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 15 of 23
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1296 | IF possessed NPs with a kinship term as head noun show the definite article, THEN possessed NPs with a nonkinship term as head noun show the definite article. | syntax | implication | definite article, possessive pronoun, kinship term |
| 1297 | IF there is a possessive resultative, THEN there is a subjective resultative. IF there is a subjective resultative, THEN there is an objective resultative. |
syntax | implication | diathesis, resultative |
| 1298 | IF there is a dative and/or locative resultative, THEN there is an objective resultative. | syntax | implication | diathesis, resultative |
| 1299 | IF there is a bivalent locational resultative, THEN there is a monovalent reversible resultative. IF there is a monovalent reversible resultative, THEN there is an irreversible observable resultative. IF there is an irreversible observable resultative, THEN there is an unobservable resultative. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | diathesis, resultative |
| 1300 | In languages where both resultatives proper and derived statives have the same form, the probability for a resultative to have stative meaning increases from right to left: unobservable > irreversible observable > monovalent reversible > bivalent locational |
syntax, semantics | implicational hierarchy | diathesis, resultative |
| 1301 | IF an agentive object is forbidden in the passive, THEN it is also forbidden in the resultative. | syntax | implication | diathesis, resultative, passive, agentive object |
| 1302 | IF there are postpositions, THEN indefiniteness affixes on nouns are suffixed. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, postposition, noun, indefinite, affix-order, suffix |
| 1303 | If basic order is SOV, THEN indefiniteness affixes on nouns (if any) are suffixed. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, SOV, noun, indefinite, affix-order, suffix |
| 1304 | IF there are postpositions, THEN nominalizing affixes on nouns are suffixed with considerably greater than chance frequency. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, postposition, noun, nominalization, affix-order, suffix |
| 1305 | If basic order is SOV, THEN nominalizing affixes on nouns (if any) are suffixed with considerably greater than chance frequency. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, SOV, noun, nominalization, affix-order, suffix |
| 1306 | IF basic order is SOV, THEN definiteness affixes on nouns are suffixed with greater than chance frequency. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, SOV, noun, definite, affix-order, suffix |
| 1307 | IF there are postpositions, THEN plural affixes on nouns are suffixed with considerably greater than chance frequency. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, postposition, noun, number, plural, affix-order, suffix |
| 1308 | IF basic order is SOV, THEN plural affixes on nouns are suffixed with overwhelmingly greater than chance frequency. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, SOV, noun, number, plural, affix-order, suffix |
| 1309 | IF there are postpositions, THEN mood affixes on verbs are suffixed. |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, postposition, verb, mood, affix-order, suffix |
| 1310 | IF basic order is SOV, THEN mood affixes on verbs are suffixed with greater than chance frequency. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, order, verb, mood, affix-order, suffix |
| 1311 | IF there are postpositions, THEN tense affixes on verbs are suffixed with overwhelmingly greater than chance frequency. |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, postposition, verb, tense, affix-order, suffix |
| 1312 | IF basic order is SOV, THEN tense affixes on verbs are suffixed with greater than chance frequency. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, SOV, verb, tense, affix-order, suffix |
| 1313 | IF there are postpositions, THEN aspect affixes on verbs are suffixed with more than chance frequency. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, postposition, verb, aspect, affix-order, suffix |
| 1315 | IF basic order is SOV, THEN causative affixes on verbs are suffixed with more than chance frequency. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, SOV, verb, causative, affix-order, suffix |
| 1317 | IF head precedes modifier and specified item precedes specifier, THEN Family name follows Given name. IF modifier precedes head and specifier precedes specified item, THEN Family name precedes Given name. |
syntax | implication | order, head, modifier, proper name |
| 1318 | The various classes of adverbs (AdvPs) enter a rigidly ordered sequence, which is the same across languages. And if one sets aside agreement and negation, the order of the head morphemes encoding the different types of functional notions in the clause (mood, modality, tense, aspect, and voice) is also rigidly fixed, and apparently invariant across languages. The two hierarchies (that of AdvPs, and that of functional heads) match systematically, from left to right. |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, adverb, functional morpheme |
| 1319 | IF there is scrambling, THEN the order is head-final. | syntax | implication | scrambling, order, head-final |
| 1320 | IF there is long scrambling, THEN there is short scrambling. | syntax | implication | order, scrambling |
| 1321 | IF long scrambling is possible, THEN it occurs out of (extended) AP or PP, but not out of the extended nominal or verbal domain. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, scrambling |
| 1322 | IF there is long scrambling, THEN its landing site will be the verbal domain. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, scrambling |
| 1323 | IF a reflexive can take long-distance antecedents, THEN it is monomorphemic. IF a reflexive cannot take long-distance antecedents, THEN it is polymorphemic. |
