Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
1,237 entries · page 12 of 25
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 752 | IF locational encoding of predicative adjectives is allowed, THEN there is locational merging. | syntax | implication | encoding, predicative adjective, locational merging |
| 753 | IF there is conditioned multiple nominal/locational switching, THEN the nominal strategy is limited to the Present Tense. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | multiple-switching, encoding, present tense |
| 754 | IF there is tense-induced multiple switching, THEN category switching (if any) is restricted to Present Tense. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | multiple-switching, present tense |
| 755 | IF there are glottalic obstruents and sonants, THEN the ejective obstruent is unvoiced. | phonology | implication | glottalic, ejective, sonant, obstruent, voice |
| 759 | There are at most four injective obstruents. | phonology | unconditional | consonant, obstruent, injective |
| 760 | IF there is at least one posterior (compact) injective, THEN there will be least one anterior (diffuse) injective. | phonology | implication | consonant, injective, posterior, anterior, compact, diffuse |
| 762 | IF there are bilabial, alveolar, and palatal implosives,THEN ¿y is used in place of the expected palatal stop. | phonology | implication | implosive, stop, bilabial, alveolar, palatal |
| 765 | Injectives tend not to cluster with plain consonants. | phonology | unconditional | injective, consonant cluster |
| 766 | A voiced injective, like an ordinary breathy or voiced consonant, may raise tone or have no effect at all, but may not lower tone. | phonology | unconditional | consonant, injective, voice, tone |
| 767 | IF there are unvoiced ejectives, THEN there will be plain stops. | phonology | implication | ejective, stop, voice |
| 776 | IF there are secondary fricatives, THEN there will be primary fricatives. | phonology | implication | fricative |
| 777 | The number of secondary fricatives is never greater than that of primary fricatives. | phonology | implication | fricative |
| 784 | The number of voiceless primary oral stops is nearly always greater than the number of voiced ones. | phonology | implication | consonant, oral, stop, voice |
| 786 | The number of primary oral affricates will be less than the number of primary oral stops. | phonology | implication | oral, affricate, stop, primary |
| 790 | IF there is a glottal stop, THEN there must be a primary oral stop. | phonology | implication | consonant, oral, glottal, stop |
| 793 | IF there are n obstruents, THEN there will not be more than n Primary Nasal Consonants. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, obstruent |
| 805 | IF there are back consonants, THEN there will be front consonants. | phonology | implication | back, front, consonant |
| 808 | IF there is an opposition of a stop and an affricate, THEN there will be a fricative of the same series. | phonology | implication | affricate, stop, fricative |
| 809 | IF there is vowel harmony, THEN the vowel ä will be present. | phonology | implication | vowel harmony |
| 811 | IF there are fricatives, THEN there will be stops. | phonology | implication | fricative, stop |
| 812 | IF there is vocalic opposition of wide vs. narrow, THEN there are two consonantal oppositions: nasal vs. oral stops and labials vs. dentals. | phonology | implication | narrow, wide, vowel, nasal, oral, stop, labial, dental |
| 813 | IF stress is used for semantic contrasts, THEN the language must be non-monosyllabic. | prosodic phonology | implication | stress, non-monosyllabic |
| 814 | IF there is cumulative stress, THEN there are reduced vowels. | prosodic phonology | implication | stress, cumulative, vowel, reduced |
| 815 | IF there is distributive stress, THEN there are no reduced vowels. | prosodic phonology | implication | stress, distributive, vowel, reduced |
| 818 | IF moras matter [for what?], THEN the language is non-monosyllabic and tonal. | phonology, morphology | implication | mora, monosyllabic, tone |
| 819 | IF there are diphthongs, THEN there are or were long vowels. | phonology | implication | vowel, long, diphthong |
| 822 | IF there are glottalized consonants, THEN there are corresponding aspirated consonants; IF there are aspirated consonants, THEN there are corresponding unaspirated consonants. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | markedness, consonant, unaspirated, aspiration, glottalization |
| 823 | IF relative clause is prenominal, THEN relative pronouns are not used in the position relativized. IF relative clause is postnominal, THEN personal pronouns and relative pronouns are commonly used in position relativized. |
syntax | implication | relative clause, order, relative pronoun, personal pronoun |
| 825 | IF there are correlatives, THEN basic order is loosely verb-final. OR BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF basic order is not loosely verb-final, THEN there are no correlatives. |
