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 7 of 23
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 386 | The most neutral position for focus in a language will be the position normally occupied by the direct object. | syntax, pragmatics | unconditional | focus, direct object |
| 395 | IF there is cross-referential inflection, THEN there will be some self-referencing expression of the same categories (i.e., personal pronouns). | inflection, syntax | implication | cross-reference, pronoun |
| 396 | IF there are morphological means to indicate verbal modification (i.e., participles), THEN there are morphological means to indicate verbal reference (i.e., nominalized verb forms). | inflection, syntax | implication | participle, verb, nominalization |
| 404 | If a construction involves a free and a bound constituent which convey the same meaning and one of them is optional, it is always the free form that is optional and never the bound one. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | optionality |
| 406 | IF morphology is agglutinative (to an extent), THEN at least some inflections can be used on members of more than one word class, and vice versa. | inflection, syntax | mutual implication | agglutination, word class |
| 407 | IF at least some inflections are used cross-categorially, THEN morphology is agglutinative at least to an extent. | inflection, syntax | implication | agglutination, word class |
| 413 | IF there are postpositions, THEN nominal gender affixes (if there are any) are suffixed. IF gender affixes are prefixed, THEN there are prepositions. |
inflection, syntax | implication | postposition, preposition, noun, gender, affix-order, suffix, prefix |
| 414 | IF basic order is SOV, THEN gender affixes on nouns (if any) are suffixed. IF there are prefixed gender affixes, THEN basic order is VO (i.e. not SOV). |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, SOV, noun, gender, affix-order, suffix, prefix |
| 418 | IF the verb agrees with a constituent other than the intransitive subject, THEN the verb also agrees with the intransitive subject. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, subject |
| 419 | IF the verb agrees with an adverbial constituent, THEN the verb also agrees with a non-adverbial constituent. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, adverb |
| 420 | Provided there is a constituent class including both definite and indefinite members: IF the verb agrees with some or all of its indefinite members, THEN the verb also agrees with its definite members. |
inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, definiteness |
| 421 | Provided there is a constituent class including both animate and inanimate members: IF the verb agrees with some or all of its inanimate members, THEN the verb also agrees with its at least some of its animate members. |
inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, animacy |
| 422 | Provided there is a constituent class including both topical and non-topical members: IF the verb agrees with some or all of its non-topical members, THEN the verb agrees with at least some of its topical members. |
inflection, syntax, discourse | implication | verb agreement, topic |
| 423 | Provided there is a constituent class including both members that precede the verb and also members that follow the verb: IF the verb agrees with some or all of its postverbal members, THEN the verb also agrees with at least some of its preverbal members. |
inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, order |
| 424 | If there are prepositions, THEN IF basic order is not SOV, THEN the relative clause follows the noun. | syntax | nested implication | preposition, order, relative clause, noun |
| 425 | Provided there is a constituent class some members of which are immediate constituents of the sentence at the point in a grammatical derivation where verb-agreement rules apply and some others members are non-immediate constituents of the sentence at that point: IF the verb agrees with some or all non-immediate constituents, THEN the verb also agrees with at least some immediate constituents. |
inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, constituency |
| 427 | IF any constituent other than anaphoric pronouns agrees in gender and/or number, THEN anaphoric pronouns agree in gender and/or number. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, gender, number, anaphoric pronoun |
| 428 | Whenever there is gender agreement, IF morphological gender can be overruled by semantics within the noun phrase, THEN it can also be overruled in noun phrase external gender agreement. | inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | agreement, gender, NP |
| 429 | Whenever predicates agree with subjects in number and there is a politeness contrast for pronouns of address, with plural forms serving as polite singulars, IF any predicate constituents other than verbs are plural in agreement with polite plural (referentially singular) subject pronouns, THEN verbs are also plural; IF any predicate constituents other than nouns are singular, THEN nouns are also singular. | inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | agreement, politeness, number, plural, singular, personal pronoun, predicate noun, verb |
| 435 | IF there is full passive, THEN there is also reduced passive. IF there is no reduced passive, THEN there is no passive at all. |
syntax | implication | diathesis, passive |
| 436 | Head-marking is associated with low complexity, dependent marking with high complexity, where complexity is the total of D, H, and F points for NP and S. D- refers to dependent-marking; H- refers to head-marking; F- refers to detachment* (mnemonically F stands for “free” or “floated”) |
inflection, syntax | implication | head-marking, dependent-marking, complexity |
| 437 | IF alignment is ergative, THEN there will be dependent-marking, and vice versa. IF alignment is stative-active or hierarchical, THEN there will be head-marking, and vice versa. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | head-marking, dependent-marking, alignment, ergative-absolutive, stative-active, hierarchical alignment |
