Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
158 entries · page 3 of 4
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1485 | IF there is no form with the meaning 'hearer' and/or 'hearers' and/or 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN there is a special form with the meaning 'hearers' and/or 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, hearer, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1486 | IF there is a special form with the meaning 'hearers' and/or 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s) ', THEN there is a special form with the meaning 'hearer'. | lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, hearer, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1487 | IF there is a pronominal form denoting the dual of the metapersons 'hearer', 'hearer + non-participant' and/or 'non-participant', THEN there are pronominal forms denoting the dual of metapersons 'speaker + hearer' and/or 'speaker + non-participant'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, speaker, hearer, non-participant, number, dual |
| 1488 | IF there is a pronominal form denoting the trial of the metapersons 'hearer' and 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' and/or the trial of 'non-participant', THEN there is a pronominal form denoting the trial of the metapersons 'speaker + hearer(s)', 'speaker + hearer + non-participant' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, speaker, non-participant, number, trial |
| 1489 | IF there is an opposition of the metapersons 'speaker + hearer(s)' and 'speaker + non-participant(s)' (i.e. inclusive vs. exclusive) in the trial, THEN there is such an opposition in the dual and plural too. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, 2nd, hearer, speaker, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive, number, dual, plural, trial |
| 1490 | IF there is an opposition of the metapersons 'speaker + hearer' and 'speaker + non-participant' (i.e. inclusive vs. exclusive) in the dual, THEN usually there is such opposition in the plural too. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, hearer, speaker, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive, number, dual, plural |
| 1499 | There are [basic?] terms for ‘eyes’, ‘nose’, and ‘mouth’. | lexicon | unconditional | body part |
| 1500 | The upper limb, ‘arm’ (and ‘hand’) is named by a distinct term in all languages. | lexicon | unconditional | body part |
| 1501 | All languages name ‘(finger)nail’ and ‘(toe)nail’. | lexicon | unconditional | body part |
| 1508 | IF there is a lexeme denoting motion out of or motion through some configuration, THEN there is a lexeme denoting either motion “into” that configuration or static location in it. | lexicon, semantics | implication | motion, adposition |
| 1509 | IF there is a single lexeme to denote either static location in a configuration or motion “out of” that configuration, THEN there will be a single lexeme to denote either static location in some configuration or motion into that configuration. | lexicon, semantics | implication | motion, adposition |
| 1515 | IF numeral systems consists of less than five numerals, THEN the highest numeral is likely to be derived from an approximate quantifier such as ‘many’, ‘a few’, or ‘a couple’. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 1551 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN there tends to be a definite article as distinct from demonstratives. | syntax, lexicon | implication | order, verb-initial, definite article, demonstrative |
| 1660 | IF the same term is used to designate the mother and the father’s sister, THEN this same term is used for the mother’s sister also. | lexicon | implication | kinship |
| 1661 | Lineal kinship term is unmarked as against collateral, consanguineal is unmarked as against affinal, the less remote from the speaker (measured in the number of generations) is unmarked as against the more remote, older is unmarked in relation to younger. (See Graphics) | lexicon | implication | kinship, markedness |
| 1662 | All systems distinguish male and female parent by separate terms even though very frequently other kin types are included in the referents of both. | lexicon | unconditional | kinship |
| 1663 | Whenever there are two terms differing in generation which are true reciprocals, or there is one which is a self-reciprocal term with two referents, and one involves the sex of the speaker in its definition and the other does not, it is always the term of lower generational reference which contains the sex of the speaker in its definition. | lexicon | unconditional | kinship |
| 1664 | IF there is distinction of sex in the second descending generation, THEN there is the same distinction in the second ascending generation. | lexicon | implication | kinship |
| 1665 | The most common word for ‘first generation descendant’ is always the same as the most common word for ‘person who has not reached puberty’ (i.e. ‘child’). | lexicon | unconditional | kinship |
| 1666 | IF any other kin terms are used like proper names, THEN those denoting ascending relations, and in particular parental ones, such as ‘father’ and ‘mother’, are used like proper names too. | lexicon | implication | kinship |
| 1667 | IF there are doublets for kin terms other than of parental prototype, THEN there are doublets for kin terms of parental prototype. | lexicon | implication | kinship |
| 1697 | IF there is absolute posterior consecutive deranking, THEN basic order is VSO. | lexicon | implication | deranking, order, VSO |
| 1699 | IF there is an interrogative pro-verb, THEN there is an interrogative pro-numeral. IF there is an interrogative pro-numeral, THEN there is an interrogative pro-adjective. IF there is an interrogative pro-adjective, THEN there is an interrogative pro-adverb. IF there is an interrogative pro-adverb, THEN there is an interrogative pro-noun. |
lexicon | implicational hierarchy | interrogative word |
| 1751 | IF a cardinal numeral is a borrowing, THEN the corresponding ordinal numeral will also be a borrowing. | lexicon | implication | numeral, cardinal, ordinal, borrowing |
