Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
1,130 entries · page 13 of 23
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1105 | IF alignment is ergative for (some) syntactic purposes, THEN it will be ergative for (some) morphological purposes. |
morphology, syntax | implication | alignment, ergative |
| 1106 | All human languages classify actions into two basic types: those involving one obligatory participant, which are described by intransitive clauses, and those involving two or more obligatory participants, which are dealt with by transitive clauses. | syntax | unconditional | intransitive clause, transitive, participant |
| 1107 | Whenever there is an alignment split between bound and free pronouns, bound (i.e. agreement) forms are more likely to align accusatively, while case marking on free forms is more likely to align ergatively. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | agreement, alignment, split, case, ergative, accusative |
| 1108 | If any case has zero realization, or a zero allomorph, it will be absolutive or nominative. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | case, nominative, allomorphy, zero |
| 1109 | The absolute or nominative form of a noun will be used in citation. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | nominative case, absolutive case, semantics |
| 1110 | IF there is Locative Possessive, THEN there is deranking of simultaneous sequences. | inflection, syntax | implication | possessive, deranking |
| 1111 | IF there is a Topic Possessive, THEN there is backgrounding of simultaneous sequences. | syntax | implication | possessive, backgrounding |
| 1112 | IF there is Comitative Possessive, THEN there is predominant balancing of simultaneous sequences. | syntax | implication | possessive, balancing |
| 1113 | IF predicate nouns are marked for person, THEN verbs are marked for person. | inflection, syntax | implication | predicate, person marking, noun, verb |
| 1114 | IF perfective aspect is expressed with the help of preverbs, THEN there will also be future tense formed by means of preverbs. | inflection, syntax | implication | tense, aspect, perfective, future |
| 1115 | IF case inflection on direct nominal arguments gets lost, THEN their word order becomes fixed, but not vice versa. |
inflection, syntax | implication | word order, inflection |
| 1116 | IF no argument of an object complement sentence can be raised into subject position, THEN there is no full passive. | syntax | implication | diathesis, passive, subject raising |
| 1117 | IF there is no syntactic wh-movement, THEN there is special marking in yes-no questions, and vice versa. | syntax, morphology | mutual implication | interrogative, question particle, wh-movement |
| 1118 | IF basic word order is VO, THEN complementizers are clause-initial. OR, BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF complementizers are clause-final, THEN basic word order is OV. |
syntax | implication | order, complementizer, VO, OV |
| 1119 | IF there is an optional rule such as scrambling, THEN its application must create a structure which is consistent with the parameter-setting (e.g., the head-parameter) for a language. | syntax | implication | order, optional movement, scrambling, parameter |
| 1120 | All personal pronouns are definite. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | definite, personal pronoun |
| 1121 | IF there are passives with agent phrases, THEN there will be passives without them. | syntax | implication | diathesis, passive, agent |
| 1126 | IF predicates can incorporate their arguments (i.e., verbs their subjects and objects), THEN head nouns can incorporate their attributive clauses. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, subject, object, verb, attribute |
| 1127 | IF nouns for alienable possession can incorporate their possessive pronouns, THEN nouns for inalienable possession can too. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, possessive pronoun, noun, possession, alienable, inalienable |
| 1128 | IF nominal subjects can be incorporated into verbs, THEN nominal non-subjects can also be incorporated. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, subject, verb, noun |
| 1129 | IF pronominal objects can be incorporated, THEN possessor pronouns can also be incorporated; IF possessor pronouns can be incorporated, THEN pronominal subjects can also be incorporated. |
morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, object, subject, possessive, pronoun |
| 1130 | IF nouns can be incorporated, THEN pronouns can also be incorporated. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, pronoun, noun |
| 1131 | When nouns and pronouns can be incorporated, they have a special incorporated form (uninflected in the case of nouns) as distinct from their absolute form. |
morphology, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | incorporation, pronoun, noun |
| 1132 | IF subjects and objects can be incorporated into verbs, THEN they are not case-marked when occurring absolutely or they are case-marked and case marking shows ergative alignment. | inflection, syntax | implication | incorporation, subject, object, verb, case, alignment, ergative |
| 1133 | IF there is noun/pronoun incorporation, THEN the relationship between the verbal complex (including the incorporated noun/pronoun) and an absolute NP corresponding to the incorporated noun/pronoun is appositive. |
