obligatory Possessive Inflection (246 languages) (2 values)
-
Possessive Classification
(239 languages)
(4 values)
- No possessive classification (162 languages)
- Two classes (60 languages)
- Three to five classes (13 languages)
- More than five classes (4 languages)
-
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses
(189 languages)
(6 values)
- Weakly differentiated (30 languages)
- Genitives and adjectives collapsed (19 languages)
- Genitives and relative clauses collapsed (4 languages)
- Adjectives and relative clauses collapsed (30 languages)
- Moderately differentiated in other ways (6 languages)
- Highly differentiated (100 languages)
-
Adjectives without Nouns
(195 languages)
(7 values)
- Not without noun (26 languages)
- Without marking (90 languages)
- Marked by prefix (8 languages)
- Marked by suffix (32 languages)
- Marked by preceding word (16 languages)
- Marked by following word (13 languages)
- Marked by mixed or other strategies (10 languages)
-
Action Nominal Constructions
(185 languages)
(8 values)
- Sentential (23 languages)
- Possessive-Accusative (34 languages)
- Ergative-Possessive (24 languages)
- Double-Possessive (13 languages)
- Other (11 languages)
- Mixed (25 languages)
- Restricted (16 languages)
- No action nominals (39 languages)
-
Noun Phrase Conjunction
(198 languages)
(2 values)
- 'And' different from 'with' (150 languages)
- 'And' identical to 'with' (48 languages)
-
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction
(212 languages)
(3 values)
- Identity (116 languages)
- Differentiation (83 languages)
- Both expressed by juxtaposition (13 languages)
-
Verbal Categories
-
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect
(261 languages)
(2 values)
- Grammatical marking (159 languages)
- No grammatical marking (102 languages)
-
The Past Tense
(277 languages)
(4 values)
- Present, no remoteness distinctions (157 languages)
- Present, 2-3 remoteness distinctions (37 languages)
- Present, 4 or more remoteness distinctions (6 languages)
- No past tense (77 languages)
-
The Future Tense
(275 languages)
(2 values)
- Inflectional future exists (164 languages)
- No inflectional future (111 languages)
-
The Perfect
(256 languages)
(4 values)
- From possessive (15 languages)
- From 'finish', 'already' (21 languages)
- Other perfect (117 languages)
- No perfect (103 languages)
-
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes
(270 languages)
(5 values)
- Tense-aspect prefixes (29 languages)
- Tense-aspect suffixes (155 languages)
- Tense-aspect tone (3 languages)
- Mixed type (36 languages)
- No tense-aspect inflection (47 languages)
-
The Morphological Imperative
(249 languages)
(5 values)
- Second singular and second plural (102 languages)
- Second singular (12 languages)
- Second plural (3 languages)
- Second person number-neutral (64 languages)
- No second-person imperatives (68 languages)
-
The Prohibitive
(226 languages)
(4 values)
- Normal imperative + normal negative (115 languages)
- Normal imperative + special negative (53 languages)
- Special imperative + normal negative (16 languages)
- Special imperative + special negative (42 languages)
-
Imperative-Hortative Systems
(188 languages)
(4 values)
- Maximal system (72 languages)
- Minimal system (22 languages)
- Both types of system (9 languages)
- Neither type of system (85 languages)
-
The Optative
(229 languages)
(2 values)
- Inflectional optative present (59 languages)
- Inflectional optative absent (170 languages)
-
Situational Possibility
(197 languages)
(3 values)
- Affixes on verbs (61 languages)
- Verbal constructions (120 languages)
- Other kinds of markers (16 languages)
-
Epistemic Possibility
(197 languages)
(3 values)
- Verbal constructions (76 languages)
- Affixes on verbs (60 languages)
- Other (61 languages)
-
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking
(165 languages)
(3 values)
- Overlap for both possibility and necessity (43 languages)
- Overlap for either possibility or necessity (42 languages)
- No overlap (80 languages)
-
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality
(221 languages)
(3 values)
- No grammatical evidentials (124 languages)
- Indirect only (49 languages)
- Direct and indirect (48 languages)
-
Coding of Evidentiality
(224 languages)
(6 values)
- No grammatical evidentials (125 languages)
