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 15 of 25
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1038 | Morphemically simple words must have one main stress. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | stress, accent |
| 1039 | When stress is phonologically predictable and limited to certain syllables (i.e., does not always fall on the same syllable), the potentially stressable syllables form a sequence without gaps and are reckoned either initially forward or from the ultima backwards, with the relevant syllables being identified in terms of only three properties: (i) heaviness (vowel length and/or a complex nucleus of unlike vowels (diphthong) and/or syllable-final consonant(s), as opposed to lightness, (ii) open or peripheral vowel quality, as opposed to central vowel, or (iii) high tone, as opposed to low tone. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | stress, syllable, accent, tone, weight, vowel quality |
| 1040 | When stress is phonologically predictable and unlimited, the relevant syllables may only be identified in terms of heaviness or open/peripheral vowel quality, with the ‘residual’ rule, applying if the word lacks a syllable of the kind required to attract stress, almost always selecting the initial syllable. | prosodic phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | stress, syllable, accent |
| 1041 | When stress is not phonologically predictable (i.e., when it is phonemic, fulfilling grammatical or lexical functions) and limited to certain syllables (i.e. does not always fall on the same syllable), the potentially stressable syllables form a sequence without gaps and are almost always reckoned from the ultima backwards, with the maximum for end reckoning apparently being four, and with penultimate syllables being preferred. | prosodic phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | stress, syllable, accent |
| 1044 | Concerning the relation of word prosody to phrase prosody: Word accent of the final syllable is lost unless phrase final, whereas internal word accent is retained. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | prosody, word, accent |
| 1045 | IF stress is phonologically predictable and automatic (i.e., always on the same syllable), THEN there are phonemic distinctions of vowel quantity. | prosodic phonology | implication | stress, vowel, quantity, accent |
| 1046 | When length distinctions are limited to certain positions in the word, these always include or are even confined to the stressed syllable. | prosodic phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | stress, length, word, syllable, accent |
| 1047 | When there are limitations regarding the number of long vowels in a word, they invariably involve end and/or initial reckoning. | prosodic phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | vowel, length, accent |
| 1048 | IF syllable closure is counted as an extra mora, THEN vowel length is present and likewise counts as two mora(s), but not necessarily vice versa. | phonology | implication | vowel, syllable, length |
| 1049 | IF tonal contrasts are neutralized in certain syllables, THEN it occurs in unstressed syllables. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | tone, stress, syllable |
| 1050 | The number of tones on a long vowel seems never to be fewer than on a short vowel. | phonology | implication | vowel, tone, length |
| 1051 | IF there is tonal ascent, THEN there is also tonal descent. | phonology | implication | tone, contour |
| 1052 | IF word order is SOV, THEN there are no preclitics. IF word order is VSO, THEN there are no postclitic question markers. |
syntax | implication | order, interrogative sentence, question marker, clitic |
| 1053 | We would expect that a system which stresses the initial syllable as the elsewhere case (i.e., if words lack a long vowel, full vowel, or heavy syllable that would attract stress) would be more common than a system which places stress on the final syllable in the elsewhere case, regardless of whether stress on strong syllables is determined from the left or from the right. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | stress, syllable |
| 1068 | Synchronic stress shifts may be from final to other (often penultimate) syllables or from second to other (often initial) syllables, but never the other ways around. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | stress, syllable |
| 1069 | IF there is a rule placing stress on antepenultimate syllables, THEN there is stress on words consisting of only one or two syllables. | prosodic phonology | implication | stress, syllable |
| 1071 | IF there is a contrast between light and heavy syllables, THEN there is a contrast of vowel length. | prosodic phonology | implication | syllable, vowel, vowel quantity, syllable weight |
| 1072 | IF there is a contrast between light and heavy syllables, THEN there is a contrast of consonant length. | prosodic phonology | implication | syllable, consonant, consonant quantity, syllable weight |
| 1073 | Provided stress is sensitive to syllable weight, IF stress can be passed onto neighboring syllables by syllables of any other structure THEN it can be passed on by syllables consisting of a short vowel in open syllable position. | prosodic phonology | implication | stress, syllable, vowel, vowel quantity, syllable weight |
| 1078 | IF accent (word or phrase?) is based on pitch/tone, THEN accent is initial. IF accent is based on duration, THEN accent is final. |
prosodic phonology | implication | accent, tone, pitch, syllable, rhythm |
| 1079 | IF case, and especially genitive, is marked (enclitically) at the end of NPs, THEN word order is mainly SOV, NP Postposition, Genitive Noun, Noun Adjective (Greenberg’s type 24). | inflection, syntax | implication | case, enclitic, order, adposition, attributive, adjective, noun |