| 438 | IF basic order is verb-initial or free, THEN head-marking is favoured, and vice versa. IF basic order is verb-medial or verb-final, THEN dependent-marking is favoured, and vice versa. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | order, verb-initial, verb-final, verb-medial, head-marking, dependent-marking |
| 439 | IF alignment is ergative, THEN there will be high complexity. | inflection, syntax | mutual implication? | alignment, ergative-absolutive, complexity |
| 440 | IF alignment is non-accusative, THEN there will be verb-initial order. | syntax | implication | alignment, non-accusative, order, verb-initial |
| 441 | IF basic order is SOV, THEN SO Neg V or SOV Neg. | syntax | implication | order, SOV, negation |
| 442 | IF the ANC is not of the SENT type, THEN the S of an intransitive ANC is always genitivized. | inflection, syntax | implication | nominalization, case, genitive |
| 443 | Hierarchy of proneness to lose sentential head-marking: A > S > P, where sentential head-marking is impossible for A, and possible for P. |
inflection, syntax | implicational hierarchy | nominalization, head-marking |
| 444 | IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN the negative precedes the verb. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, negation |
| 445 | IF morphologyis agglutinative, THEN there is complement-balancing and complement-deranking. IF morphology is flexive, THEN there is complement-balancing. |
morphology, syntax | implication | agglutination, flexion, complement-deranking, complement-balancing |
| 446 | IF there is complement-balancing, THEN assimilation of ANCs to non-derived NPs will be favoured. IF there is complement-deranking, THEN retention of sentential marking in ANCs will be favoured. |
syntax | implication | nominalization, complement-balancing, complement-deranking |
| 447 | IF there is verb-final (rigid, or non-rigid) or free word order as (one of) the basic order(s), THEN there will be postpositions or case affixes. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-final, postposition, case, affix |
| 448 | IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN there will be prepositions or case prefixes. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, preposition, case, affix, prefix |
| 449 | IF in a pronominally possessed construction there is a genitive-marked constituent, THEN the corresponding constituent in a nominally possessed construction is also genitive-marked. | inflection, syntax | implication | possession, pronoun, noun, attributive, case, genitive |
| 450 | IF a nominally possessed construction has Genitive before Noun, THEN the pronominal (non-affixal) construction has the same order. | inflection, syntax | implication | attributive, noun, order, possession, pronoun |
| 451 | IF a possessee is marked for genitive, THEN there will be a construction in which the possessor is also marked as such. | inflection, syntax | implication | case, genitive, possession |
| 452 | IF a possessor is marked for 3rd person, THEN a possessee is so marked in the same construction. | inflection, syntax | implication | person, 3, possession |
| 454 | IF there is a free, less intimate possessor form, THEN there may be a bound, more intimate form, but not the converse. | inflection, syntax | implication | possession |
| 455 | IF there are personal possessive prefixes, THEN genitive precedes its head noun, but not vice versa | inflection, syntax | implication | possession, person, prefix, suffix, order, attributive, noun |
| 456 | IF a noun is inalienably possessed in non-vocative uses, THEN this noun is not necessarily inalienably possessed in vocative uses too. | inflection, syntax | non-implication | inalienable possession, noun, case, vocative |
| 460 | IF in a HAVE-construction the possessor is marked for subject, THEN the possessee is comitative-marked. | inflection, syntax | implication | possession, subject, comitative |
| 461 | Verb taking an effected or annihilated object (in particular verbs meaning ‘to create’ and ‘to destroy’) are transitive in all relevant morphosyntactic respects. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | verb, transitive, effected object |
| 462 | With verbs with the general meaning 'destroy' or 'create', agents will be subject and patients direct object in basic (active) constructions. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | verb, transitivity, subject, direct object, agent, patient |
| 463 | The patient of verbs of creating and destroying is the subject in the passive voice, if there is one. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | diathesis, passive, transitivity, subject, direct object, agent, patient |
| 464 | When a language has an opposition of intransitive verbs of action and state, all (or almost all) verbs meaning 'to move in a certain way' will belong with the verbs of action in all formal respects. | inflection, syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | semantics, verb, transitivity, stative, active |
| 465 | With more than chance frequency, an NP with the semantic role of peregrinator (the one who moves) will be the subject of clauses with verbs meaning 'to move in a certain way'. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | subject, verb, transitivity |
| 466 | With more than chance frequency, in predications of class membership, the NP referring to the class member will be the subject and the class the predicate. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | subject, predicate |
| 467 | The subjects in predications of class membership are grammatically identical to subjects of intransitive verbs of state. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | subject, predication, transitivity, stative |
| 469 | IF the marking for nominal and verbal number is phonologically identical, THEN this will be the case for nouns and verbs of the 3rd person. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | number, person, 3, noun, verb |
| 470 | IF the marking for number is identical for nouns and verbal forms of 1st and 2nd person, THEN this will also be true for nouns and verbal forms of 3rd person. | inflection, syntax | implication | number, person, 1, 2, 3, noun, verb |