Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
158 entries · page 4 of 4
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | The lexical meaning of adjectives is historically more stable than that of nouns, since it is simpler (simple property concepts vs. names for property bundles). On the other hand, adjectives become more easily obsolete than nouns and their diachronic turnover is faster than that of nouns, since when there is not much meaning in the first place its bleaching is tantamount to loss. Adjectives are more easily borrowed than nouns, since their meanings are simpler and easier to grasp. |
lexicon | implication | word class, adjective, noun, borrowing |
| 2021 | There is a word for FEELING (verb, adjective, or noun), undifferentiated between "bodily feelings" (sensations) and "cognitively based" feelings ("emotions"), and distinct from THINKING. | lexicon | unconditional | sensation, emotion, cognition, word class |
| 2022 | Some feelings can be described as "good" and some as "bad" (while some may be viewed as neither "good" nor "bad"). | lexicon | unconditional | sensation, emotion |
| 2023 | There are words comparable, though not necessarily identical in meaning, with cry/weep and smile/laugh; that is words referring to bodily expression of good and bad feelings. | lexicon | unconditional | emotion, sensation, body |
| 2024 | There are "emotive" interjections (i.e. interjections expressing cognitively based feelings). | syntax, lexicon | unconditional | emotion, sensation, cognition, interjection |
| 2025 | There are some "emotion terms" (i.e. terms designating some cognitively based feelings). | lexicon | unconditional | emotion, sensation, cognition |
| 2026 | There are words linking feelings with (i) the thought that "something bad can happen to me", (ii) the thought that "I want to do something", and (iii) the thought that "people think something bad about me", that is words overlapping (though not identical) in meaning with the English words afraid, angry, and ashamed. | lexicon | unconditional | emotion, sensation |
| 2029 | The main universal mode for describing cognitively based feelings is in terms of a comparison, that is, via LIKE, and in this, the main human strategy for talking about feelings is analogous to the main human strategy for talking about colours. | lexicon | unconditional | emotion, sensation, cognition, colour, metaphor |