Universals Archive

IF alignment is ergative for some rule(s), THEN alignment tends to be accusative for othe…

alignmentergative-absolutivenominative-accusative

IF adpositions precede their NPs (i. e. they are prepositions), THEN head nouns almost al…

orderprepositionattributive

IF adpositions follow their NPs (i.e. they are postpositions), THEN head nouns almost alw…

orderpostpositionattributive

IF basic order is SOV and attributive nouns (genitive) follow the head noun, THEN attribu…

orderSOVattributive

IF basic order for nominal arguments is verb-final (i.e. SOV or OSV), THEN there is almos…

orderverb-finalcase system

IF in apposition the proper noun usually precedes the common noun, THEN the head noun pre…

orderappositionproper name

IF in apposition the common noun usually precedes the proper noun, THEN, with much better…

orderappositionattributive

IF basic order is consistently OV, THEN the morphology tends to be agglutinative.

orderOVagglutination

IF direct objects may control verb agreement (or take case marking) without doing so obli…

agreementcasedirect object

IF basic order is consistently VO, THEN the morphology tends to be flexive.

orderVOflexion

IF verbs agree with objects when they are not marked for case, THEN they will also agree …

agreementcasedirect object

IF basic order is OV, THEN verbal modifiers like those for negation, causation, and refle…

orderOVVO

IF the exponent of vocative is a prefix, THEN this marker has been reanalysed from a 1st …

casevocativeprefix

IF there is a case which has only zero exponence, THEN it will be that case whose functio…

casezero exponencesubject

IF morphemes of both number and case are present and both follow or both precede the noun…

affix-ordercasenumber

IF basic order for nominal arguments is verb-final (i.e. SOV or OSV), THEN there is almos…

orderverb-finalcase system

IF direct objects may control verb agreement (or take case marking) without doing so obli…

agreementcasedirect object

IF verbs agree with objects when they are not marked for case, THEN they will also agree …

agreementcasedirect object

IF basic order is OV, THEN verbal modifiers like those for negation, causation, and refle…

orderOVVO

IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN the segmental marker of internal case is closer to the s…

caseattributionagreement

IF Suffixaufnahme occurs with the head present, THEN it also occurs with the head missing.

caseattributionagreement

IF Suffixaufnahme occurs in multi-level (i.e. recursive) possessive constructions, THEN i…

caseattributionagreement

IF Suffixaufnahme occurs with nominal possessors, THEN it also occurs with pronominal one…

caseattributionagreement

IF a nominal possessor carries external case, THEN so does the pronominal one.

caseattributionagreement

IF there are aspirated stops (especially voiceless labial and alveolar), THEN there is /h…

aspirationstop

IF there are /t/, /d/, and the voiced aspirate /dh/, THEN there must already be the voice…

aspiratevoice

IF basic order is OV, THEN syllable structure is simple (tending towards CV).

orderOVsyllable

IF basic order is VO, THEN syllable structure is complex (permitting initial and final co…

orderVOsyllable

IF basic order is OV, THEN there will be pitch accent.IF basic order is VO, THEN there wi…

orderVOOV

IF there is an opposition of two vowels of the same aperture, THEN there is a correspondi…

voweldegree of aperturenarrow

IF there is no differentiation of unrounded vowels according to degree of aperture, THEN …

roundedunroundedvowel

IF there is a vocalic opposition, THEN there is a consonantal opposition.

vocalicconsonantalopposition

IF there are mellow fricatives, THEN there are corresponding strident fricatives.

mellowstridentfricative

Provided there are non-root as well as root morphemes, non-root morphemes have a more lim…

morphemerootnon-root

Every free root morpheme (in contrast to non-root morphemes) is expressed with more than …

rootnon-rootphoneme

IF there are phonemic alternations in root morphemes, THEN there are [the same?] phonemic…

rootnon-rootalternation

IF there is a distributive-key quantifier word, THEN that word is a distributive-key univ…

quantifierdistributive

IF alignment is predominantly ergative, THEN there tend to be: possessive and affective v…

alignmentergativeverb

IF alignment is predominantly active, THEN there tend to be the following properties as w…

alignmentactivenoun

IF alignment is predominantly active, THEN both nouns and verbs are subdivided into activ…

alignmentactivenoun

The extent of “material“ articulation, pertaining in particular to (a) the elaboration of…

phoneme systemsyllableword length

IF morphology is flexive or introflexive, THEN word forms tend to be two or three syllabl…

flexionintroflexionagglutination

Every human language has a stock of elements that shift their denotations depending on el…

deixis

Every language has a numeral system of finite scope.

