Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
158 entries · page 1 of 4
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 222 | IF there is a distributive-key quantifier word, THEN that word is a distributive-key universal quantifier. |
lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | quantifier, distributive |
| 262 | IF alignment is predominantly ergative, THEN there tend to be: possessive and affective verbs (verba habendi and verba sentiendi) in syntactic constructions distinct from that of verbs of action; a special affective case; nouns divided into lexical classes; "labile" (or "diffuse") verbs rather than a classification of verbs as transitive and intransitive; an opposition of inclusive and exclusive in the 1st person plural. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | alignment, ergative, verb, affective verb, possessive verb, labile verb, affective case, noun class, personal pronouns, exclusive, inclusive, 1st person, transitivity |
| 265 | IF alignment is predominantly active, THEN there tend to be the following properties as well: the class of inactive nouns is further subdivided by shape categories; the class of active nouns is further subdivided by animacy (person vs. animal); there are singular and plural verbs in suppletive relationship; there are polysemies of nouns based on analogies existing between animal and plant organisms and their functions. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | alignment, active, noun, noun classification, active, inactive, animacy, verbal number, suppletion, polysemy |
| 266 | IF alignment is predominantly active, THEN both nouns and verbs are subdivided into active and inactive classes (animate vs. inanimate, action vs. state), and there is a corresponding distinction of active vs. inactive syntactic constructions, showing a distinction of objects into "near" and "distant" rather than direct and indirect/oblique. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | alignment, active, noun, noun classification, animacy, verb, verb classification, action, state, object, direct, indirect, oblique |
| 362 | The extent of “material“ articulation, pertaining in particular to (a) the elaboration of sound systems, (b) the complexity of syllable structures, (c) word length, (d) accentual differentiation (as opposed to not-so-articulated tonal modification), correlates with the extent of “formal“ articulation, pertaining in particular to (a) the differentiation of parts of speech, (b) the elaboration of inflectional and derivational systems, (c) analytic syntax (as opposed to not-so-articulated polysynthesis). | prosodic phonology, inflection, word formation, syntax, lexicon | mutual implication | phoneme system, syllable, word length, accent, tone, word class, polysynthesis |
| 364 | IF morphology is flexive or introflexive, THEN word forms tend to be two or three syllables long. IF morphology is agglutinative or incorporating, THEN word forms tend to be longer. IF bound morphology is lacking (i.e. a language is isolating), THEN word forms tend to be shorter. |
phonology, morphology, lexicon | mutual implication | flexion, introflexion, agglutination, incorporation, isolation, word length, syllable |
| 496 | Every human language has a stock of elements that shift their denotations depending on elementary features of the speech situation – i.e., deictics. | lexicon | unconditional | deixis |
| 527 | Every language has a numeral system of finite scope. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 528 | Every number n (0<n<L) can be expressed as part of the numeral system in any language. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 529 | Zero is never expressed as part of the numeral system. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 530 | In every numerical system some numbers are expressed by basic terms. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 531 | No number is ever expressed in any numeral system by means of a function any of whose arguments is ≥ L. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 532 | IF a numeral system has only basic terms, THEN the largest value of L is 5 and the smallest value is 2. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 533 | IF a numeral system has arithmetical operations, THEN its smallest value for L is 4. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 562 | IF an atomic numeral expression is borrowed from one language into another, THEN all higher atomic expressions are borrowed. | lexicon | implication | numeral, borrowing |
| 616 | IF PURPLE or PINK or ORANGE or GREY , THEN BROWN. IF BROWN, THEN BLUE. IF BLUE, THEN YELLOW and GREEN. IF YELLOW or GREEN, THEN RED. IF RED, THEN WHITE and BLACK. |
lexicon | implicational hierarchy | colour terms hierarchy |
| 623 | IF a distributive-key quantifier word and its ordinary counterpart are associated, in a certain construction, with different number morphology, THEN the distributive-key quantifier word is associated with singular morphology, and the ordinary quantifier word with plural morphology. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | quantifier word, number, singular, plural |
| 628 | If there is a distributive-share quantifier word, THEN there is a distributive-share numeral word. | lexicon | implication | quantifier, distributive, numeral |
| 630 | IF a distributive-share quantifier word and its ordinary counterpart are associated, in a certain construction, with different number morphology, THEN the distributive share quantifier word is associated with plural morphology, and the ordinary quantifier word with singular morphology. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | quantifier, distributive, number, plural, singular |
| 634 | IF there is a scopal quantifier word, THEN that word is a distributive quantifier word. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | quantifier, distributive |
| 674 | IF lexical items are more stable than other items in one language family, THEN these items are among the more stable items in another language family. | lexicon | implication | word |
| 906 | IF tone is omnisyllabic, THEN there will be a repertoire of purely emotional/affective particles. | phonology, lexicon | implication | tone, particle |
| 964 | Apart from remaining what it is, the numeral ‘one’ can only be reanalysed as an indefinite article (and/or pronoun). | lexicon, syntax | target < source | numeral, indefinite, article, pronoun |
