Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
1,698 entries · page 13 of 34
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 693 | IF consonant clusters occur in initial and final position of words, THEN these same consonant clusters also occur in medial position, between vowels. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial position, final position, medial position |
| 694 | IF there is a heterorganic cluster of an obstruent consonant and a nasal consonant (e.g. bn), THEN there will be a heterorganic cluster of a voiced obstruent consonant and a nasal (e.g. dn). IF there is a heterorganic cluster of a voiced obstruent consonant and a nasal (e.g. dn), THEN there will be a heterorganic cluster of a voiceless obstruent consonant and a nasal (e.g. pm). IF there is a heterorganic cluster of a voiceless obstruent consonant and a nasal (e.g. pm), THEN there will be a heterorganic cluster of a voiceless obstruent consonant and a liquid (e.g. pl). |
phonology | implication | consonant cluster, phoneme order, nasals, liquid, initial, heterorganic |
| 697 | IF there is 1st person singular in the imperative paradigm, then there is a form(s) of 1st person plural as well. |
inflection | implication | imperative, mood, 1 person, number, plural, singular |
| 698 | IF there are more than three vowels, THEN / ¥ / or / ™ / will be among them. | phonology | implication | vowel |
| 699 | IF there are more than four vowels, THEN / ε / and generally also / C / will be among them. | phonology | implication | vowel |
| 700 | IF there are more than five vowels, THEN / C / and also either / ¥ / or / e/ (generally the former) will be among them. | phonology | implication | vowel |
| 701 | IF there are more than six vowels, THEN /e, o/ or /i, E/ will be among them. (The types /i, E/ may be represented by /ü, ö/.) |
phonology | implication | vowel |
| 702 | IF there are more than seven vowels, THEN /e/ will be among them. | phonology | implication | vowel |
| 703 | IF there are more than eight vowels, THEN /o/ will be among them. | phonology | implication | vowel |
| 705 | IF there are two or more interior vowels, THEN at least one of them must be high. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | vowel, high, interior |
| 706 | IF there are n vowels in an interior column, THEN there will at most be n vowels in the front or back columns. | phonology | implication | vowel, interior, front, back |
| 707 | IF there are n height distinctions in back vowels, THEN there are not more than n distinctions in front vowels. | phonology | implication | height, front, back, vowel |
| 709 | IF there are n nasal vowels, THEN there are at least n oral vowels. | phonology | implication | vowel, nasal, oral |
| 710 | When a nasal vowel system is smaller than the corresponding basic vowel system, it is most often a mid vowel that is missing from the nasal system. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | vowel, nasal, mid |
| 711 | IF morphology is agglutinative, THEN (stress) accent will be demarcating, falling on word edges (either on initial or final syllables), rather than be free and centralizing, and there consequently will not be much phonological reduction of initial or final syllables. |
phonology, morphology | implication | agglutination, accent, reduction |
| 713 | IF morphology is agglutinative, THEN there is vowel harmony. IF morphology is flexive, THEN there is stress accent. |
prosodic phonology, morphology | implication | agglutination, flexion, vowel harmony, stress accent |
| 714 | IF one co-ordination strategy is used for NPs, THEN it is also used for PPs. IF one co-ordination strategy is used for PPs, THEN it is also used for APs. IF one co-ordination strategy is used for APs, THEN it is also used for VPs. IF one co-ordination strategy is used for VPs, THEN it is also used for Ss. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | co-ordination, complex sentences, complex phrases |
| 715 | IF there is no opposition of front and back fricatives, THEN the s-sound is not sharply differentiated from an ∫-articulation. | phonology | implication | front, back, fricative |
| 716 | IF any further grammatical oppositions are expressed in forms marked for dual number, THEN the same oppositions will also be expressed in forms marked for plural number. | inflection | implication | number, dual, plural, inclusive, exclusive, gender, case |
| 718 | The larger the number of (phonological) tone levels, the larger the pitch range they occupy. | phonology | mutual implication | tone, tone levels, pitch range |
| 721 | IF there is a deictic salience of the 2nd person, THEN there is a category of inclusive. | inflection, syntax | implication | person hierarchy, 2 person, inclusive |
| 722 | IF a sequence of unlike tones on a word or morpheme is permitted, THEN like tones on a word or morpheme will be permitted as well. | phonology | implication | tone, level tone, contour tone |
| 723 | IF successive shifts of tone level in opposite directions within a word are permitted, THEN words with only one shift of tone level are permitted as well. | phonology | implication | tone, level shift |
| 724 | IF there are contour tones, THEN there are level tones. | phonology | implication | tone, contour tone, level tone |
| 725 | IF there are complex tonal contours, THEN there will also be simpler ones. | phonology | implication | tone, contour tone, complex, simple |
| 726 | IF non-tonal phonological properties are assigned opposite values to an adjacent occurrence of that property within a morpheme, then the assignment of tones (provided the language is tonal) will also be governed by rules of polarity. | phonology | implication | tone, morpheme |
| 727 | IF an obstruent is voiceless, THEN after it the pitch range is descending; IF an obstruent is voiced, THEN after it the pitch range is rising. |
phonology | implication | obstruent, voice, pitch |
| 729 | IF a vowel is low (open), THEN it will have lower pitch than that of a high (close) vowel (other things being equal). | phonology | implication | vowel, low, high, pitch |