numeral

Every number n (0<n<L) can be expressed as part of the numeral system in any langua…

numeral

Zero is never expressed as part of the numeral system.

numeral

In every numerical system some numbers are expressed by basic terms.

numeral

No number is ever expressed in any numeral system by means of a function any of whose arg…

numeral

IF alignment is ergative for some rule(s), THEN alignment tends to be accusative for othe…

alignmentergative-absolutivenominative-accusative

IF basic order is consistently OV, THEN the morphology tends to be agglutinative.

orderOVagglutination

IF basic order is consistently VO, THEN the morphology tends to be flexive.

orderVOflexion

IF alignment is (exclusively or overwhelmingly) nominative-accusative, THEN the causee of…

alignmentergative-absolutivenominative-accusative

IF one of the relations of (i) alienability, (ii) inalienability, and (iii) classificatio…

possessionalienableinalienable

IF there is incorporation of the nominal subject into the verb, THEN there is also incorp…

incorporationsubjectdirect object

Provided there are non-root as well as root morphemes, non-root morphemes have a more lim…

morphemerootnon-root

Every free root morpheme (in contrast to non-root morphemes) is expressed with more than …

rootnon-rootphoneme

IF there are phonemic alternations in root morphemes, THEN there are [the same?] phonemic…

rootnon-rootalternation

If there are only affixes which derive causatives form intransitive verbs, THEN these aff…

causativetransitivitypermissive

IF constituent order is free, THEN words tend to be longer.

word lengthorder

IF alignment is predominantly ergative, THEN (i) subject is initial and verb final, (ii) …

alignmentergativeorder

IF the same verbal meaning is expressible either through a construction where a complemen…

objectcaseaccusative

Objects of transitive or subjects of intransitive sentences (absolutives) may be alternat…

direct objectsubjectcase

IF one of the relations of (i) alienability, (ii) inalienability, and (iii) classificatio…

possessionalienableinalienable

IF a property is expressed alternatively by a noun and an adjective and there is an assoc…

word classnounadjective

IF a property is expressed alternatively by a noun and an adjective and there is also an …

word classnounadjective

IF the property concept of shape is expressed through adjectives, THEN those of colour an…

word classadjectiveproperty concept

IF there is a distinct case marker to express “direction from”, THEN there will be a dist…

casesemantics

The morphological complexity of a case marker to signal “direction to” is never less than…

casemorphemecomplexity

IF there are around seven cases or more, THEN locational relations with be expressed by c…

case systemlocal case

IF there are converbs with the fundamental meaning of succession, THEN there are converbs…

converb

If there are only affixes which derive causatives form intransitive verbs, THEN these aff…

causativetransitivitypermissive

IF any other meanings are expresssed by productive reduplication, THEN the meaning ‘chang…

reduplication

The extent of “material“ articulation, pertaining in particular to (a) the elaboration of…

phoneme systemsyllableword length

IF basic order is VO, THEN main stress in a Verb Phrase is to the right of Verb.IF basic …

stressVPverb

IF topic-comment structure is coded by intonation, THEN primary stress always falls insid…

topiccommentintonation

IF an aspirated consonant occurs preceding an unstressed vowel, THEN it also occurs prece…

/h/consonantvowel

When a yes-no question is differentiated from the corresponding assertion by an intonatio…

sentence typeinterrogativeyes-no question

IF yes-no questions do not have a rising terminal, higher pitched or special stress conto…

interrogative sentenceyes-no questionintonation

IF there are tag questions with nonrising (or not higher pitched or stressed)contours, TH…

interrogative sentencetag questionintonation

see Graphics

ordernounadjective

IF negation is morphological, THEN a. portmanteau realization of Neg;b. prosodic unity of…

negationprosodic phrasingstress

IF negation is syntactic, THEN a. moveability of Negation;b. prosodic independence (e.g. …

negationprosodic phrasingstress

IF morphology is agglutinative, THEN there is vowel harmony.IF morphology is flexive, THE…

agglutinationflexionvowel harmony

IF /h/ precedes unstressed syllables, THEN it also precedes secondary stressed syllables.…

/h/stressaspiration

The extent of “material“ articulation, pertaining in particular to (a) the elaboration of…

phoneme systemsyllableword length

IF there is inflection, THEN there is derivation.

