The World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) is a

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

of structural (

phonological Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often prefer ...

grammatical In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the goal of which is to formu ...

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

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

as a book with

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

in 2005, and was released as the second edition on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, 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 ...

in April 2008. It is maintained by the

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (, shortened to MPI EVA) is a research institute based in Leipzig, Germany, that was founded in 1997. It is part of the Max Planck Society network. Well-known scientists currently based at ...

and by the Max Planck Digital Library. The editors are Martin Haspelmath, Matthew S. Dryer, David Gil and

Bernard Comrie Bernard Sterling Comrie, (; born 23 May 1947) is a British linguist. Comrie is a specialist in linguistic typology, linguistic universals and on Caucasian languages. Personal life Early life and education Comrie was born in Sunderland, Eng ...

. The atlas provides information on the location, linguistic affiliation and basic typological features of a great number of the world's languages. It interacts with

OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (abbreviated OSM) is a free, Open Database License, open geographic database, map database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveying, surveys, trace from Ae ...

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 release ...

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 The Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology () performs fundamental research into archaeological science. The institute is one of more than 80 research institutes of the Max Planck Society and is located in Jena, Germany. History Max Planc ...

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 (shortened to conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, orthography, and vocabulary, instead of having developed natural language, naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devise ...

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