- Verbal affix or clitic (52 languages)
- Part of the tense system (12 languages)
- Separate particle (20 languages)
- Modal morpheme (9 languages)
- Mixed (6 languages)
-
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect
(213 languages)
(4 values)
- Tense (30 languages)
- Aspect (15 languages)
- Tense and aspect (25 languages)
- None (143 languages)
-
Verbal Number and Suppletion
(208 languages)
(5 values)
- None (178 languages)
- Singular-plural pairs, no suppletion (12 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
(261 languages)
(2 values)
-
Word Order
- Order of Subject, Object and Verb (304 languages) (7 values)
-
Order of Subject and Verb
(293 languages)
(3 values)
- SV (200 languages)
- VS (62 languages)
- No dominant order (31 languages)
-
Order of Object and Verb
(292 languages)
(3 values)
- OV (118 languages)
- VO (146 languages)
- No dominant order (28 languages)
- Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb (220 languages) (6 values)
-
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase
(270 languages)
(5 values)
- Postpositions (108 languages)
- Prepositions (124 languages)
- Inpositions (2 languages)
- No dominant order (10 languages)
- No adpositions (26 languages)
-
Order of Genitive and Noun
(278 languages)
(3 values)
- Genitive-Noun (126 languages)
- Noun-Genitive (128 languages)
- No dominant order (24 languages)
-
Order of Adjective and Noun
(288 languages)
(4 values)
- Adjective-Noun (112 languages)
- Noun-Adjective (154 languages)
- No dominant order (18 languages)
- Only internally-headed relative clauses (4 languages)
-
Order of Demonstrative and Noun
(272 languages)
(6 values)
- Demonstrative-Noun (154 languages)
- Noun-Demonstrative (79 languages)
- Demonstrative prefix (7 languages)
- Demonstrative suffix (10 languages)
- Demonstrative before and after Noun (3 languages)
- Mixed (19 languages)
-
Order of Numeral and Noun
(271 languages)
(4 values)
- Numeral-Noun (169 languages)
- Noun-Numeral (85 languages)
- No dominant order (15 languages)
- Numeral only modifies verb (2 languages)
-
Order of Relative Clause and Noun
(245 languages)
(7 values)
- Noun-Relative clause (149 languages)
- Relative clause-Noun (54 languages)
- Internally headed (7 languages)
- Correlative (5 languages)
- Adjoined (5 languages)
- Doubly headed (2 languages)
- Mixed (23 languages)
-
Order of Degree Word and Adjective
(185 languages)
(3 values)
- Degree word-Adjective (103 languages)
- Adjective-Degree word (63 languages)
- No dominant order (19 languages)
-
Position of Polar Question Particles
(239 languages)
(6 values)
- Initial (60 languages)
- Final (60 languages)
- Second position (19 languages)
- Other position (13 languages)
- In either of two positions (16 languages)
- No question particle (71 languages)
-
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions
(233 languages)
(3 values)
- Initial interrogative phrase (85 languages)
- Not initial interrogative phrase (114 languages)
- Mixed (34 languages)
-
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause
(209 languages)
(5 values)
- Initial subordinator word (130 languages)
- Final subordinator word (22 languages)
- Internal subordinator word (8 languages)
- Subordinating suffix (17 languages)
- Mixed (32 languages)
-
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase
(236 languages)
(5 values)
- OV and Postpositions (80 languages)
- OV and Prepositions (11 languages)
- VO and Postpositions (20 languages)
- VO and Prepositions (88 languages)
- Other (37 languages)
-
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Relative Clause and Noun
(226 languages)
(5 values)
- OV and RelN (42 languages)
- OV and NRel (28 languages)
- VO and RelN (6 languages)
- VO and NRel (98 languages)
- Other (52 languages)
-
Relationship between the Order of Object and Verb and the Order of Adjective and Noun
(241 languages)
(5 values)
- OV and AdjN (53 languages)
- OV and NAdj (42 languages)
- VO and AdjN (38 languages)
- VO and NAdj (76 languages)
- Other (32 languages)
-
Simple Clauses
-
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases
(244 languages)
(6 values)
- Neutral (97 languages)
- Nominative - accusative (standard) (81 languages)
- Nominative - accusative (marked nominative) (11 languages)
- Ergative - absolutive (29 languages)
- Tripartite (5 languages)