IF a number is expressed by subtraction, or a subtraction occurs as a constituent of a co…

numeral

IF a number is expressed by subtraction as y-x, THEN every number z (z>y>n) is also expre…

numeral

IF in any sum the smaller addend precedes the larger, THEN the same order holds for all s…

numeral

IF in any sum the larger addend precedes the smaller, THEN the same order holds for all l…

ordernumeral

IF there are numerals in which the expression of the multiplier follows that of the multi…

numeralordernoun

A link for addition is never initial in a numeral.

numeral

In numeral systems with only simple lexical representation:IF the limit number is 2, THEN…

numeralnumberdual

IF a link for addition occurs medially, THEN it always goes with the following numeral in…

numeralorderpostposition

When there is a word order variation in addition between larger and smaller, and one orde…

ordernumeral

IF a link for subtraction is final, THEN there are postpositions.

numeralpostposition

Inversion of word order is always available to convey logical or emotional emphasis.

orderinversion

IF there is no category of definiteness/indefiniteness, THEN word order is used for disti…

definitenessordergiven

IF an expression is the topic of a sentence, THEN it is typically definite or generic.

topicdefinitenessgeneric

IF there are specialized topic markers, THEN there will be high topic prominence (in the …

topic

Every language has syntactic topic constructions in which an expression which refers to t…

topicordercomment

Every language has cleft constructions, either wh-clefts or it-clefts or both.

topiccleftwh-cleft

Every language has “double-subject”* constructions.

topiccomment

All languages have constructions whose function is to place topic, both old and new, befo…

topiccommentorder

The higher the topic-prominence, the less restricted the distribution of zero anaphora.

topicanaphorazero

The higher the topic-prominence, the fewer subject-creating constructions.

topicsubject

The most neutral position for focus in a language will be the position normally occupied …

focusdirect object

The Length Strategy: The longer a sentence is, the more likely it is to be classified as …

complexitylengthformality

Provided there is a constituent class including both topical and non-topical members:IF t…

verb agreementtopic

Baby talk has shorter sentences, fewer subordinate clauses, fewer grammatical relations, …

baby talkcomplexitysubordination

Baby talk is also characterized by:high percentage of questions;frequent use of tags;here…

baby talk

The most striking – and apparently universal – variability is in what can be called "degr…

baby talk

Like other registers, baby talk or selected features of it may be extended to secondary u…

baby talk

IF respect or social distance is distinguished for speaker (1st person) or other (3rd per…

speakeraddresseesocial distance

Processess of variation of the type of pronoun used in reference for showing degrees of r…

pronounpersonal pronounspeaker

IF respect or social distance is distinguished for plural pronouns, THEN it is also disti…

pronounpersonal pronounsocial distance

A pronominal form used for showing greater respect or social distance is never eliminated…

pronounpersonal pronounsocial distance

IF there is no definite article, THEN there is no indirect speech.

definite articleindirect speech

IF there is a great deal of ellipsis (e.g., in replies to questions or in comments on sta…

noun classclassifierellipsis

IF alignment is ergative for some rule(s), THEN alignment tends to be accusative for othe…

alignmentergative-absolutivenominative-accusative

IF adpositions precede their NPs (i. e. they are prepositions), THEN head nouns almost al…

orderprepositionattributive

IF adpositions follow their NPs (i.e. they are postpositions), THEN head nouns almost alw…

orderpostpositionattributive

IF basic order is SOV and attributive nouns (genitive) follow the head noun, THEN attribu…

orderSOVattributive

IF basic order for nominal arguments is verb-final (i.e. SOV or OSV), THEN there is almos…

orderverb-finalcase system

IF in apposition the proper noun usually precedes the common noun, THEN the head noun pre…

orderappositionproper name

IF in apposition the common noun usually precedes the proper noun, THEN, with much better…

orderappositionattributive

IF basic order is consistently OV, THEN the morphology tends to be agglutinative.

