Table 1
The languages in the sample.
| Affiliation | Language | Macro-area/Area | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial (1) | Esperanto | Eurasia/Europe | |
| Indo-European (30) | Armenian | East Armenian | Eurasia/West Asia |
| Baltic (2) | Latvian, Lithuanian | Eurasia/Europe | |
| Celtic | Irish | Eurasia/Europe | |
| Germanic (9) | Afrikaans Danish, Dutch, English, German, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Yiddish | Africa/Subsaharan Eurasia/Europe | |
| Greek | Modern Greek | Eurasia/Europe | |
| Indo-Aryan (3) | Marathi, Palula Kelderari Romani | Eurasia/South Asia Eurasia/Europe | |
| Iranian | Persian (Western Farsi) | Eurasia/West Asia | |
| Romance (4) | French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | Eurasia/Europe | |
| Slavic (8) | Bulgarian, Czech, Macedonian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Ukrainian | Eurasia/Europe | |
| Creoles (2) | Indo-European/Germanic-based/Pacific Creole English | Bislama, Tok Pisin | Papunesia |
| Uralic (6) | Finnic (2) | Estonian, Finnish | Eurasia/Europe |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | Eurasia/Europe | |
| Khanty | Khanty | Eurasia/North Asia | |
| Permic | Komi-Permyak | Eurasia/North Asia | |
| Samoyedic | Nganasan | Eurasia/North Asia | |
| Turkic (1) | Turkish | Eurasia/Europe, West Asia | |
| Afro-Asiatic (7) | Cushitic | Kambaata | Africa/North Africa |
| Egyptian | Ancient Egyptian | Africa/North Africa | |
| Semitic (5) | Algerian Arabic, Amharic, Lebanese Arabic, Maltese, Modern Israeli Hebrew | Africa/North Africa Eurasia/West Asia Eurasia/Europe Eurasia/West Asia | |
| Dravidian (1) | Tamil | Eurasia/South Asia | |
| Japonic (1) | Japanese | Japanese | Eurasia/East Asia |
| Mongolic (1) | Mongolian | Eurasia/Central Asia | |
| Sino-Tibetan (4) | Burmo-Qiangic | Burmese | Eurasia/SE Asia |
| Qiangic | Japhug | Eurasia/East Asia | |
| Sinitic (2) | Cantonese, Mandarin | Eurasia/SE Asia | |
| Tai-Kadai (1) | Thai | Eurasia/SE Asia | |
| Austroasiatic (1) | Aslian | Jahai | Eurasia/SE Asia |
| Austronesian (6) | Malayo-Sumbawan | Indonesian | Eurasia/SE Asia |
| Northwest Sumatra Barrier Islands | Nias | Eurasia/SE Asia | |
| Oceanic (4) | Mota, Wotlap, Vurës, Xârâcùù | Papunesia | |
| Angan (1) | Menya | Papunesia | |
| Timor-Alor-Pantar (2) | Abui, Kamang | Papunesia | |
| Gunwinyguan (1) | Dalabon | Australia | |
| Nyulnylan (1) | Bardi | Australia | |
| Algonquian (1) | Eastern Ojibwe | North America | |
| Na-Dene (1) | Athapascan | Upper Kuskokwim | North America |
| Mayan (1) | Yucatec Maya | North America/Mesoamerica | |
| Otomangean (1) | Zapoteac | Zenzontepec Chatin | North America/Mesoamerica |
| Nadahup (1) | Hup | South America | |
| Quechuan (1) | Quechua II | Upper Napo Kichwa | South America |
| Boran (1) | Bora | South America | |
| Isolate (4) | Basque | Eurasia/Europe | |
| Ainu | Eurasia/East Asia | ||
| Pirahã | South America | ||
| (Araucanian) | Mapudungun | South America | |
| Niger-Congo (14) | Ubangian | Gbaya Bodoe | Africa/Subsaharan |
| Bantu (2) Gur (4) | Orungu, Zulu Buli, Dagaare, Gurenɛ, Kasem | ||
| Atlantic | Wolof | ||
| Kwa (6) | Akan, Dangme, Ewe, Ga, Sɛlɛ, Tafi | ||
| Mande (1) | Bambara | Africa/Subsaharan | |
| Khoe-Kwadi (Khoisan) (1) | G|ui | Africa/Subsaharan |
Table 2
Genetic affiliation of the languages in the sample with/without ‘affectionate warm’ expressions and with/without a systematic distinction between terms for pleasantly and unpleasantly warming temperatures.