| 730 | IF a vowel is on a low tone, THEN it will be longer than a vowel on a high tone (other things being equal). | phonology | implication | vowel, low, high, tone |
| 731 | IF a vowel is on a rising tone, THEN it is longer than a vowel on a falling tone (other thing being equal). | phonology | implication | vowel, length, rising, falling, tone |
| 732 | When marked phonation types are restricted in distribution to certain tones, those tones are in the highest or lowest part of the scale used by the language concerned. |
phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | tone, marked phonation type |
| 733 | Whenever there is person agreement in intransitive main clauses, IF intransitive predicates other than those denoting events agree in person, THEN those denoting events will also agree in person. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | agreement, person, transitivity, event predicate |
| 734 | IF predicates are encoded independently, i.e., without the support of a copula, substantive verb, or locative verb, THEN this encoding will always comprise event predicates. | inflection, syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | copula, zero, event predicate |
| 735 | IF predication can be encoded through zero or nonverbal copula, THEN this encoding will be used for identity statements. | syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | copula, zero, identity statement |
| 736 | IF there is zero or nonverbal copula encoding for sentence types other than identity statements, THEN there is zero or nonverbal copula encoding for predicate nominal sentences. | syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | copula, zero, identity statement, predicate nominal |
| 737 | IF a zero copula is allowed at all, THEN this option will be minimally selected for predicate nominal sentences in the present tense with a 3rd person subject. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | copula, zero, predicate nominal, tense, present, 3rd person, subject |
| 738 | If predicate nominals are encoded verbally, THEN predicative adjectives are encoded verbally. | inflection, syntax | implication | word class, predicate nominal, predicative adjective |
| 739 | If predicative adjectives are encoded nonverbally, then predicate nominals are encoded nonverbally. | inflection, syntax | implication | word class, predicate nominal, predicative adjective |
| 740 | IF there is a nominal-verbal split in encoding property concepts, THEN Human Propensity predicates will be encoded by the verbal strategy. | inflection, syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | word class, adjective, verb, noun, property concepts, human propensity |
| 741 | Hierarchy of Property Concepts: Human Propensity > Physical Property > Dimension / Colour > Value / Age / Form > Material / Gender When languages encode these types of property concepts by different word classes, wherever the cut-off point, IF a concept type is encoded nominally, THEN all concept types lower on the hierarchy are also encoded nominally; and IF a concept type is encoded verbally, THEN all concept types higher on the hierarchy are also encoded verbally; IF any concept types are encoded through a distinct word class of adjectives, THEN this will include those from the middle of the hierarchy. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | implicational hierarchy | word class, verb, noun, adjective, property concepts |
| 742 | IF there is a nominal-verbal split in encoding property concepts, THEN items which belong to the adjectival categories of Material and Gender will be be encoded by the non-verbal strategy. | inflection, syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | word class, adjective, property concepts, material, gender |
| 743 | IF there is verbal-nominal switching for adjectives, THEN the nominal option will always encode the more time-stable reading. | inflection, syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | word class, time stability, adjective, verb, noun |
| 744 | IF there is nominal-locational switching for adjectives, THEN the nominal option will encode the more time-stable reading. | inflection, syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | word class, time stability, adjective, noun, locational |
| 745 | IF the nominal strategy partakes in an Adjective-switch, and IF that switch is monitored by Time Stability, THEN the nominal strategy will encode the more time-stable option. | inflection, syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | word class, time stability, adjective, noun |
| 746 | IF there is nominal/locational switching for predicate nominals, THEN there is either nominal/locational switching for predicate adjectives, or complete locational take-over for predicate adjectives. | inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | word class, predicate nominal, predicate adjective, locational |
| 747 | IF a nominal nominal/locational switch is motivated by conditions of Time-Stability, THEN the nominal strategy will encode the more time-stable option. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | nominal-locational switching, encoding, time stability |
| 748 | IF a nominal verbal/nominal switch is motivated by conditions of Time-Stability, THEN the nominal strategy will encode the more time-stable option. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | verbal/nominal switching, encoding, time stability |
| 749 | IF there is an encoding of a tense opposition in a verbal system, THEN this opposition will hold between Past and non-Past. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | tense, past, non-past |
| 750 | IF there is an encoding of aspectual opposition in a verbal system, THEN this opposition will hold between Imperfective and Perfective. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | aspect, perfective, imperfective |
| 751 | IF nominal encoding of predicative adjectives is allowed, THEN there is nominal merging. | inflection, syntax | implication | encoding, predicative adjective, nominal merging |