orderOVagglutination

IF basic order is consistently VO, THEN the morphology tends to be flexive.

orderVOflexion

IF verbs agree with objects when they are not marked for case, THEN they will also agree …

agreementcasedirect object

IF basic order is OV, THEN verbal modifiers like those for negation, causation, and refle…

orderOVVO

IF Suffixaufnahme occurs with the head present, THEN it also occurs with the head missing.

caseattributionagreement

The noun phrase (NP) internal distribution of case between head noun and any agreeing con…

NPnounagreement

Case and number agreement of attributive adjectives are determined independently: number …

NPnouncase

The agreement features of modifiers in NP-internal agreement may include case but not per…

nounmodifiercase

The agreement features of governing elements in agreement with NPs governed may include p…

verbadpositionpossession

Relativization is never limited to NPs demoted from subjecthood by passivization.

diathesispassivizationrelativization

Relativization is never limited to NPs demoted from direct object status by dative shift.

direct objectdative-shiftrelativization

Passivization is never limited to NPs demoted from direct object status by dative shift.

diathesispassivizationdative-shift

An object agreement marker cannot be formally and semantically entirely distinct from a p…

objectagreementpersonal pronoun

When class and number agreement is being lost, not all class/number-agreeing adjectives l…

adjectivenoun classnumber

Cases can be neutralized for a given Number, but not Numbers for a given Case.

numbercase

Objects of transitive or subjects of intransitive sentences (absolutives) may be alternat…

direct objectsubjectcase

In transitive action nominalizations, either all arguments retain their sentential depend…

nominalizationdependent-markingcase

IF there is a case which has only zero exponence, THEN it will be that case whose functio…

casezero exponencesubject

IF morphemes of both number and case are present and both follow or both precede the noun…

affix-ordercasenumber

IF direct objects may control verb agreement (or take case marking) without doing so obli…

agreementcasedirect object

IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN the segmental marker of internal case is closer to the s…

caseattributionagreement

IF there is a ligative in Suffixaufnahme constructions, THEN it is ordered between the in…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF Aufnahme is Präfixaufnahme rather than Suffixaufnahme, THEN there is no ligative betwe…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN there will also be the internal case occurring without t…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme <br>

IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN there will also be the external case occurring without t…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN there is also at least one of the following NP-internal …

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF Suffixaufnahme is historically preceded by a different construction, THEN one possibil…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF there is Suffixaufnahme both in headed and headless NPs at one time and at some later …

caseattributionagreement

IF there is Suffixaufnahme with both preposed and postposed attributives at one time and …

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

Assuming that grammatical relations are ordered from left to right according to their dec…

NPadjunctdirect object

IF the verb agrees with Attributive, THEN it also agrees with Oblique Object.IF the verb …

agreementverbsubject

If in the NP-internal distribution of case a lexically assigned case competes with a stru…

casestructural caselexical case

IF an overt copula is required for a predicate that is an action word (verb), THEN it is …

copulaverbadjective

Within noun phrases, lighter constituents tend to precede heavier constituents, as follow…

relative clauseattributivegenitive

IF one of the relations of (i) alienability, (ii) inalienability, and (iii) classificatio…

possessionalienableinalienable

IF a target agrees in Case, THEN it also agrees in Number and Gender.IF a target agrees i…

agreementnumbercase

A relation that is higher on the hierarchy of centrality (subject-object > local relation…

grammatical relationslocal relationsword order

IF one of the elements of the hierarchy takes ergative case-marking, THEN all units to it…

alignmentcaseergative

IF there is an Adverb as a distinct word class, THEN there are also Adjectives, Nouns, an…

word classverbnoun

Predicate hierarchy 1A:non-presentative ascriptive predications (Xi)loc > A > N > (Xi…

word classpredicatepossessive

Hierarchy of proneness to lose sentential head-marking: A > S > P, where sentential head-…

nominalizationhead-marking

IF a target agrees in case, THEN it will not agree in person; IF a target agrees in perso…

agreementcaseperson

IF heads precede/follow dependents in non-derived noun phrases, THEN they will also prece…

nominalizationorder

In action nominalizations, IF the S argument receives sentential dependent-marking, THEN …

