The preliminary language sample for the exceptives project consists of 36 languages. The main goal is to create a variety sample: a sample that displays the greatest linguistic variety. It was developed use the sampling criteria in Rijkhoff & Bakker 1998 and Bakker 2010, which relies on Diversity Values (DV), a numerical representation of a language family’s diversity using language classification from Ethnologue (Eberhard et al. 2020). The language sample contains languages from the different families, in proportion to their diversity (see esp. Rijkhoff & Bakker 1998:274).
In addition to the genetic, geographical, and structural balance, we made our initial choices so as to include languages which meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Comprehensive grammars are available
- Language consultants are available, either through the project staff’s connections or via colleagues engaged with the relevant community
- The project staff has experience working on the language
The sample excludes languages where exceptives have already received some attention in the linguistic literature. These languages will be used as a standard of comparison for our findings.
To cite a completed questionnaire, please use the following format:
Last name, First name. Year. Title. Zenodo. DOI.
For example, the following is a citation for the Malagasy questionnaire:
Potsdam, Eric. 2023. Exceptives Questionnaire – Malagasy. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7851055
| LANGUAGE | FAMILY | GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION | DIVERSITY VALUE | |
| Abaza | NW Caucasian | Caucasus | 1.5 | |
| American Sign Language | sign languages | North America | 1.5 | |
| Avar | Nakh-Daghestanian | Eurasia | 5.25 | |
| Basque | isolate | Europe | 1.0 | |
| Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian | Indo-European | Europe | ||
| Brazilian Portuguese | Indo-European | Europe | ||
| Chukchi | Paleosiberian | Asia | 2.5 | |
| Cook Islands Māori | Austronesian | Pacific | 141.76 | |
| Copala Triqui | Oto-Manguean | Central America | 12.15 | |
| Dinka | Nilo-Saharan | Africa | 46.03 | |
| Fula | Niger-Congo | Africa | 130.36 | |
| Georgian | Kartvelian | Eurasia | 1.5 | |
| Guarani | Tupi-Guarani | South America | 15.15 | |
| Hungarian | Uralic | Europe | 5.93 | |
| Inuttitut | Eskimo-Aleut | North America | 2.9 | |
| Irish | Indo-European | Europe | 50.34 | |
| Italian | Indo-European | Europe | ||
| Japanese | Japonic | Asia | ||
| Karin(j)a | Carib | South America | 8.23 | |
| Khmer | Austroasiatic | Asia | 35.54 | |
| K’iche’ | Mayan | Central America | ||
| Korean | isolate | Asia | 1.0 | |
| Malagasy | Austronesian | Africa | 141.76 | |
| Mandarin Chinese | Sino-Tibetan | Asia | 39.13 | |
| Mohawk | Iroquoian | North America | 4.69 | |
| Naasioi | Papua (Trans-New Guinean) | Pacific | 86.69 | |
| Navajo | Na-Dene | North America | 8.28 | |
| Nishnaabemwin | Algonquian | North America | 7.38 | |
| Oromo | Afro-Asiatic | Africa | 52.76 | |
| Papiamentu | creole | South America | 23.38 | |
| Poshkart Chuvash | Turkic | Eurasia | ||
| Purepecha | isolate | Central America | 1.0 | |
| Q’anjob’al | Mayan | Central America | 11.54 | |
| Quechua | Quechuan | South America | 2.92 | |
| Tai | Tai-Kadai | Asia | 35.54 | |
| Tamil | Dravidian | Asia | 11.18 | |
| Telugu | Dravidian | Asia | ||
| Tibetan | Sino-Tibetan | Asia | 39.13 | |
| Tok Pisin | creole | Pacific | 23.38 | |
| Turkish | Turkic | Asia | 14.51 | |
| Warlpiri | Australian | Australia | 58.92 | |
| Yiddish | Indo-European | Europe, North America | 50.34 | |
| Zulu | Niger-Congo | Africa | 130.36 | |