inflection, syntax | implication | incorporation, apposition |
| 1134 | IF a 3rd person pronoun can be incorporated when a corresponding absolute noun is present, THEN it can also be incorporated when a corresponding absolute noun is absent. | inflection, syntax | implication | incorporation, noun, pronoun, person, 3 |
| 1138 | IF a dual is differentiated for a particular person of non-pronominal agreement forms, THEN there will be a dual, or other number, for this person in pronouns. In fact, more generally: IF any number is differentiated for a particular person of non-pronominal agreement forms, THEN this number will also be distinguished for this person in pronouns. |
inflection, syntax | implication | number, dual, agreement, person, pronoun |
| 1142 | The passive-to-ergative change is unidirectional. There are no passive constructions which have been shown to have developed from ergative constructions. | inflection, syntax | target < source | diathesis, passive, alignment, ergative |
| 1143 | IF a verbal morpheme has both reflexive and passive use, THEN it will also have the anticausative use. | inflection, syntax | implication | morpheme, reflexive, passive, anticausative |
| 1144 | IF there is a passive construction, THEN the verb is morphologically marked (vis-à-vis a basic, active construction). | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | diathesis, voice |
| 1145 | IF there is a passive construction, THEN most commonly it will be expressed with a stem affix. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | diathesis, voice |
| 1146 | IF there is a passive, THEN basic word order will be SVO rather than (S)OV. | syntax | implication | diathesis, voice, order, SVO, OV |
| 1147 | A causative can become a passive, but a passive cannot become a causative. | inflection, syntax | target < source | passive, causative |
| 1148 | IF there are passives of stative verbs, THEN there are passives of activity verbs. | syntax, semantics | implication | diathesis, passive, verb, stative, active |
| 1149 | IF there is one (basic) passive construction, THEN there are commonly also other, formally distinct passive constructions. |
syntax | implication | diathesis, voice |
| 1150 | IF there are passives covering imperfective meanings, THEN there are passives covering the perfective range of meaning. | syntax, semantics | implication | diathesis, passive, perfective, imperfective |
| 1151 | If there are two or more coexisting basic passives they are likely to differ semantically with respect to the aspect ranges they cover. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | diathesis, passive, aspect |
| 1152 | IF there is a basic passive, THEN ditransitive verbs (e.g. ‘give’, ‘show’) are passivized in such a way that the derived subject is the Patient of the active verb. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | diathesis, passive, ditransitive verb, patient |
| 1153 | IF sentential objects can be passivized, THEN lexical NP objects can also be passivized. |
syntax | implication | diathesis, passive, object |
| 1155 | IF basic order is VO, THEN the position of the result predicate is V-adjacent or at the end of the VP. IF basic order is OV, THEN the position of the result predicate is invariably V-adjacent. |
syntax | implication | order, VO, OV, result predicate |
| 1156 | For any given noun phrase, IF it is numerable THEN it is definitizable, and IF it is definitizable THEN it is pronominalizable. | inflection, syntax | implication | number, plural, definite, pronoun |
| 1157 | IF there are preposed relative clauses, THEN there are postposed ones. | syntax | implication | relative clause, order |
| 1158 | IF a resumptive pronoun in the relative clause occurs in cases where the identical element is subject or object of the clause, THEN it occurs in cases where the relative pronoun has some other function. | syntax | implication | relative clause, pronoun |
| 1159 | IF an obligatorily definite identical noun phrase occurs in the preposed main sentences of a relative construction, THEN it also occurs in postposed ones. | syntax | implication | relative clause, order, definite NP |
| 1160 | If the definiteness of the head determines the shape of the relative pronoun, the pronoun co-occurring with the definite head will be “longer“, i.e. it will contain some additional morphological element. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | relative clause, pronoun |
| 1161 | IF a head noun and its relative clause agree in definiteness, THEN head nouns and attributive adjectives also agree in definiteness. |
inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, definiteness, relative clause, adjective, attribution |
| 1162 | IF the indefinite article is derived from the cardinal 'one', THEN non-numerable nouns cannot take indefinite article. | syntax | implication | indefinite article, numeral |
| 1163 | Indefinite articles are generally short; that is, they never have more than two syllables. | phonology, syntax | unconditional | indefinite article |
| 1164 | Any noun that is pronominalizable may take a definite article, but of these, only those that are numerable may take an indefinite article. | syntax | implication | indefinite article |
| 1165 | IF an overt indefinite article is used with mass nouns, THEN it is also used with plural nouns. | inflection, syntax | implication | indefinite article, number, plural, mass noun |