nominalizationdependent-markinggenitive

IF basic order is SOV, THEN predicative adjectives have non-verbal status, and vice versa…

orderSOVSVO

IF attributive adjectives have the form of relative clauses, THEN basic order is SVO, and…

attributionadjectiverelative clause

IF the marker for NP conjunction has the same form as the comitative marker, THEN basic o…

orderSVONP

IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is an independent morpheme, THEN it will not ex…

caseadpositiongrammatical relations

IF a relational marker (case, adposition) participates in agreement, THEN it will not fai…

caseadpositionagreement

IF a relational marker (case, adposition) does not express subject-object relations, THEN…

caseadpositiongrammatical relations

IF constituent order is rigid, THEN cases are absent, and vice versa; If cases are absent…

ordercasepreposition

Governors either follow or they precede their governees in all of the following construct…

ordersubjectdirect object

IF there is segmental relation marking, THEN word order is free, and vice versa.IF there …

inflectionorder

IF the exponent of vocative is a prefix, THEN this marker has been reanalysed from a 1st …

casevocativeprefix

Case affixes can be grammaticalized from adpositions only if the noun is not separated fr…

caseadpositionpreposition

Secondary nasal consonants are, apart from borrowing and analogical formations, always th…

consonantnasal

Nasal vowels, apart from borrowing and analogical formations, always result from the loss…

consonantnasalvowel

A nasal syllabic phoneme, apart from borrowings and analogical formations, always results…

nasal syllabicvowel

Nasalized vowels always arise from a sequence of vowel and nasal consonant origin.

nasalizedvowelnasal

When there is i and ü, i may originate from ü but not ü from i.

highfrontvowel

Apart from remaining what it is, the numeral ‘one’ can only be reanalysed as an indefinit…

numeralindefinitearticle

Definite articles are often synchronically identical with or clearly related to demonstra…

articledemonstrativedefinite

The passive-to-ergative change is unidirectional. There are no passive constructions whic…

diathesispassivealignment

A causative can become a passive, but a passive cannot become a causative.

passivecausative

BACK > FRONT > UP, IN > DOWN. If any one of the five concepts is derived from the body-pa…

spatial orientationbody part

IF basic order is OV, THEN IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the genitive precedes…

orderSOVadjective

IF basic order is OV, THEN IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the genitive precedes…

orderOVverb

IF basic order is VSO, THEN IF the adjective follows the noun, THEN the genitive follows …

orderVSOnoun

IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN IF the adjective follows the noun, THEN the genitive…

orderverb-initialnoun

IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the adjective follows the noun, THEN the genitive foll…

orderprepositionadjective

IF there are prepositions and basic order is not SVO, THEN IF the adjectives follows the …

orderSVOpreposition

IF there are postpositions, THEN IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the genitive pr…

orderpostpositionadjective

IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the demonstrative determiner follows the noun, THEN th…

orderprepositionnoun

IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the numeral follows the noun, THEN the adjective follo…

orderprepositionnoun

IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the demonstrative follows the noun, THEN the relative …

prepositionordernoun

IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the adjective follows the noun, THEN the relative clau…

prepositionordernoun

IF there are prepositions, THEN (IF nouns precede demonstratives or nouns precede numeral…

orderprepositionnoun

IF the exponent of vocative is a prefix, THEN this marker has been reanalysed from a 1st …

casevocativeprefix

IF Suffixaufnahme occurs with the head present, THEN it also occurs with the head missing.

caseattributionagreement

IF Suffixaufnahme occurs in multi-level (i.e. recursive) possessive constructions, THEN i…

caseattributionagreement

IF Suffixaufnahme occurs with nominal possessors, THEN it also occurs with pronominal one…

caseattributionagreement

IF a nominal possessor carries external case, THEN so does the pronominal one.

caseattributionagreement

IF Suffixaufnahme occurs when the adnominal case is the same as the head case, THEN it al…

caseattributionagreement

IF a case is utilized for purposes of Suffixaufnahme, THEN it will also be used otherwise.

