Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
827 entries · page 14 of 17
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1658 | IF there is non-tensedness, THEN the nominal predicate does not require a copula. | inflection, syntax | implication | tense, nominal predicate, copula |
| 1659 | IF there are evidentials encoding direct evidence, THEN there are evidentials for indirect evidence. IF there is an evidential category for visual evidence, THEN there is evidential category for non-visual evidence. IF there is an evidential category for inferential evidence, THEN there is evidential category for quotative evidence. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | implicational hierarchy | evidentiality hierarchy |
| 1669 | IF basic word order is SOV, THEN the usual place of rheme is the position immediately preceding the verb. | syntax | implication | order, SOV, sentence stress, rheme |
| 1670 | IF basic word order is SVO, THEN the usual place of rheme is after the verb either in an immediately postverbal position or after an unstressed element. | syntax | implication | order, SVO, rheme |
| 1671 | IF there is an initial marker of subordination, THEN sentential NPs occur in clause-peripheral positions only. IF sentential NPs occur in clause-internal position, THEN there is no initial marker of subordination (i.e. there is no subordination marker at all, or there is a final marker). |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, clause, sentential NP, subordinator |
| 1672 | IF basic word order is SOV, THEN conjunctions occur in clause-final position. IF basic word order is VOS, THEN conjunctions occur in clause-initial position. |
syntax | implication | order, SOV, VOS, conjunction, complementizer |
| 1673 | IF there is plural allomorphy, THEN morphology is flexive. | inflection | implication | flexion, number, plural, declension class |
| 1676 | IF there is stem modification (other than by assimilation and contraction), THEN morphology is flexive. | inflection | implication | flexion, stem modification |
| 1677 | The consonant types on the right end of the hierarchy exercise a greater tone-lowering effect, while those at the left end of the hierarchy excercise a smaller tone-lowering effect. | prosodic phonology | implicational hierarchy | tone, low, consonant |
| 1678 | IF basic word order is VSO, THEN the question particle (corresponding to the English if/whether) does not appear in WH word questions. | syntax | implication | order, VOS, question particle, Wh-question |
| 1682 | There is a strong tendency for agent-oriented modality to be expressed by verbs, auxiliaries or non-bound particles, whereas speaker-oriented and epistemic modalities are often expressed inflectionally. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | modality, verb, auxiliary, mood |
| 1683 | Progressives (which develop from locative, postural or movement verb constructions) tend to develop into imperfectives or occasionally presents. | inflection | target < source | aspect, progressive, imperfective, tense, present |
| 1684 | Anteriors (or perfects, which develop from stative auxiliaries plus a past participle, or from dynamic verbs such as ‘finish’ or ‘come from’) develop into perfectives or general past tenses. | inflection | target < source | aspect, anterior, perfective, tense, past |
| 1685 | Habitual grams tend to come from verbs meaning ‘live’, ‘know’ or ‘be used to’. | inflection | target < source | aspect, habitual |
| 1687 | IF there is an extensive use of conjunctions, THEN converbs play a minor role or are completely absent. IF there is an extensive use of converbs, THEN the role of conjunctions is less important. |
syntax | implication | conjunction, converb |
| 1688 | IF there is absolute deranking, THEN there is conditional deranking. | syntax | implication | deranking |
| 1689 | IF there is conditional deranking under identity with a non-subject, THEN there is conditional deranking under subject identity. | syntax | implication | deranking |
| 1690 | IF basic order is SOV and there is deranking of consecutive chains, THEN there will be deranking of anterior predicates. | syntax | implication | deranking, order, SOV |
| 1691 | IF basic order is either SVO or VSO and there is deranking of consecutive chains, THEN there will be deranking of posterior predicates. | syntax | implication | deranking, order, SVO, VSO |
| 1692 | IF there is anterior deranking, THEN there is absolute deranking. | syntax | implication | deranking, order, SVO |
| 1693 | IF there is posterior consecutive deranking and the basic order is SVO, THEN there is conditional deranking. | syntax | implication | deranking, order, SVO |
| 1694 | IF there is posterior consecutive deranking and the basic order is VSO, THEN there is absolute deranking. | syntax | implication | deranking, order, VSO |
| 1695 | IF there is absolute consecutive deranking, THEN basic order is either SOV or VSO. | syntax | implication | deranking, order, SOV, VOS |
| 1696 | IF there is absolute anterior consecutive deranking, THEN basic order is SOV. | syntax | implication | deranking, order, SOV |
| 1697 | IF there is absolute posterior consecutive deranking, THEN basic order is VSO. | lexicon | implication | deranking, order, VSO |
| 1698 | IF there is only conditional deranking of consecutive chains, THEN there is posterior deranking and basic order is SVO . | syntax | implication | deranking, order, SVO |
| 1699 | IF there is an interrogative pro-verb, THEN there is an interrogative pro-numeral. IF there is an interrogative pro-numeral, THEN there is an interrogative pro-adjective. IF there is an interrogative pro-adjective, THEN there is an interrogative pro-adverb. IF there is an interrogative pro-adverb, THEN there is an interrogative pro-noun. |
lexicon | implicational hierarchy | interrogative word |
| 1700 | Universal Hierarchy of Consonantal Strength: voiceless plosives > voiced stops > voiceless fricatives > voiced fricatives > nasals > lateral liquids (l-sounds) > central liquids (r-sounds) > high vowels > mid vowels > low vowels. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | consonant, strength, sonority |
| 1701 | The Shell Law: In general, a shell seems to be the more preferred, the less similar the head and (the mirror image of) the coda are. In particular, identical speech sounds flanking the nucleus are disfavoured, all the more so the less their Consonantal Strength is. The antipathy increases notably if the identical speech sounds flanking the nucleus are not the only ones within their margins. |