syntax | implication | relative clause, correlative, order, verb-final |
| 828 | IF relative pronouns that are not interrogative in form occur in initial position in postnominal relative clauses, THEN either there are initial interrogative pronouns in questions or there is a general topicalization process that places thematic material in initial position. | syntax | implication | relative clause, relative pronoun, interrogative, order, topic |
| 829 | IF there are correlative relative constructions, THEN there are no prenominal ad-relative* clauses. | syntax | implication | relative clause, order, correlative |
| 830 | IF relative marker of the same form as interrogative pronoun is used, THEN relative clause is postnominal or correlative. | syntax | implication | relative clause, interrogative, order, correlative |
| 831 | IF basic order is rigidly OV, THEN there are prenominal relatives and no right-extraposed relative clauses. | syntax | implication | order, verb, object, relative clause |
| 832 | IF the verb normally precedes its objects, THEN there are no left-extraposed relative clauses. IF the verb normally precedes its objects and there are right-extraposed relative clauses, THEN there are postposed relative clauses |
syntax | implication | order, verb, object, relative clause |
| 833 | IF there are right-extraposed relative clauses, THEN there are either embedded or left-extraposed relative clauses. | syntax | implication | relative clause |
| 835 | IF there is any other lateral, THEN there will also be a voiced lateral approximant. | phonology | implication | lateral, approximant |
| 836 | In languages with two or more laterals, IF there is a contrast between them in manner, THEN there will not be a contrast between them in voice, and vice versa. | phonology | mutual implication | lateral |
| 841 | IF the relative clause is prenominal, THEN there is no clause-initial marker in these relative clauses. | syntax | implication | postnominal, relative clause, order, clause-initial marker |
| 842 | In relative clauses, IF there is a clause-initial marker, THEN the relative clause is postnominal. | syntax | implication | postnominal, relative clause, relative particle, order |
| 844 | In all initial and final clusters, IF there are consonant clusters of length m and n and m > n, THEN the proportion of clusters of length m which only occur with internal morpheme boundaries is equal or greater than the proportion of such sequences which occur of length n. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | consonant cluster, length |
| 845 | There are no initial or final clusters in which all obstruent combinations are heterogeneous in regard to voicing. | phonology | unconditional | consonant cluster, obstruent, heterogeneous, voice |
| 846 | In final clusters, IF there is at least one sequence consisting of a nasal (voiced or unvoiced) followed by a heterogenic obstruent, THEN there is at least one cluster consisting of a nasal (voiced or unvoiced) followed by a homorganic obstruent. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, obstruent, homorganic, nasal, heterogenic, phoneme order, final |
| 848 | In initial clusters, IF there is at least one combination of stop + stop, THEN there is at least one combination of stop + fricative. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial, stop, fricative |
| 849 | In initial clusters, IF there is at least one combination of stop + stop, THEN there almost always the combinations of stop + fricative and fricative + stop. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial, stop, fricative |
| 850 | In final clusters, IF there is at least one combination of stop + stop, THEN there is at least one combination of fricative + stop. |
phonology | implication | consonant cluster, final, stop, fricative, phoneme order |
| 851 | In initial clusters, IF there is at least one cluster consisting of liquid + nasal, THEN there is at least one cluster consisting of liquid + obstruent. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial, liquid, nasal, obstruent |
| 852 | In initial clusters, IF there is at least one fricative + fricative combination, THEN there is at least one stop+ fricative combination or at least one fricative + stop combination. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial, stop, fricative |
| 853 | In final clusters, IF there is at least one liquid + nasal cluster, THEN there is at least one liquid + obstruent cluster. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, final, liquid, nasal, obstruent |
| 854 | In final clusters, IF there is at least one fricative + fricative combination, THEN there is at least one stop + fricative or at least one fricative + stop combination. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, final, stop, fricative |
| 855 | In final clusters, IF there is at least one nasal + liquid cluster, THEN there is at least one obstruent + liquid cluster. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, final, obstruent, nasal, liquid |