caseattributionagreement

IF Suffixaufnahme occurs with continuous NPs, THEN it also occurs with discontinuous ones…

caseattributionagreement

IF an adnominal nominal preceding the head shows Suffixaufnahme, THEN so does an adnomina…

caseattributionagreement

IF prenominal constituents are marked for inflectional categories such as number, gender,…

orderagreementNP

IF there is a ligative in Suffixaufnahme constructions, THEN it is ordered between the in…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF Aufnahme is Präfixaufnahme rather than Suffixaufnahme, THEN there is no ligative betwe…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF alignment is ergative for some rule(s), THEN alignment tends to be accusative for othe…

alignmentergative-absolutivenominative-accusative

IF basic order is SOV and attributive nouns (genitive) follow the head noun, THEN attribu…

orderSOVattributive

IF in apposition the proper noun usually precedes the common noun, THEN the head noun pre…

orderappositionproper name

IF basic order is consistently OV, THEN the morphology tends to be agglutinative.

orderOVagglutination

IF basic order is consistently VO, THEN the morphology tends to be flexive.

orderVOflexion

IF verbs agree with objects when they are not marked for case, THEN they will also agree …

agreementcasedirect object

Assuming that grammatical relations are ordered from left to right according to their dec…

NPadjunctdirect object

IF basic order is VSO, THEN, with overwhelmingly more than chance frequency, adjectives f…

orderVSOadjective

IF the descriptive adjective precedes the noun, THEN, with overwhelmingly more than chanc…

adjectivenoundemonstrative

When any or all of these items — demonstrative, numeral, descriptive adjective — precede …

orderadjectivedemonstrative

IF some or all adverbs follow the adjective they modify, THEN the qualifying adjective fo…

orderadverbadjective

IF the relative clause precedes the noun either as the only or as an alternative construc…

orderrelative clauseadjective

IF direct objects may control verb agreement (or take case marking) without doing so obli…

agreementcasedirect object

IF basic order is OV, THEN verbal modifiers like those for negation, causation, and refle…

orderOVVO

IF the adjective follows the noun, THEN the adjective expresses all the inflectional cate…

orderadjectivenoun

IF alignment is (exclusively or overwhelmingly) nominative-accusative, THEN the causee of…

alignmentergative-absolutivenominative-accusative

IF basic order is VSO, THEN IF the adjective follows the noun, THEN the genitive follows …

orderVSOnoun

IF the verb agrees with anything other than subjects, THEN it agrees with some or all sub…

verbagreementsubject

IF the verb agrees with anything other than subjects, THEN it agrees with some or all dir…

verbagreementsubject

IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the demonstrative follows the noun, THEN the relative …

prepositionordernoun

IF there are any formal similarities in agreement markers, THEN they are between non-subj…

agreementverbdirect object

An object agreement marker cannot be formally and semantically entirely distinct from a p…

objectagreementpersonal pronoun

IF there is agreement in unmarked construction types (e.g. with attributive adjectives as…

attributive adjectiveappositiveagreement

IF basic order is consistently OV, THEN interrogative markers follow the verb and are sen…

orderOVinterrogative

Case affixes can be grammaticalized from adpositions only if the noun is not separated fr…

caseadpositionpreposition

IF alignment is accusative, THEN there will be a single “subject” series of personal affi…

alignmentaccusativeverb

IF one of the elements of the hierarchy takes ergative case-marking, THEN all units to it…

alignmentcaseergative

IF number is indicated by inflection in the 1st and/or 2nd person pronouns, THEN it is in…

numberpersonal pronounperson

IF number in the 1st and/or 2nd person pronoun is indicated by a plural marker also used …

numberpluralnoun

IF there is an opposition accusative/nominative in the inflection of nouns, THEN there is…

alignmentcaseaccusative

All languages have the place distinctions of high and low and of front and back in their …

vowelhighlow

IF a sequence of unlike tones on a word or morpheme is permitted, THEN like tones on a wo…

tonelevel tonecontour tone

IF there are complex tonal contours, THEN there will also be simpler ones.

tonecontour tonecomplex

IF there is at least one posterior (compact) injective, THEN there will be least one ante…

consonantinjectiveposterior

Injectives tend not to cluster with plain consonants.

injectiveconsonant cluster

IF there are unvoiced ejectives, THEN there will be plain stops.