morphology, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | binding, reflexive, long-distance reflexive |
| 1328 | Every human language has a common clause type with bipartite structure in which the constituents can reasonably be termed “topic” and “comment”. | syntax | unconditional | clause, topic, comment |
| 1329 | Every human language has a distinction between one-referent and two-referent predicators. | lexicon, syntax | unconditional | predicate |
| 1330 | In every human language, redundancy, measured in phonological terms, hovers near 50%. | phonology, morphology, syntax | unconditional | redundancy |
| 1338 | IF there are prepositions, THEN if RelN then GenN, if GenN then AdjN, and if AdjN then DemN. | syntax | nested implication | order, preposition, noun, relative clause, attributive, adjective, demonstrative |
| 1339 | IF basic order is OSV, THEN SOV is an alternative order. IF basic order is OVS, THEN SVO is an alternative order. IF non dominant order is VSO, THEN SOV, OSV or SVO, OVS are alternative orders. IF dominant order is VSO, THEN SVO or VOS are alternative orders. IF basic orders are SOV and SVO, THEN OVS, OSV, VSO, and VOS are alternative orders. IF basic orders are OVS and OSV, THEN SOV, SVO, VSO, and VOS are alternative orders. IF basic orders are VSO (non dominant) and VOS, THEN SOV, SVO, OVS, and OSV are alternative orders. |
syntax | implication | order |
| 1340 | Universal Hierarchy of Markedness of basic word orders: SOV < SVO < OVS < VOS < VSO < OSV |
syntax | implication | order, hierarchy, markedness, SOV, SVO, OVS, VOS, VSO, OSV<br> |
| 1341 | The more marked a basic word order is, the stronger the tendency towards having a less marked alternative word order. Hierarchy of Markedness of basic word orders: SOV < SVO < OVS < VOS < VSO < OSV |
syntax | implication | order |
| 1342 | The more marked the position in which a word appears, the stronger the tendency for this word to present a marked morphology. Therefore a marked position (centrifugal, VO, where V is the center and O the periphery) tends to be reflected by a marked morphology (flexional rather than agglutinative). That is: IF morphology is flexional rather than agglutinative, THEN basic order tends to be VO rather than OV. IF morphology is agglutinative rather than flexional, THEN basic order tends to be OV rather than VO. |
morphology, syntax | implication | markedness, order, VO, OV, flexion, agglutination |
| 1343 | IF an element serves as a semantic link between two other elements, THEN it is likely to occur in linear order between them. | syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, iconicity |
| 1345 | IF there is a verbal reciprocal/reflexive, THEN there must be verb agreement at least with subject. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb, reciprocal, reflexive, agreement, subject |
| 1346 | If a language has dominant SOV order and the genitive follows the governing noun and the language has a parts-of-speech system of types 4-5/6, then the adjective likewise follows the noun. | syntax | implication | word class, order, SOV, attributive, adjective, noun |
| 1347 | IF basic order is OV, THEN the adpositional phrase precedes the verb. IF basic order is VO, THEN the adpositional phrase follows the verb. |
syntax | implication | order, OV, VO, adpositional phrase |
| 1348 | IF basic order is VO, THEN there is adjective-marker-standard order. IF basic order is OV, THEN there is standard-marker-adjective order. |
syntax | implication | order, OV, VO, adjective, comparison |
| 1349 | IF basic order is OV, THEN manner adverbs precede the verb. IF basic order is VO, THEN manner adverbs follow the verb. |
syntax | implication | order, OV, VO, manner adverb |
| 1350 | IF adpositional phrases precede verbs, THEN overwhelmingly adverbs of manner precede verbs, and vice versa. IF adpositional phrases follow verbs, THEN – almost as overwhelmingly – also adverbs of manner follow verbs, and vice versa. |
syntax | mutual implication | order, manner adverb, adpositional phrase, verb, object |
| 1351 | IF the object precedes the predicate, and the adjective and genitive precede the noun, THEN the language is mainly left-recursive. | syntax | implication | order, object, predicate, adjective, attributive, noun, left-recursive |
| 1353 | IF plural is weakly developed, THEN there are numeral classifiers. | syntax, inflection | implication | number, plural, numeral classifier |
| 1370 | There is a universal principle that in numeral classifier languages a classifier concatenates with a quantifier, locative, demonstrative, or predicate to form a nexus that cannot be interrupted by the noun which is classified. |
syntax | unconditional | classifier, numeral, order |
| 1372 | No language contrasts a 'round' classifier with a 'polyhedral' classifier, unless the latter is the classifier for buildings, or some similar material classifier. | syntax, semantics | implication | classifier |
| 1373 | The smaller the number of classifiers in a language, the more likely they are to be configurational rather than material. | syntax, semantics | implication | classifier |
| 1374 | IF there are intra-locative classifiers, THEN there are no quanta classifiers. | syntax, semantics | implication | classifier, locative |
| 1375 | IF a classifier language has no inflectional plural, THEN neither counters nor measures take plural markers. IF a classifier language has no inflectional plural, THEN classifiers themselves never vary lexically for number |
inflection, syntax | implication | classifier, number |
| 1376 | IF basic word order is verb-peripheral (i.e. SOV, VOS), THEN there tends to be no transitive verb of possession HAVE. IF there is a transitive verb HAVE, THEN basic word order is SVO. |
syntax, lexicon | implication | order, verb, possession |
| 1377 | Filler-Gap Complexity Hypothesis: If Filler-Gap Domain (FGD) of complexity n on a complexity hierarchy H is grammatical, then the FGDs for all less complex variables on H(n-1) will also be grammatical. |
syntax | implication | filler, gap, complexity |