| 1752 | IF a cardinal numeral has synonyms, THEN the corresponding ordinal numeral will also have synonyms. | lexicon | implication | numeral, cardinal, ordinal, synonym |
| 1753 | IF there are synonyms for an ordinal numeral, THEN there are also synonyms for ordinals for all lower numbers. | lexicon | implication | numeral, ordinal, synonym |
| 1756 | IF ordinal numerals are distinguished from cardinal numerals for numbers higher than 1, THEN they are also distinguished for 1. | lexicon | implication | numeral, ordinal, cardinal |
| 1762 | IF basic word order is SOV, THEN there are no prepositions owing to borrowing. | lexicon, syntax | implication | borrowing, order, SOV, preposition |
| 1763 | Complete indefinite pronouns cannot be borrowed. | lexicon | unconditional | borrowing, indefinite pronoun |
| 1874 | Core items of the baby talk register tend to persist for long periods of time. | lexicon | unconditional | baby talk |
| 1897 | IF there is a borrowed non-noun, THEN there is a borrowed noun. | lexicon | implication | language contact, borrowing, word class |
| 1898 | A lexical item whose meaning is verbal can never be included in the set of borrowed properties. | lexicon | unconditional | language contact, borrowing, word class, verb |
| 1915 | IF there are modal particles, THEN there are modal adverbials. | lexicon | implication | modal particles, modal adverbials |
| 1923 | IF there is no definite article, THEN there is no indirect speech. | lexicon, discourse | implication | definite article, indirect speech |
| 1924 | IF there is no definite article, THEN there is no transitive verb of possession ('have'). | lexicon | implication | definite article, transitive verb of possesion |
| 1934 | IF there is a word-form borrowing of a negative determiner, THEN there is a word-form borrowing of a specific determiner, too. | lexicon, morphology | implication | borrowing, indefinite pronoun, negative determiner, specific determiner |
| 1935 | IF there is a word-form borrowing of a free-choice indefinite, THEN there is a word-form borrowing of other than free-choice indefinite of the same ontological category, too. | lexicon, morphology | implication | borrowing, indefinite pronoun, free-choice indefinite |
| 1936 | IF there is a word-form borrowing of a personal indefinite, THEN there is a word-form borrowing of an impersonal indefinite of the same indefiniteness function, too. | lexicon, morphology | implication | borrowing, indefinite pronoun, personal indefinte, impersonal indefinite |
| 1937 | IF there is a word-form borrowing of a local indefinite, THEN there is a word-form borrowing of a temporal indefinite of the same indefiniteness function, too. | lexicon, morphology | implication | borrowing, indefinite pronoun, local indefinite, temporal indefinite |
| 1938 | IF there is a word-form borrowing of other than negative indefinite (excluding determiners), THEN it is likely that there will be a word-form borrowing of a negative indefinite of the same ontological category, too. | lexicon, morphology | implication | borrowing, indefinite pronoun, negative indefinite |
| 1939 | IF there is a word-form borrowing of an impersonal indefinite, THEN it is likely that there will be a word-form borrowing of a temporal indefinite of the same indefiniteness function, too. | lexicon, morphology | implication | borrowing, indefinite pronoun, impersonal indefinite, temporal indefinite |
| 1940 | IF there is a word-form borrowing of a local indefinite, THEN it is likely that there will be a word-form borrowing of an impersonal indefinite of the same indefiniteness function, too. | lexicon, morphology | implication | borrowing, indefinite pronoun, impersonal indefinite, local indefinite |
| 1941 | IF there is a word-form borrowing of a local interrogative, THEN there is a word-form borrowing of a temporal interrogative, too. | lexicon, morphology | implication | borrowing, local interrogative, temporal interrogative |
| 1942 | Indefinite word forms which synchronically contain an indefiniteness marker that already exists in the potential recipient language are more likely to be borrowed (and to be kept after they had been borrowed) than forms of the same function that do not contain such a marker. | lexicon, morphology | unconditional | borrowing, indefinite pronoun |
| 1943 | IF there is a word-form borrowing of a personal indefinite in a language, THEN there is a word-form borrowing of an temporal indefinite of the same indefiniteness function, too. | lexicon, morphology | implication | borrowing, pronoun, definiteness |
| 1950 | When three-degree systems of demonstratives where proximal/medial/distal correspond to 1st/2nd/3rd person develop into two-degree systems, the opposition will be proximal&medial vs. distal or proximal vs. medial&distal, corresponding to 1st&2nd vs. 3rd person or 1st vs. 2nd&3rd person. There will never be a two-degree demonstrative system with a correspondence to a person system where the opposition is 1st/3rd vs. 2nd person. | lexicon | unconditional | demonstrative, proximal, medial, distal, person, 1, 2, 3 |
| 1953 | IF there are Class IV predicates requiring non-canonicaly marked A/S, THEN there are also Class Ia-b, Class IIa-c, Class IIIa-b and Class V predicates requiring non-canonically marked A/S or O. | inflection, lexicon | implication | case, agent, patient, subject, predicate |
| 1954 | IF non-canonical marking with Class IIIa predicates, THEN also non-canonical marking with Class Ib predicates, and vice versa. | inflection, lexicon | mutual implication | case, agent, patient, subject, predicate |
| 1955 | IF there are Class IIIa/Ib predicates requiring non-canonicaly marked A/S, THEN there are also Class Ia predicates requiring non-canonically marked A/S. | inflection, lexicon | implication | case, agent, subject, predicate |
| 1992 | IF the lexical items for existential and copulative function are separate, and they are in a suppletive relation with verbs meaning 'become' and 'stay', then 'become' will be related to the copula and 'stay' to the existential verb. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | verb, existence, copula, suppletion |