ejectivestopvoice

IF adpositions precede their NPs (i. e. they are prepositions), THEN head nouns almost al…

orderprepositionattributive

IF adpositions follow their NPs (i.e. they are postpositions), THEN head nouns almost alw…

orderpostpositionattributive

IF morphemes of both number and case are present and both follow or both precede the noun…

affix-ordercasenumber

IF in apposition the common noun usually precedes the proper noun, THEN, with much better…

orderappositionattributive

IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN the segmental marker of internal case is closer to the s…

caseattributionagreement

IF the internal case involved in Suffixaufnahme is a case other than that of the possesso…

caseattributionagreement

IF the demonstrative follows the noun, THEN the relative clause follows the noun. OR, BY …

orderrelative clausedemonstrative

IF there is a gender distinction in the 2nd person singular of pronouns, THEN the 3rd per…

pronoungendernumber

IF there is ergative alignment, THEN action nominalizations are likely to be of the SENT …

nominalizationalignmentergative-absolutive

IF nouns share inflectional properties with adjectives, THEN they also share these proper…

word classnounadjective

IF there is a noun form for use as as subject of intransitive verbs of state, THEN this f…

subjectintransitivityverb

IF interrogative sentences are formed from declarative sentences by inversion so that ver…

ordersentence typeinterrogative

IF there is a case which has only zero exponence, THEN it will be that case whose functio…

casezero exponencesubject

IF basic order is OV, THEN IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the genitive precedes…

orderOVverb

IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN IF the adjective follows the noun, THEN the genitive…

orderverb-initialnoun

IF there are prepositions and basic order is not SVO, THEN IF the adjectives follows the …

orderSVOpreposition

IF there are postpositions, THEN IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the genitive pr…

orderpostpositionadjective

IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the demonstrative determiner follows the noun, THEN th…

orderprepositionnoun

IF the demonstrative determiner follows the noun, THEN the adjective follows the noun. OR…

ordernoundemonstrative

IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the numeral follows the noun, THEN the adjective follo…

orderprepositionnoun

IF the numeral follows the noun, THEN the adjective follows the noun. OR, BY CONTRAPOSITI…

ordernounnumeral

IF there are postpositions, THEN IF the adverb precedes the adjective within the adjectiv…

orderpostpositionadjective

Within noun phrases, lighter constituents tend to precede heavier constituents, as follow…

relative clauseattributivegenitive

IF morphology is agglutinative, THEN there is no grammatical gender.

agglutinationgender

IF alignment is ergative for some rule(s), THEN alignment tends to be accusative for othe…

alignmentergative-absolutivenominative-accusative

IF adpositions precede their NPs (i. e. they are prepositions), THEN head nouns almost al…

orderprepositionattributive

IF adpositions follow their NPs (i.e. they are postpositions), THEN head nouns almost alw…

orderpostpositionattributive

IF basic order is SOV and attributive nouns (genitive) follow the head noun, THEN attribu…

orderSOVattributive

IF there is a case which has only zero exponence, THEN it will be that case whose functio…

casezero exponencesubject

IF morphemes of both number and case are present and both follow or both precede the noun…

affix-ordercasenumber

IF basic order for nominal arguments is verb-final (i.e. SOV or OSV), THEN there is almos…

orderverb-finalcase system

IF in apposition the common noun usually precedes the proper noun, THEN, with much better…

orderappositionattributive

IF basic order is consistently OV, THEN the morphology tends to be agglutinative.

orderOVagglutination

IF direct objects may control verb agreement (or take case marking) without doing so obli…

agreementcasedirect object

IF basic order is consistently VO, THEN the morphology tends to be flexive.

orderVOflexion

IF verbs agree with objects when they are not marked for case, THEN they will also agree …

agreementcasedirect object

IF the exponent of vocative is a prefix, THEN this marker has been reanalysed from a 1st …

casevocativeprefix

IF Suffixaufnahme is historically preceded by a different construction, THEN one possibil…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF there is Suffixaufnahme both in headed and headless NPs at one time and at some later …

caseattributionagreement

IF there is Suffixaufnahme with both preposed and postposed attributives at one time and …

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF there is Suffixaufnahme both in NPs where the attributive and the head are prosodicall…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF an attributive nominal has two or more affixes at one time and at an earlier time one …

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

IF there is Suffixaufnahme at one time and at some later point there is not, THEN one pos…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