| 965 | Definite articles are often synchronically identical with or clearly related to demonstratives which are also in the overwhelming majority of cases derived from demonstratives historically. | lexicon | target < source | article, demonstrative, definite |
| 969 | IF indefinite articles are quite distinct from the numeral ‘one’ and the object follows the verb, THEN they will precede the noun. IF indefinite articles are quite distinct from the numeral ‘one’ and the object precedes the verb, THEN they will follow the noun. |
syntax, lexicon | implication | order, verb, object, article, indefinite, numeral, noun |
| 1154 | IF there is a distributive-share word, THEN there will be a distributive-share numeral word. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | quantifier, distributive, numeral |
| 1172 | IF there are simple and distributive-key universal quantifiers, and the two are morphologically related, THEN the distributive-key quantifier is derived from the simple universal quantifier by a morphosyntactic process. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | quantifier, distributive, universal |
| 1173 | IF there is a distributive-key universal quantifier, THEN there will be a simple universal quantifier. |
lexicon | implication | quantifier, distributive, universal |
| 1174 | IF there is simple and distributive-share universal quantifiers, THEN the distributive-share universal quantifier is derived from the simple universal quantifier by a morphosyntactic process. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | quantifier, distributive, universal |
| 1175 | IF there is a morphosyntactic process P to form a distributive-share universal quantifier, THEN there also will be P to form distributive-share numerals, distributive-share non-cardinal quantifiers, and distributive-share expressions of non-quantificational meanings. | lexicon | implication | quantifier, distributive, universal |
| 1176 | IF there is a distributive-share universal quantifier, THEN there will be a simple universal quantifier. | lexicon | implication | quantifier, distributive, universal |
| 1177 | BACK > FRONT > UP, IN > DOWN. If any one of the five concepts is derived from the body-part model, then none of the concepts to its left may be derived from the landmark or any other model. |
lexicon | target < source | spatial orientation, body part |
| 1178 | IF the terms for a cardinal direction are introduced, THEN the sun provides the most likely model to be selected. IF new terms for cardinal directions ‘east’ and ‘west’ are acquired, THEN most likely these terms are derived from expressions relating, respectively, to the rising and setting sun. |
lexicon | target < source | spatial orientation |
| 1179 | IF there are terms for ‘north’ and/or ‘south’, THEN there are terms for ‘east’ and/or ‘west’. | lexicon | implication | spatial orientation, direction |
| 1180 | Terms for ‘pupil (of the eye)’ are most likely to be derived from nouns denoting a small human like a baby, or a child, or a diminutive humanlike object like a doll. | lexicon | target < source | body part |
| 1181 | When terms for thumbs, big toes and remaining digits are derived from kin-terms, thumbs and big toes are likely to be built on kin-terms of an older, ascending generation and the remaining fingers and toes tend to be derived from terms for offspring or other younger relatives. |
lexicon | target < source | body parts, kinship term |
| 1182 | The notion ‘muscle’ is expressed predominantly by using small mammals as structural templates. As in the case of English muscle (which is ultimately derived from Latin Musculus ‘little mouse’), terms for ‘mouse’ or ‘rat’ appear to provide the most common source for ‘muscle’ or ‘muscular part of the body’, where the latter may refer to such notions as ‘thigh’, ‘calf of a leg’, or ‘biceps’. Other animals such as lizards, rabbits, toads, or calves, are used less frequently that mice and rabbits. | lexicon | target < source | body parts |
| 1183 | For the concept ‘testicle’, by far the most widespread source is provided by terms for ‘egg’, alternative options being ‘stone’, ‘pebble’, ‘seed’, and ‘fruit’. | lexicon | target < source | body parts |
| 1184 | IF there is a separate term for ‘leg’ (as opposed to ‘foot’), THEN there is a term for ‘arm’ (as opposed to ‘hand’). | lexicon | implication | body parts |
| 1185 | IF there is a separate term for ‘foot’, THEN there is also one for ‘hand’. | lexicon | implication | body parts |
| 1186 | IF there are terms for individual toes, THEN there are terms for individual fingers. | lexicon | implication | body parts |
| 1188 | When expressions for deictic orientation are derived forms, they may derive from terms for body parts or environmental landmarks but never from terms for celestial or atmospheric phenomena. | lexicon | target < source | location, deixis |
| 1189 | When terms for deictic and cardinal orientation are related, the terms for cardinal orientation are derived from terms for deictic orientation, but not vice versa. | lexicon | target < source | orientation, deixis |
| 1190 | When sun and wind provide templates for developing nomenclatures for orientation, they will be sources for terms of cardinal but not of deictic orientation. | lexicon | target < source | location, deixis |
| 1191 | In all cultures/languages, there is a hierarchy of terms referring to the animal and plant kingdoms (and perhaps other domains of folk taxonomies) with at least a superordinate (life form), a basic (generic), and a subordinate (specific) level. The basic level terms have the highest salience (e.g. are the ones used most frequently, are shortest and morphologically least complex). |
lexicon | unconditional | (biological) folk taxonomy |
| 1201 | IF a language is (more or less) analytic, THEN it has a (more or less) regular phraseological system. | morphology, lexicon | implication | phraseology, analytic |
| 1219 | Nouns denoting body parts are the preferred sources for the grammaticalization of local adpositions. | syntax, lexicon | target < source | case, local case, adposition, grammaticalization |
| 1293 | IF non-necessity is expressed by an auxiliary, THEN so is impossibility; IF impossibility is expressed by an auxiliary, THEN so is necessity; IF necessity is expressed by an auxiliary, THEN so is possibility. |
syntax, semantics, lexicon | implication | modality, auxiliary |
| 1324 | Among the deictic elements of every human language is one that denotes the speaker and one that denotes the addressee. | lexicon | unconditional | deictic elements, personal pronoun, speaker, addressee |
| 1325 | Every human language has proper names. | lexicon | unconditional | proper name |