- Active-inactive (21 languages)
-
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns
(230 languages)
(7 values)
- Neutral (74 languages)
- Nominative - accusative (standard) (96 languages)
- Nominative - accusative (marked nominative) (4 languages)
- Ergative - absolutive (23 languages)
- Tripartite (5 languages)
- Active - inactive (22 languages)
- None (6 languages)
-
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking
(237 languages)
(6 values)
- Neutral (74 languages)
- Accusative (107 languages)
- Ergative (11 languages)
- Active (26 languages)
- Hierarchical (9 languages)
- Split (10 languages)
-
Expression of Pronominal Subjects
(219 languages)
(6 values)
- Obligatory pronouns in subject position (48 languages)
- Subject affixes on verb (99 languages)
- Subject clitics on variable host (8 languages)
- Subject pronouns in different position (7 languages)
- Optional pronouns in subject position (42 languages)
- Mixed (15 languages)
-
Verbal Person Marking
(252 languages)
(5 values)
- No person marking (91 languages)
- Only the A argument (61 languages)
- Only the P argument (5 languages)
- A or P argument (9 languages)
- Both the A and P arguments (86 languages)
-
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking
(224 languages)
(6 values)
- No person marking (84 languages)
- No zero realization (92 languages)
- Zero in some 3sg forms (18 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
(222 languages)
(5 values)
- A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb (135 languages)
- A precedes P (39 languages)
- P precedes A (23 languages)
- Both orders of A and P occur (13 languages)
- A and P are fused (12 languages)
-
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'
(214 languages)
(4 values)
- Indirect-object construction (142 languages)
- Double-object construction (23 languages)
- Secondary-object construction (32 languages)
- Mixed (17 languages)
-
Reciprocal Constructions
(189 languages)
(4 values)
- No reciprocals (14 languages)
- Distinct from reflexive (108 languages)
- Mixed (19 languages)
- Identical to reflexive (48 languages)
- Passive Constructions (252 languages) (2 values)
-
Antipassive Constructions
(225 languages)
(3 values)
- Implicit patient (15 languages)
- Oblique patient (21 languages)
- No antipassive (189 languages)
-
Applicative Constructions
(191 languages)
(8 values)
- Benefactive object; both bases (8 languages)
- Benefactive object; only transitive (6 languages)
- Benefactive and other; both bases (40 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 (2 languages)
- No applicative construction (128 languages)
-
Periphrastic Causative Constructions
(118 languages)
(3 values)
- Sequential but no purposive (35 languages)
- Purposive but no sequential (48 languages)
- Both (35 languages)
-
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions
(181 languages)
(4 values)
- Neither (26 languages)
- Morphological but no compound (128 languages)
- Compound but no morphological (11 languages)
- Both (16 languages)
-
Negative Morphemes
(239 languages)
(6 values)
- Negative affix (75 languages)
- Negative particle (106 languages)
- Negative auxiliary verb (17 languages)
- Negative word, unclear if verb or particle (16 languages)
- Variation between negative word and affix (14 languages)
- Double negation (11 languages)
-
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation
(201 languages)
(3 values)
- Symmetric (116 languages)
- Asymmetric (22 languages)
- Both (63 languages)
-
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation
(167 languages)
(7 values)
- A/Fin (16 languages)
- A/NonReal (9 languages)
- A/Cat (35 languages)
- A/Fin and A/NonReal (4 languages)
- A/Fin and A/Cat (15 languages)
- A/NonReal and A/Cat (4 languages)
- Non-assignable (84 languages)
-
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate Negation
(141 languages)
(4 values)
- Predicate negation also present (94 languages)
- No predicate negation (28 languages)
- Mixed behaviour (11 languages)
- Negative existential construction (8 languages)
-
Polar Questions
(222 languages)
(7 values)
- Question particle (144 languages)
- Interrogative verb morphology (33 languages)
- Mixture of previous two types (4 languages)
- Interrogative word order (9 languages)
- Absence of declarative morphemes (1 language)
