Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
2,017 entries · page 11 of 41
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 504 | IF the pronominal object follows the verb, THEN the nominal object also does. | syntax | implication | order, verb, object, noun, pronoun |
| 505 | IF there are discontinuous affixes, THEN there is prefixing and/or suffixing. |
morphology | implication | affix-order, prefix, suffix |
| 506 | IF there are only suffixes, THEN there will be postpositions; IF there are only prefixes, THEN there will be prepositions. |
morphology, syntax | implication | prefix, suffix, postposition, preposition |
| 507 | IF both the derivation and inflection follow the root or they both precede the root, THEN the derivation is always between the root and the inflection. | morphology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | root, order |
| 508 | IF there is inflection, THEN there is derivation. | inflection, word formation | implication | |
| 509 | IF the verb inflects for person-number or for gender, THEN it also inflects for tense-mood. | inflection | implication | verb, person, number, gender, tense, mood |
| 510 | IF the verb agrees with either the subject or the object in gender, THEN the adjective always agrees with the noun in gender. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, gender, verb, adjective<br> |
| 511 | IF the verb agrees with a nominal subject or nominal object in gender, THEN it also agrees in number. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, subject, object, noun, gender, number |
| 512 | Whenever there is number agreement between an NP and the verb and such agreement can be suspended depending on the order of NP and verb, it can only be suspended when the verb precedes the NP and the default number form of the verb is always singular. |
inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | agreement, number, singular, verb, order |
| 513 | IF there is a trial, THEN there is also a dual. IF there is a dual, THEN there is also a plural. OR, BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF there is no dual, THEN there is no trial. IF there is no plural, THEN there is no dual. |
inflection | implication | number, trial, dual, plural |
| 514 | There is no language in which the plural does not have some non-zero allomorphs, whereas there are languages in which the singular is expressed only by zero. The dual and the trial are almost never expressed only by zero. | inflection | unconditional | number, singular, plural, dual, trial, allomorphy, zero<br> |
| 515 | IF there is the category of gender, THEN there is always the category of number. | inflection | implication | number, gender |
| 516 | IF there are n genders in the non-singular, THEN there will be at least n genders in the singular. | inflection | implication | gender, number |
| 517 | All languages have pronominal categories involving at least three persons and two numbers. | inflection | unconditional | pronoun, number, person |
| 518 | IF there are gender categories in the noun, THEN there are also gender categories in the pronoun. | inflection | implication | gender, noun, pronoun |
| 519 | IF there are gender distinctions in the 1st person [of the personal pronoun], THEN there are gender distinctions in the 2nd and/or 3rd person. | inflection | implication | pronoun, gender, person, 1, 2, 3 |
| 520 | IF there are any gender distinctions in the plural of the pronoun, THEN there are some gender distinctions in the singular also. | inflection | implication | pronoun, gender, number, plural, singular |
| 521 | IF conjunction reduction has ergative alignment, THEN so does coreferential deletion in purposive constructions. IF coreferential deletion in purposive constructions has ergative alignment, THEN so does relativization. IF relativization has ergative alignment, THEN so does verb agreement. IF verb agreement has ergative alignment, THEN so does case marking. |
inflection, syntax | implicational hierarchy | alignment, ergativity, conjunction reduction, coreferential deletion, purposive, relativization, verb, agreement, case |
| 522 | It is possible but not necessary for the adnominal and pronominal demonstratives stems to be fully or partially identical. | morphology, syntax | unconditional | demonstrative |
| 523 | IF the adnominal adjective agrees with the noun, THEN so does the adnominal demonstrative. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, demonstrative, adjective, NP |
| 524 | In more than one language, but not in all, the demonstrative and the definite article co-occur. | syntax | unconditional | demonstrative, definite article |
| 525 | In more than one language, and possibly in all, preposed demonstratives are peripheral to tautolateral numerals and adjectives; postposed demonstratives are most frequently so. | syntax | unconditional | order, demonstrative, numeral, adjective, noun |
| 526 | IF the adnominal demonstrative and the definite article occur on the same side of the head noun, THEN the demonstrative is consistently more peripheral than the article. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | adnominal demonstrative, definite article, noun, order |
