Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
827 entries · page 12 of 17
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1478 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' , THEN: (a) in some languages it also denotes the metaperson 'speaker + non-participant(s)'; (b) in other languages it does not denote the metaperson 'speaker + non-participant(s)'. |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1479 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN it cannot denote the metaperson 'non-participant' . | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1480 | IF some form denotes metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN it cannot denote the following metapersons: (a) 'speaker'; (b) 'hearer'; (c) 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1490 | IF there is an opposition of the metapersons 'speaker + hearer' and 'speaker + non-participant' (i.e. inclusive vs. exclusive) in the dual, THEN usually there is such opposition in the plural too. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, hearer, speaker, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive, number, dual, plural |
| 1493 | Incorporation is favoured with the verbs denoting permanent and general activity (also typical or characteristic activity) whereas "accidental" or indifferent activities take autonomous direct object. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | incorporation, verb |
| 1494 | When there is a choice between independence from and incorporation into the verb, objects tend to be incorporated when they are generic, non-referential, indefinite, inanimate/non-human, semantically dependent, pragmatically non-prominent, and to be independent when they are specific, referential, definite, animate/human, semantically independent, pragmatically prominent. | inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | incorporation, object, definiteness, specific reference, animacy, human, |
| 1502 | IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a comparative marker, THEN it is also used as a conjunction with conditional clause. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a conjunction with conditional clause, THEN it is also used as a complementizer with embedded question. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a complementizer with embedded question, THEN it is also used as a marker with question word. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a marker with question word, THEN it is also used as a conjunction with reason clause. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a conjunction with reason clause, THEN it is also used as a conjunction with purpose clause. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a conjunction with purpose clause, THEN it is also used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘hope’. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘hope’, THEN it is also used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘believe’. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘believe’, THEN it is also use as a quotative/complementizer with ‘know’. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘know’, THEN it is also used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘say’. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘say’, THEN it is also used as a quotative particle. |
morphology | implicational hierarchy | grammaticalization, verb, complementizer, adverbial conjunction |
| 1503 | IF there are serial verb constructions, THEN there will be VO ordering with verb serialization, one object per verb, isolating morphology, simple syllable structure, and lexical/or grammatical tone distinctions. | prosodic phonology, morphology, syntax | implication | serial verb, order, isolating, syllable, tone |
| 1509 | IF there is a single lexeme to denote either static location in a configuration or motion “out of” that configuration, THEN there will be a single lexeme to denote either static location in some configuration or motion into that configuration. | lexicon, semantics | implication | motion, adposition |
| 1511 | Reciprocal constructions, which are morphologically related to the reflexive constructions, are never (or, at least, far less often) “lighter” then the latter; they are either “heavier” or the same degree of complexity. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | reciprocal, reflexive, complexity |
| 1512 | IF verbs of authority and ruling use subject or object dispacement, THEN emotion verbs use these displacements as well. IF emotion verbs use subject or object dispacement, THEN emotion verbs with semantic component WANT will use subject or object dispacement. IF emotion verbs with semantic component WANT use subject or object dispacement, THEN general emotion verbs use these dispacements as well. IF general emotion verbs use subject or object displacement, THEN general psych-verbs use these displacements as well. |
syntax, semantics | implicational hierarchy | verb, semantics, subject, object |
| 1513 | IF one class of predicates is susceptible to voice-displacement properties, THEN all classes to the right should have this voice-displacements as well: motion > position (location) > shape > formless qualities (colors, textures, etc.) IF a split in the choice between parts of speech occurs, it occurs in accord with the agency and discreteness hierarchy. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | active verb, stative verb, semantics, word class |
| 1515 | IF numeral systems consists of less than five numerals, THEN the highest numeral is likely to be derived from an approximate quantifier such as ‘many’, ‘a few’, or ‘a couple’. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 1521 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there will be prepositions. | syntax | implication | order, subject, object, preposition |
| 1522 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN noun phrase questions can always be formed by putting the question word, e.g., Who? What? etc., in a preverbal position, provided the question word is not a bound morpheme. | syntax | implication | order, subject, object, question word |
| 1526 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there are no relative pronouns. | syntax | implication | order, subject, object, relative pronoun |
| 1527 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there are articles. IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there are definite articles (distinct from the ordinary demonstrative adjectives). |
syntax | implication | order, subject, object, article, definite article |
| 1528 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN numerical expressions precede the nouns they modify. |
syntax | implication | order, subject, object, numeral |
| 1529 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN articles most frequently precede the nouns. |
syntax | implication | order, subject, object, article |
| 1533 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN passive will be marked in verbal morphology. |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, subject, object, diathesis, passive |
| 1534 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there are no overt copulas. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, subject, object, copula |
| 1535 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN there is significant prefixing [more than with other basic orders?], though normally there is some suffixing as well; and there is a possibility of ambi-fixing (discontinuous affixes), and a somewhat greater than chance tendency for discontinuous demonstratives. | morphology, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, affix-order, prefix, demonstrative |