Case affixes can be grammaticalized from adpositions only if the noun is not separated fr…

caseadpositionpreposition

IF noun-phrase internal agreement (in class) is being lost on demonstratives, THEN adject…

adjectivenumeraldemonstrative

IF adjectives are losing number agreement, THEN they do not, or no longer, have class agr…

adjectiveagreementnoun class

When class and number agreement is being lost, not all class/number-agreeing adjectives l…

adjectivenoun classnumber

IF there are de-verbal case markers others than locatives, THEN there will be de-verbal l…

caselocativegrammaticalization

IF in apposition the proper noun usually precedes the common noun, THEN the head noun pre…

orderappositionproper name

IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN there will be NP-internal attributive constituents outsi…

caseagreementSuffixaufnahme

An object agreement marker cannot be formally and semantically entirely distinct from a p…

objectagreementpersonal pronoun

IF heads precede/follow dependents in non-derived noun phrases, THEN they will also prece…

nominalizationorder

IF an argument retains its sentential head-marking in an action nominalization, THEN the …

nominalizationhead-markingdependent-marking

IF there are /t/, /d/, and the voiced aspirate /dh/, THEN there must already be the voice…

aspiratevoice

IF there is a prolative case, THEN there will be an ablative case.IF there is an ablative…

case systemlocal caselocative

IF there is an opposition of two vowels of the same aperture, THEN there is a correspondi…

voweldegree of aperturenarrow

IF there is no differentiation of unrounded vowels according to degree of aperture, THEN …

roundedunroundedvowel

IF there is a vocalic opposition, THEN there is a consonantal opposition.

vocalicconsonantalopposition

IF there are mellow fricatives, THEN there are corresponding strident fricatives.

mellowstridentfricative

IF there is an opposition labials vs. dentals, THEN there is an opposition of nasal vs. o…

labialsdentalsnasal

IF there are converbs with the fundamental meaning of succession, THEN there are converbs…

converb

Palatal noninjective stops have a strong tendency to be replaced by alveopalatal affricat…

palatalinjectivestop

No matter which direction the process ( d⇔ð, t⇔† ) is going, the stop outcome…

spirantization

IF a low vowel in nasalized, THEN it is raised.

vowelnasalization

IF only one member of a customary phoneme opposition exists, THEN the existing member of …

phonemeopposition

Hierarchy of major-class and manner features in the context of consonantal weakening: Ø …

consonantweakeninghierarchy

IF nasalization occurs before a stop, THEN it will occur before a continuant.

nasalconsonantstop

IF nasalization occurs before a vowel, THEN it will occur before a consonant.

nasalconsonantvowel

IF denasalization applies to /o/, THEN it also applies to /e/.

nasaldenasalizationvowel

IF nasalization occurs before /f/, THEN it also occurs before /≈/.

nasalnasalizationvowel

IF nasalized /i/ lowers to nasalized /e/, THEN nasalized /e/ also lowers to nasalized /a…

nasalloweringvowel

When there is final vowel deletion:IF /o/ undergoes elision at the end of a word, THEN /e…

vowelelisionapocope

IF there is variation of the category of person in personal pronouns so as to show degree…

personal pronounpersonnumber

IF there are diphthongs, THEN there are or were long vowels.

vowellongdiphthong

The less sonorous a vowel (or class of vowels), the more prone it will be to assimilate; …

assimilationvowel harmonysonority

High vowels tend to assimilate more readily and earlier than low vowels.

assimilationvowel harmony

IF there is assimilation of low vowels, THEN there is assimilation of high vowels.

assimilationvowel harmonyheight

Unstressed vowels are more likely to assimilate than stressed vowels.

assimilationvowel harmonystress

IF an otherwise harmonizing unstressed vowel becomes stressed due to intonational factors…

assimilationvowel harmonystress

IF basic order is verb-final, THEN there will be a strong tendency to place grammatical m…

orderverb-finalverbal morpheme

IF basic order is verb-medial, THEN there is a strong tendency for preposed grammatical m…

orderverb-medialmorpheme

IF a consonant is palatalized before [e], THEN necessarily it will be also palatalized be…

palatalizationconsonant

There is a tendency for the existential, copulative, and verb-category carrying dummy ele…

verbexistencecopula

There are severe limitations on the kinds of synchronic patterns and diachronic restructu…

verbexistencecopula