- Interrogative intonation only (28 languages)
- No interrogative-declarative distinction (3 languages)
-
Predicative Possession
(163 languages)
(5 values)
- Locational (39 languages)
- Genitive (20 languages)
- Topic (14 languages)
- Conjunctional (17 languages)
- 'Have' (73 languages)
-
Predicative Adjectives
(192 languages)
(3 values)
- Verbal encoding (86 languages)
- Nonverbal encoding (71 languages)
- Mixed (35 languages)
- Nominal and Locational Predication (187 languages) (2 values)
-
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals
(203 languages)
(2 values)
- Impossible (115 languages)
- Possible (88 languages)
-
Comparative Constructions
(133 languages)
(4 values)
- Locational (40 languages)
- Exceed (29 languages)
- Conjoined (20 languages)
- Particle (44 languages)
-
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases
(244 languages)
(6 values)
-
Complex Sentences
-
Relativization on Subjects
(182 languages)
(4 values)
- Relative pronoun (52 languages)
- Non-reduction (22 languages)
- Pronoun-retention (9 languages)
- Gap (99 languages)
-
Relativization on Obliques
(162 languages)
(5 values)
- Relative pronoun (52 languages)
- Non-reduction (16 languages)
- Pronoun-retention (25 languages)
- Gap (55 languages)
- Not possible (14 languages)
-
'Want' Complement Subjects
(165 languages)
(5 values)
- Subject is left implicit (83 languages)
- Subject is expressed overtly (30 languages)
- Both construction types exist (17 languages)
- Desiderative verbal affix (26 languages)
- Desiderative particle (9 languages)
-
Purpose Clauses
(153 languages)
(3 values)
- Balanced (51 languages)
- Balanced/deranked (31 languages)
- Deranked (71 languages)
-
'When' Clauses
(161 languages)
(3 values)
- Balanced (84 languages)
- Balanced/deranked (36 languages)
- Deranked (41 languages)
-
Reason Clauses
(157 languages)
(3 values)
- Balanced (93 languages)
- Balanced/deranked (28 languages)
- Deranked (36 languages)
-
Utterance Complement Clauses
(136 languages)
(3 values)
- Balanced (97 languages)
- Balanced/deranked (26 languages)
- Deranked (13 languages)
-
Relativization on Subjects
(182 languages)
(4 values)
-
Lexicon
- Hand and Arm (213 languages) (2 values)
- Finger and Hand (211 languages) (2 values)
-
Numeral Bases
(249 languages)
(6 values)
- Decimal (160 languages)
- Hybrid vigesimal-decimal (17 languages)
- Pure vigesimal (13 languages)
- Other base (42 languages)
- Extended body-part system (4 languages)
- Restricted (13 languages)
- Number of Non-Derived Basic Colour Categories (90 languages) (7 values)
- Number of Basic Colour Categories (93 languages) (7 values)
-
Green and Blue
(149 languages)
(7 values)
- Green vs. blue (119 languages)
- Green/blue (22 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
(149 languages)
(5 values)
- Red vs. yellow (132 languages)
- Red/yellow (9 languages)
- Yellow/green/blue vs. red (1 language)
- Yellow/green vs. red (4 languages)
- None (3 languages)
-
M-T Pronouns
(210 languages)
(3 values)
- No M-T pronouns (152 languages)
- M-T pronouns, paradigmatic (52 languages)
- M-T pronouns, non-paradigmatic (6 languages)
-
N-M Pronouns
(208 languages)
(3 values)
- No N-M pronouns (180 languages)
- N-M pronouns, paradigmatic (17 languages)
- N-M pronouns, non-paradigmatic (11 languages)
-
Tea
(150 languages)
(3 values)
- Words derived from Sinitic cha (44 languages)
- Words derived from Min Nan Chinese te (37 languages)
- Others (69 languages)
-
Sign Languages
-
Irregular Negatives in Sign Languages
(17 languages)
(4 values)
- None (16 languages)
- One (0 languages)
- Some (2-5) (0 languages)
- Many (more than 5) (1 language)
-
Question Particles in Sign Languages
(18 languages)
(3 values)
- None (10 languages)
- One (3 languages)
- More than one (5 languages)
-
Irregular Negatives in Sign Languages
(17 languages)
(4 values)
-
Other
-
Writing Systems
(165 languages)
(6 values)
- Alphabetic (116 languages)
- Consonantal (0 languages)
- Alphasyllabic (23 languages)
- Syllabic (11 languages)
- Logographic (5 languages)
- Mixed logographic–syllabic (10 languages)
-
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks
(127 languages)
(3 values)
- Logical meanings (16 languages)
- Affective meanings (60 languages)
- Other or none (51 languages)
-
Writing Systems
(165 languages)
(6 values)
- Conlang-specific