Relative prevalence of agreeing nouns

Agreeing nouns

Nouns are a class typified by forms that make reference to objects, with exemplars including tangible animate and inanimate entities and places.

Defining nouns for cross-linguistic comparison

Maps

Map 4.1 Distribution

Map 4.2 Relative prevalence

Relative prevalence

Map 4.2 shows the distribution of languages with noun agreement within a convenience sample of 73 languages used in Bond et al. (2022). The sample was constructed for the purpose of exploring dependencies between target types in languages exhibiting evidence for at least one non-verbal agreement target belonging to the categories adverb, adposition, complementizer, noun or pronoun.

Here we chart the agreement properties of noun that function as the head of core arguments and as adjuncts of verbs. This includes nouns that are marked for “agreeing cases”, i.e. nouns that only agree with a clausal argument when they occur in a subset of non-core case forms.

Map 4.2 does not include nominals that index features of the intransitive subject when they function as the predicative complement of locative, equative or identity predicators.

Map 4.2 Languages with noun agreement within a convenience sample of 73 languages exhibiting evidence for at least one non-verbal agreement target belonging to the categories adverb, adposition, complementizer, noun or pronoun.

Data

VarietyValueSources
Amur NivkhNo noun agreement No noun agreementPlanfilov 1965; Gruzdeva 1998; Nedjalkov & Otaina 2013
Aqusha DargwaNoun agreement Noun agreementvan den Berg 1999; Ganenkov 2018
ArchiNo noun agreement No noun agreementKibrik 1977; Bond et al. 2016; Polinsky et al. 2017
ArosiNo noun agreement No noun agreementCapell 1971; Lynch & Horoi 2002
AuNo noun agreement No noun agreementScorza 1985
AvarNoun agreement Noun agreementAlekseev & Ataev 1998; Rudnev 2020
BagwalalNo noun agreement No noun agreementKibrik 2001
BatsNo noun agreement No noun agreementHolisky & Gagua 1994; p.c. Jesse Wichers Schreur
BavarianNo noun agreement No noun agreementWeise 1907; Weiß 2005; Fuẞ 2014
BezhtaNo noun agreement No noun agreementComrie, Khalilov & Khalilova 2015
BotlikhNo noun agreement No noun agreementSaidova & Abusov 2012
BukusuNo noun agreement No noun agreementDiercks 2010; Carstens & Diercks 2013
Central PashtoNo noun agreement No noun agreementTegey & Robson 1996; Brugman 2014; David & Goodman 2014; Fox & David 2014
ChamalalNo noun agreement No noun agreementMagomedova 1999
ChechenNo noun agreement No noun agreementNichols 1994
ChokweNo noun agreement No noun agreementMartins 1990; Kawasha 2007; Kawasha 2008
CoahuiltecoNoun agreement Noun agreementTroike 1981; Troike 1996; Branan 2019
Coastal MarindNo noun agreement No noun agreementOlsson 2017; Olsson 2021; Olsson 2023
CosentinoNo noun agreement No noun agreementLedgeway 2009; Ledgeway 2011; Ledgeway 2017
EjaghamNo noun agreement No noun agreementWatters 1981; Güldemann 2008
FinnishNo noun agreement No noun agreementLehman 1982; Karlsson 2018
Forest EnetsNo noun agreement No noun agreementSiegl 2011; Chumakina 2023; Khanina & Shluinsky 2023
Gagatl Andi Noun agreement Noun agreementSalimov 2010
GodoberiNo noun agreement No noun agreementSaidova 1973; Kibrik 1995; Haspelmath 1999; Haspelmath 1996
Gujarati No noun agreement No noun agreementHook & Joshi 1991; Cardona & Suthar 2003; Bhatt 2005
HinuqNo noun agreement No noun agreementForker 2013
HopiNo noun agreement No noun agreementLangacker 1977; Kalectaca 1978; Masayesva-Jeanne 1978; Bliss 2004