| 1085 | Where contrastive aspiration is neutralized before liquids and nasals, the occurring phone is not aspirated or if released not to the same degree of phonemic aspiration. | phonology | implication | aspiration, liquid, nasal |
| 1086 | If pronominal reference can reach into certain anaphoric islands, THEN also outside. | syntax | implication | anaphoric island, pronominal reference |
| 1089 | IF there is a voicing contrast in stops, THEN /t/ and /k/ are present. | phonology | implication | stop, voice |
| 1090 | IF a low vowel in nasalized, THEN it is raised. | phonology | implication | vowel, nasalization |
| 1093 | Nearly all languages have contrasting labial and dental nasals. | phonology | unconditional | nasal, consonant, labial, dental |
| 1094 | IF there are any place of articulation contrasts in a nasal stop system, THEN there are at least as many place of articulation contrasts in the oral stop system. | phonology | implication | nasal, oral, stop |
| 1096 | Nasal stop systems always have voiced members. | phonology | unconditional | nasal, stop |
| 1097 | IF there is a contrast in glottal feature, length, or other secondary articulation, THEN that feature is also contrastive in the oral stop system (but not necessarily the fricative system). | phonology | implication | glottal, oral, stop |
| 1099 | IF there are mono-valent resultatives formed from bi-valent verbs , THEN there must be bi-valent resultatives formed from tri-valent verbs. | inflection, syntax | implication | resultative, valence |
| 1102 | IF there are no consonant clusters, THEN the position of minimum contrast is word-final. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster |
| 1103 | IF there are nasal vowels, THEN there are at least three, one of which is always a low vowel [ã]. | phonology | implication | nasal, vowel |
| 1104 | Regardless of alignment, the ‘antecedent’, i. e. the controller, of a reflexive is A (or S, where it is extended to intransitive). | syntax | unconditional | reflexive, subject, agent, controller |
| 1105 | IF alignment is ergative for (some) syntactic purposes, THEN it will be ergative for (some) morphological purposes. |
morphology, syntax | implication | alignment, ergative |
| 1106 | All human languages classify actions into two basic types: those involving one obligatory participant, which are described by intransitive clauses, and those involving two or more obligatory participants, which are dealt with by transitive clauses. | syntax | unconditional | intransitive clause, transitive, participant |
| 1107 | Whenever there is an alignment split between bound and free pronouns, bound (i.e. agreement) forms are more likely to align accusatively, while case marking on free forms is more likely to align ergatively. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | agreement, alignment, split, case, ergative, accusative |
| 1111 | IF there is a Topic Possessive, THEN there is backgrounding of simultaneous sequences. | syntax | implication | possessive, backgrounding |
| 1112 | IF there is Comitative Possessive, THEN there is predominant balancing of simultaneous sequences. | syntax | implication | possessive, balancing |
| 1116 | IF no argument of an object complement sentence can be raised into subject position, THEN there is no full passive. | syntax | implication | diathesis, passive, subject raising |
| 1120 | All personal pronouns are definite. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | definite, personal pronoun |
| 1121 | IF there are passives with agent phrases, THEN there will be passives without them. | syntax | implication | diathesis, passive, agent |
| 1122 | IF the pronominal dual does not extend to 3rd person, THEN there very likely is no nominal dual or it is restricted. | inflection | implication | number, dual, noun, pronoun, person, 3 |
| 1123 | IF the extension of the pronominal dual is limited and includes 3rd person, THEN all nouns (or at least some of them) have a dual. | inflection | implication | number, dual, noun, pronoun, person, 3 |
| 1124 | IF the pronominal dual is unrestricted, THEN the nominal dual is likelier to be restricted to natural pairs than IF the pronominal dual is restricted to whatever person(s). | inflection | implication | number, dual, noun, pair, pronoun, person |
| 1125 | IF the nominal dual is restricted to nouns other than those denoting natural pairs, THEN the pronominal dual is unrestricted. | inflection | implication | number, dual, noun, pair, pronoun, person |
| 1126 | IF predicates can incorporate their arguments (i.e., verbs their subjects and objects), THEN head nouns can incorporate their attributive clauses. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, subject, object, verb, attribute |
| 1127 | IF nouns for alienable possession can incorporate their possessive pronouns, THEN nouns for inalienable possession can too. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, possessive pronoun, noun, possession, alienable, inalienable |
| 1128 | IF nominal subjects can be incorporated into verbs, THEN nominal non-subjects can also be incorporated. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, subject, verb, noun |
| 1129 | IF pronominal objects can be incorporated, THEN possessor pronouns can also be incorporated; IF possessor pronouns can be incorporated, THEN pronominal subjects can also be incorporated. |
morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, object, subject, possessive, pronoun |
| 1130 | IF nouns can be incorporated, THEN pronouns can also be incorporated. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, pronoun, noun |