| 1536 | IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN the morphology may be agglutinative or polysynthetic . | morphology, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, agglutination, poysynthesis |
| 1537 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN the comparative form precedes the standard. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, adjective, comparison |
| 1538 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN the question particle (if there is any) occurs sentence-initially. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, yes-no question, question marker |
| 1539 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN in NP questions a questioned NP is always frontable. IF word order is verb-initial, THEN there is no attraction of the questioned NP to the normal DO position. IF word order is verb-final, THEN there is a tendency to attract a questioned NP to the normal DO position. |
syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, verb-final, NP question |
| 1540 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN subordinate clauses tend to be finite. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, subordinate clause, finiteness |
| 1541 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN subordinate markers such as complementizers, nominalizers, and subordinate conjunctions precede their clauses. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, complementizer, nominalizer, subordinate conjunction |
| 1542 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN sentences which are subordinate to verbs, adjectives, or nouns invariably follow the element to which they are subordinate. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, subordinate clause |
| 1543 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN coordinate sentences are commonly expressed as [S and S], and not as [S, S and]. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, coordination, |
| 1544 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN speech act indicators (e.g. question particles, etc.) are normally sentence initial. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, speech act indicator, question particle |
| 1545 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN it is very common for most major NPs to carry little or no nominal case marking. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, case-marking |
| 1546 | IF word order is verb-initial and there is affixal case marking, THEN prefixal case marking is more likely than in verb-final languages, but suffixing is still fairly common. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, case-marking, affix-order, prefix |
| 1547 | IF word order is verb-initial and there is case marking, THEN there are prepositions. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, case-marking, affix-order, prefix |
| 1548 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN there is relational marking (agreement, applicative, etc.) associated with the verb. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, verbal case-marking |
| 1549 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN the demonstrative, numeral, and qualifying adjective follow the common noun in that order or its mirror image (Adj + Num + Dem). | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, demonstrative, numeral, adjective, noun |
| 1550 | The likelihood of attributive adjectives agreeing with nouns, especially in case, is lower if basic order is verb-initial than if it is verb-final. |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, verb-final, agreement, adjective, attribution, case |
| 1551 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN there tends to be a definite article as distinct from demonstratives. | syntax, lexicon | implication | order, verb-initial, definite article, demonstrative |
| 1552 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN thhe existence of several articles (definite, indefinite, specific, plural, proper noun) is much more common than if word order is verb-final. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, article |
| 1553 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN possessor NPs follow the head NP. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, attributive, noun |
| 1556 | IF word order is verb-initial or verb-final, THEN relative pronouns which code the case of the position relativized are rare. IF word order is verb-medial, THEN relative pronouns which code the case of the position relativized are less rare than if word order is verb-final. |
syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, verb-final, verb-medial, relative clause, relative pronoun, case |
| 1558 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN manner adverbs, if they are a distinct category, follow the verb. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, manner adverb |
| 1559 | IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN sentential objects always follow the subject and are very commonly finite. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, sentential object, finiteness, nominalization |
| 1564 | IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN the verb either agrees with no NPs or with two NPs. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, verb, agreement, subject, object |
| 1567 | In all languages with over 60% order overall, VS word order is statistically correlated with temporally sequenced clauses. In languages with less than 40% VS order, there does not seem to be any correlation between sequencing and word order; in languages with between 40% and 60% VS order, if there is correlation, it will be relatively weak. | syntax | implication | order, VS, temporal sequencing |
| 1568 | IF there are deagentive reflexive constructions, THEN there are objective reflexive constructions. IF there are objective reflexive constructions, THEN there will be subjective reflexive constructions. |
syntax | implication | reflexive, deagentive, subjective, objective |
| 1569 | IF there are non-modal reflexive constructions, THEN there will be modal reflexive constructions. |
syntax | implication | reflexive, modal |
| 1570 | IF there is a group of deagentive reflexive constructions, where (a) the agent can be expressed, (b) there is no subject, and (c) there is a direct object, THEN there will be (or must have been earlier) two other groups of deagentive reflexive constructions; one group, where (a) the agent cannot be expressed (b) there is a subject, (c) there is no direct object; and the other, where (a) the agent cannot be expressed (b) there is no subject, (c) there is no direct object. |
syntax | implication | reflexive, deagentive, agent, subject, direct object |
| 1571 | IF there are reflexive constructions of type (a) X VERBs REFL WITH Y, THEN there are likely to be reflexive constructions of type (b) X & Y VERB REFL. |
syntax | implication | reflexive |
| 1572 | IF a language has both (a) a reflexive construction with true passive meaning and (b) special (e.g., analytical participial) forms for the passive voice, THEN constraints concerning the agentive object (if there are any) are likely to affect the passive of type (a) rather than type (b). |
inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | reflexive, diathesis, passive, agentive object |