HungarianNo noun agreement No noun agreementLehman 1982; Kenesei, Vago & Fenyvesi 1998; p.c. Dávid Győrfi
HunzibNo noun agreement No noun agreementvan den Berg 1995
IbibioNo noun agreement No noun agreementKauffman 1968; Torrence 2016
IkalangaNo noun agreement No noun agreementLetsholo 2002; Letsholo & Safir 2019
Inkhoqwari KhwarshiNo noun agreement No noun agreementKhalilova 2009; Chumakina & Lyutikova 2023
IrishNo noun agreement No noun agreementGreene 1966; Brennan 2008; Stenson 2020
KairiruNo noun agreement No noun agreementWivell 1981; Ross 2002
KpelleNo noun agreement No noun agreementIdiatov 2010; Konoshenko 2013; Konoshenko 2015
KwarandzyeyNo noun agreement No noun agreementSouag 2010; Souag 2015
LakNoun agreement Noun agreementKazenin 2013
LakotaNo noun agreement No noun agreementRood & Taylor 1996; Pustet 2000
LavukaleveNo noun agreement No noun agreementTerrill 2003
LimbumNo noun agreement No noun agreementFransen 1995
LuchaziNo noun agreement No noun agreementFleisch 2000; Kawasha 2007
LundaNo noun agreement No noun agreementKawasha 2003; Kawasha 2007
LuvaleNo noun agreement No noun agreementHorton 1949; Kawasha 2007
ManoNo noun agreement No noun agreementIdiatov 2010; Konoshenko 2013; Konoshenko 2015
Marathi No noun agreement No noun agreementPandharipande 2003; Dhongde & Wali 2009
Marwari No noun agreement No noun agreementMagier 1983; Gusain 2004
MawngNo noun agreement No noun agreementEvans 2000; Singer 2006
MosetenNo noun agreement No noun agreementSakel 2004
MussomeliNo noun agreement No noun agreementLedgeway 2011; Ledgeway 2017
NandeNo noun agreement No noun agreementBaker 2008
NantiNo noun agreement No noun agreementMichael 2008; Michael 2012
Northern AkhwakhNoun agreement Noun agreementCreissels 2012; Creissels 2018
PolishNo noun agreement No noun agreementCitko 2018; Swan 2002
RipanoNoun agreement Noun agreementPaciaroni & Loporcaro 2018; Lopocaro et al. 2020; Paciaroni 2023; D'Alessandro 2020
Samatiguila JulaNo noun agreement No noun agreementBraconnier 1987; Idiatov 2010; Konoshenko 2013
Southern AkhvakhNo noun agreement No noun agreementMuraviev, forthcoming
SuaboNo noun agreement No noun agreementde Vries 2004
Tanti DargwaNoun agreement Noun agreementSumbatova & Lander 2014; Sumbatova 2023; p.c. Nina Sumbatova
TehitNo noun agreement No noun agreementFlassy 1991; Hesse 2000
TeiwaNo noun agreement No noun agreementKlamer 2010; Sauerland, Hollebrandse & Kratochvíl 2020
TeopNo noun agreement No noun agreementMosel & Thiesen 2007; Mosel 2010; Mosel n.d.
TindiNo noun agreement No noun agreementMagomedova 2003
Tokita Noun agreement Noun agreementMagomedbekova 1971; Magomedova & Khalidova 2001
TsakhurNoun agreement Noun agreementIbragimov 1990; Kibrik 1999a; Kibrik 1999b; Kazenin & Testelets 1999
TsezNo noun agreement No noun agreementPolinsky 2015
Tundra NenetsNo noun agreement No noun agreementNikolaeva 2014
TuraNo noun agreement No noun agreementBearth 1971; Idiatov 2010; Konoshenko 2013
UdiheNo noun agreement No noun agreementNikolaeva & Tolskaya 2001
Urdu No noun agreement No noun agreementBhatt 2005; Kachru 2006; Shapiro 2013; Butt et al. 2016
WelshNo noun agreement No noun agreementBorsley 2009
West FlemishNo noun agreement No noun agreementHaegeman 2000
West FrisianNo noun agreement No noun agreementvan der Meer 1991; Zwart 1993
Zilo Andi Noun agreement Noun agreementKaye 2023; Kaye, in press; Kaye et al., in press

Data sources



References

Bond, Oliver, Steven Kaye & Marina Chumakina. 2022. A typology of agreement targets. Paper given at the 55th Societas Linguistica Europaea meeting (SLE 55), University of Bucharest, August 26, 2022.