phonology | implication | syllable, head, coda, nucleus, consonant, strength, sonority |
| 1702 | The Body Law (conjectured): There must be degrees of preference for combinations of nuclei with heads. For instance, ongliding nuclear speech sounds often impose additional restrictions on the structure of heads. |
phonology | implication | syllable, head, nucleus |
| 1703 | The Rhyme Law (conjectured): There must be degrees of preference for combinations of nuclei with codas. For instance, offgliding nuclear speech sounds often impose additional restrictions on the structure of codas. |
phonology | implication | syllable, nucleus, coda |
| 1704 | The Syllabic Tone Law (conjectured): IF there are non-level tones on syllables of less than two voiced moric speech sounds, THEN there will also be non-level tones on syllables of two or more voiced moric speech sounds. |
prosodic phonology | implication | tone, level, accent, pitch accent, mora, short vowel |
| 1705 | The Head Law: A syllable head is the more preferred: (a) the closer the number of speech sounds in the head is to one, (b) the greater the Consonantal Strength value of its onset, and (c) the more sharply the Consonantal Strength drops from the onset toward the Consonantal Strength of the following syllable nucleus. |
phonology | implication | syllable, head, nucleus, consonant, strength, sonority |
| 1706 | The Coda Law: A syllable coda is the more preferred: (a) the smaller the number of speech sounds in the coda, (b) the less the Consonantal Strength of its offset, and (c) the more sharply the Consonantal Strength drops from the offset toward the Consonantal Strength of the preceding syllable nucleus. |
phonology | implication | syllable, coda, nucleus, consonant, strength, sonority |
| 1707 | The Nucleus Law: A nucleus is the more preferred: (a) the steadier its speech sound, and (b) the less the Consonantal Strength of its speech sound. |
phonology | implication | syllable, nucleus, consonant, strength, sonority |
| 1708 | A syllable will be the more preferred, the less the Consonantal Strength of its offset is. (Corrollary of the Coda and Nucleus Laws (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1706"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1707"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">)) |
phonology | implication | syllable, coda, nucleus, consonant, strength |
| 1709 | A syllable will be the more preferred, the greater the Consonantal Strength of its onset is. (Corrollary of the Head Law (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1705"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">)) |
phonology | implication | syllable, coda, nucleus, consonant, strength |
| 1710 | The Weight Law (aka Stressed Syllables Law or Prokosch's Law): In stress accent languages an accented syllable is the more preferred, the closer its syllable weight is to two moras, and an unaccented syllable is the more preferred the closer its weight is to one mora. (The optimal stressed syllable is bimoric, the optimal unstressed syllable is unimoric.) |
prosodic phonology | implication | stress accent, syllable, mora |
| 1711 | The Law of Initials: Word-medial syllable heads are the more preferred, the less they differ from possible word-initial syllable heads of the language system. |
phonology | implication | syllable, head, word, phonotactics |
| 1712 | The Law of Finals: Word-medial syllable codas are the more preferred, the less they differ from possible word-final syllable codas of the language system. |
phonology | implication | syllable, coda, word, phonotactics |
| 1713 | The Strength Assimilation Law: If Consonantal Strength is assimilated in a syllable contact, the Consonantal Strength of the stronger speech sound decreases. |
phonology | implication | syllable, consonant, strength, sonority, phonotactics |
| 1714 | The Contact Law: A syllable contact A$B is the more preferred, the less the Consonantal Strength of the offset A and the greater the Consontal Strength of the onset B; more precisely, the greater the characteristic difference CS(B)–CS(A) between the Consonantal Strength of B and that of A. |
phonology | implication | syllable, consonant, strength, sonority |
| 1715 | The Attractiveness of Rhymes: A rhyme is the more attractive: (a) the more heavily its syllable is accented relative to the following syllable, (b) the shorter it is, and (c) the less the Consonantal Strength of its elements is, especially towards its offset. |
prosodic phonology | implication | syllable, rhyme, consonant, strength, sonority, complexity, accent |
| 1716 | Lutz's Law: Heterosyllabication of an internuclear cluster is the more preferred, the more attractive the rhyme of that syllable is which would remain of the first syllable if the cluster were tautosyllabicated in the second syllable. |
phonology | implication | syllable, rhyme, consonant cluster |
| 1717 | The Attractiveness of Bodies: A body is the more attractive: (a) the more heavily its syllable is accented relative to the preceding syllable, (b) the shorter it is, and (c) the less the Consonantal Strength of its elements is, especially towards its onset. |
phonology | implication | syllable, head, nucleus, accent, consonant, strength, sonority |
| 1718 | Quality of Contact Embedding: A syllable contact A$B is the better embedded, the more attractive the rhyme of the first syllable would be if the cluster AB were tautosyllabicated in the second syllable, and the more attractive the body of the second syllable would be if the cluster AB were tautosyllabicated in the first syllable. |
phonology | implication | syllable, rhyme, consonant cluster |
| 1719 | General Syllabication Law: A syllabication is the more preferred: (a) the better the resulting syllable contact is and (b) the better that syllable contact is embedded. |
phonology | implication | syllable |
| 1720 | Higher Order Law: All syllabic complexities are less disfavoured in stressed syllables than in unstressed syllables. |
phonology | implication | syllable, complexity, stress |
| 1732 | In most languages the demonstrative pronoun and demonstrative adjective are identical. | syntax | mutual implication | demonstrative |
| 1736 | IF a noun phrase constituent has special adnominal and nominal forms for any of its more marked members, THEN it tends to have such forms for some or all of its less marked members. | inflection, syntax | implication | NP, noun, pronoun, markedness |