Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
827 entries · page 10 of 17
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1262 | Unstressed vowels are more likely to assimilate than stressed vowels. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, stress |
| 1263 | IF an otherwise harmonizing unstressed vowel becomes stressed due to intonational factors, THEN it can no longer harmonize. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | assimilation, vowel harmony, stress, intonation |
| 1264 | The less the phonetic distance between opposing members of potential vowel grades, the more prone they will be to harmonize. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, vowel grade |
| 1265 | IF there is assimilation of vowels with high tone, THEN there will be assimilation of vowels with low tone. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, tone |
| 1266 | IF there is assimilation of fully voiced vowels, THEN there will be assimilation of partially voiced or voiceless vowels. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, voicing |
| 1267 | IF there is assimilation of vowels with normal duration, THEN there will be assimilation of reduced vowels. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, duration |
| 1268 | IF there is assimilation of tense vowels, THEN there will be assimilation of lax vowels. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, tenseness |
| 1269 | IF there is assimilation of front vowels, THEN there will be assimilation of back vowels. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, backness |
| 1270 | IF there is assimilation of unrounded vowels, THEN there will be assimilation of rounded vowels. |
phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, rounding |
| 1272 | Hierarchy of quantifiers: each > every > all > most > many > several > some (+NPPl) > a few (‘>’ means ‘greater tendency toward higher scope’) |
semantics | implicational hierarchy | quantifier, scope |
| 1273 | Hierarchy of grammatical functions for purposes of quantifier scope: topic > deep and surface subject > deep or surface subject > indirect object > prepositional object > direct object (‘>’ means ‘greater tendency toward higher scope’) |
semantics | implicational hierarchy | quantifier, scope |
| 1275 | IF categories can be used as a ‘perfect of result’ (i.e. to say that something has happened that has a result at the moment of speech), THEN they tend to be nondistinct from hodiernal pasts. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | tense, aspect, past |
| 1276 | IF categories are used like the English pluperfect, THEN they will tend to be nondistinct from remote past. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | tense, aspect, remote past |
| 1289 | IF a numeral system has subtraction, THEN it is never expressed by mere sequence of the subtrahend and minuend. | word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 1290 | The Animated First Principle (AFP): In simple transitive clauses, the NP which is most animate will precede NPs which are less animate. |
syntax | unconditional | order, noun, animacy, transitive clause |
| 1291 | The Verb-Object Bonding Principle (VOB): The object of a transitive verb is more tightly bounded to the verb than is its subject. |
syntax | unconditional | order, boundedness, subject, object, transitive verb |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 1314 | IF there are any valence affixes on verb, THEN these will be suffixed with more than chance frequency. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | verb, valence, affix-order, 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 |
| 1316 | In numeral systems, every minuend is a base of the system or a multiple of the base. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1322 | IF there is long scrambling, THEN its landing site will be the verbal domain. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, scrambling |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 1355 | In numeral systems, every superessive or possessive augend is a serialized augend. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 1356 | In numeral systems, a serialized augend is always larger than its addends. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1357 | In numeral systems, IF there are three or more summands and at least one is a product, THEN parenthesization starts by separating the summand with the largest numerical value from the rest. The same rule then applies to the remainder, if it consists of more than the summands, and so on. | word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 1358 | In numeral systems, the maximum number of sporadic addends is two. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1359 | In numeral systems, all adverbially or partitively expressed multiplicands are serialized multiplicands. | word formation | unconditional | numeral, adverb, partitive |
| 1360 | All the bases of numeral systems are divisible by the fundamental base. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1361 | In numeral systems, a multiplicand in a pseudo-base is always smaller than its multiplier. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1362 | In numeral systems, IF a serialized multiplicand is a factor in some product in which the multiplier is larger than the multiplicand, THEN it is also a factor in some product in which it is smaller than multiplicand. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 1363 | In numeral systems, the maximum number of sporadic factors is two. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1364 | In numeral systems, only a base is ever multiplied by 1. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |