The World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) is a

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases spa ...

of structural ( phonological, grammatical, lexical) properties of languages gathered from descriptive materials. It was first published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

as a book with CD-ROM in 2005, and was released as the second edition on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

in April 2008. It is maintained by the

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (german: Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie, shortened to MPI EVA) is a research institute based in Leipzig, Germany, that was founded in 1997. It is part of the Max Plan ...

and by the

Max Planck Digital Library The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...

. The editors are Martin Haspelmath, Matthew S. Dryer, David Gil and Bernard Comrie. The atlas provides information on the location, linguistic affiliation and basic

typological Typology is the study of types or the systematic classification of the types of something according to their common characteristics. Typology is the act of finding, counting and classification facts with the help of eyes, other senses and logic. Ty ...

features of a great number of the world's languages. It interacts with

OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed ...

maps. The information of the atlas is published under the

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has releas ...

Attribution 4.0 International license. It is part of the Cross-Linguistic Linked Data project hosted by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

References

External links

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Download WALS Interactive Reference Tool
(obsolete - Windows XP or Mac PowerPC)
Conlang Atlas of Language Structures
Inspired by WALS, it includes some of the information contained in WALS and adds data about many

constructed language A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction ...

s. {{Cross-Linguistic Linked Data Linguistic atlases Creative Commons-licensed websites Creative Commons-licensed databases 2005 non-fiction books Internet properties established in 2008 Linguistics websites Works on linguistic typology Comparative linguistics Linguistics databases Cross-Linguistic Linked Data book-stub

See also

References

External links