| Language family | Languages with warm => aff expressions | Languages with no evidence for warm => aff expressions | Languages with warm ≠ hot | Languages without warm ≠ hot | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afro-Asiatic | 1 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Austronesian | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Indo-European | 29 (22/1/6)* | 1 | 18 | 12 | 30 |
| Japonic | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mongolic | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sino-Tibetan | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Turkic | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Uralic | 6 (2/3/1)* | 0 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Artificial | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Algic | 1 (0/1/0)* | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Angan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Austroasiatic | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Boran | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Dravidian | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Gunwinyguan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Creole | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Khoe-Kwadi (Khoisan) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mande | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mayan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Na-Dene | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Nadahup | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Niger-Congo | 0 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Nyulnylan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Otomanguean | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Quechuan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tai-Kadai | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Timor-Alor-Pantar | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Isolate | 1 (0/1/0)* | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Totals | 46 (33/6/7)* | 48 | 38 | 56 | 94 |
[i] Notes: * x/y/z refers to the number of languages with the values 1/2/3.
Table 3
The distribution of the languages with/without ‘affectionate warm’ expressions across the macro-areas in the sample (bold marks the dominant type in the area; 0 = not attested, 1 = multiple and systematic attestations, 2 = isolated examples, probably borrowed, 3 = ‘affectionate warm’ expressions not based on the adjectives currently used to refer to physical warmth).
| Values | Europe | Asia | Africa | Americas | Australia+Papunesia | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N. of languages | ||||||
| Languages with value 0 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 8 | 12 | 48 |
| Languages with value 1 | 22 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 33 |
| Languages with value 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Languages with value 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Languages with values 1/2/3 | 29 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 46 |
| Totals | 31 | 21 | 21 | 9 | 12 | 94 |
Table 4
The relative contribution of Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages to the data on the ‘affectionate warm’ expressions in the sample.
| Languages with ‘warm’ => aff expressions | Languages with no evidence for ‘warm’ => aff expressions | Total for the sample | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indo-European | Non-Indo-European | |||
| Number of families* | 1 | 9* | 19* | 29* |
| Relative share of families | 3,5% | 31% | 65,5% | 100% |
| Number of languages | 29 | 17 | 48 | 94 |
| Relative share of languages | 31% | 18% | 51% | 100% |
[i] Notes: * For simplicity, we count the two English-based Creole languages as belonging to the same family and Esperanto as belonging to a family of its own. The four isolates count as four different language families.
Table 5
The number of the languages with/without ‘affectionate warm’ expressions across languages having/lacking a systematic distinction between terms for pleasantly and unpleasantly warming temperatures (‘warm’ vs. ‘hot’).
| ‘warm’ vs. ‘hot’ temperature terms | Languages with ‘warm’ => aff expressions (values 1/2/3)* | Languages with no evidence for ‘warm’ => aff expressions (value 0) | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|
| warm ≠ hot | 23/4/3 | 6 | 36 |
| warm = hot | 8/2/5 | 42 | 58 |
| Totals | 31/6/8 | 48 | 94 |
[i] Note: * x/y/z refers to the number of languages with the values 1/2/3.
Figure 1
The distribution of the languages according to whether they have/lack ‘affectionate warm’ expressions and have/lack a systematic distinction between terms for pleasantly and unpleasantly warming temperatures (‘warm’ vs. ‘hot’).
Figure 2
The distribution of languages having/lacking extended uses of their temperature terms.