| 527 | Every language has a numeral system of finite scope. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 528 | Every number n (0<n<L) can be expressed as part of the numeral system in any language. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 529 | Zero is never expressed as part of the numeral system. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 530 | In every numerical system some numbers are expressed by basic terms. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 531 | No number is ever expressed in any numeral system by means of a function any of whose arguments is ≥ L. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 532 | IF a numeral system has only basic terms, THEN the largest value of L is 5 and the smallest value is 2. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 533 | IF a numeral system has arithmetical operations, THEN its smallest value for L is 4. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 534 | It seems probable that in all languages expressions of time and place may appear in the initial positions in the sentence. | syntax | unconditional | order |
| 535 | IF numeral classifiers are included in the dominant mode of forming quantification expressions, THEN plural marking on nouns will not be obligatory. | inflection, syntax | implication | numeral classifier, number, plural |
| 536 | IF a number is expressed by subtraction, or a subtraction occurs as a constituent of a complex expression, THEN the subtrahend is never larger than the remainder. | word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 537 | IF a number is expressed by subtraction as y-x, THEN every number z (z>y>n) is also expressed subtractively and with y as the minuend. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 538 | IF in any sum the smaller addend precedes the larger, THEN the same order holds for all smaller numbers expressed by addition. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 539 | IF in any sum the larger addend precedes the smaller, THEN the same order holds for all larger numbers expressed by addition. | word formation | implication | order, numeral |
| 540 | IF there are numerals in which the expression of the multiplier follows that of the multiplicand, THEN the numeral will follow the noun. | word formation, syntax | implication | numeral, order, noun |
| 541 | A link for addition is never initial in a numeral. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 542 | In numeral systems with only simple lexical representation: IF the limit number is 2, THEN there is a singular/plural distinction, and vice versa. IF the limit number is 3, THEN there is a singular/dual/plural distinction, and vice versa. |
inflection, word formation | mutual implication | numeral, number, dual, plural, singular |
| 543 | IF a link for addition occurs medially, THEN it always goes with the following numeral in a prepositional language and with the preceding numeral in a postpositional language. | word formation, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral, order, postposition, preposition |
| 544 | When there is a word order variation in addition between larger and smaller, and one order has an overt link and the other has not, it is always the order smaller+larger which has the link. | word formation, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, numeral |
| 545 | IF a link for subtraction is final, THEN there are postpositions. | word formation, syntax | implication | numeral, postposition |
| 546 | IF a numeral expression contains a complex constituent, THEN the numerical value of the complex constituent itself in isolation receives either simple lexical expression or is expressed by the same function and in the same phonological shape, except for possible automatic phonological alternations, stress shifts, or overt expressions of co-ordination. |
word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 547 | The degree of morphological fusion varies inversely with the size of the numerical value. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 548 | IF plural marking on nouns is optional, THEN the singular may be used on nouns in construction with numerals higher than 1. | inflection, word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | noun, numeral |
| 549 | Provided the number marking of nouns distinguishes singular, dual, and plural, IF the plural is used in any instances where a set of two objects is designated, THEN the plural can be used on nouns in construction with the numeral ‘two’. |
inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | number, dual, plural, numeral |
| 550 | IF numeral expressions for the smallest addends take the plural of the noun when they designate numbers >1, THEN complex numerals with one as an addend will take the plural of the noun if ‘one’ is not a separate word. | inflection, word formation | implication | numeral, noun |
| 551 | Where there is rule-governed variation between the use of the singular and plural of nouns accompanied by numerals: IF the number is a higher one, THEN the singular is favoured; IF the construction is a measure construction , THEN the singular is favoured; IF the construction is indefinite , THEN the singular is favoured; IF the noun is inanimate or impersonal, THEN the singular is favoured. |
inflection, syntax | implication | numeral, noun, number, singular, plural |
| 552 | In indefinite and approximative constructions, the numeral tends to follow the noun. | syntax | unconditional | numeral, order, indefinite, approximative |
| 553 | IF a link for addition is final, THEN there are postpositions. | word formation, syntax | implication | numeral, postposition |