Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
827 entries · page 15 of 17
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1737 | IF the definite article carries any gender, number, and/or case inflection in adnominal use, THEN it carries at least the same inflection in pronominal use. | inflection, syntax | implication | definite article, gender, number, case, pronoun, determiner |
| 1738 | IF a noun phrase constituent carries any gender, number, and/or case inflection in adnominal use, THEN it carries at least the same inflection in pronominal use. | inflection, syntax | implication | NP, gender, number, case, pronoun, determiner |
| 1745 | There are no endoclitics, i.e., clitics inside words do not exist. | phonology, syntax | unconditional | clitics, endoclitics |
| 1746 | IF there are any prefixes on nouns, THEN there will be prefixes on verbs with considerably more than chance frequency. | morphology | implication | affix-order, prefix, noun, verb |
| 1747 | When there are any person affixes on the verb marking direct object, these will be prefixed with more than chance frequency. |
inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | person, direct object, verb, affix-order, prefix |
| 1751 | IF a cardinal numeral is a borrowing, THEN the corresponding ordinal numeral will also be a borrowing. | lexicon | implication | numeral, cardinal, ordinal, borrowing |
| 1752 | IF a cardinal numeral has synonyms, THEN the corresponding ordinal numeral will also have synonyms. | lexicon | implication | numeral, cardinal, ordinal, synonym |
| 1753 | IF there are synonyms for an ordinal numeral, THEN there are also synonyms for ordinals for all lower numbers. | lexicon | implication | numeral, ordinal, synonym |
| 1754 | Provided at least some ordinal numerals are formally distinguished from cardinal numerals: IF the distinction is by suppletion for higher numbers, THEN it is also by suppletion for 1; IF it is by suppletion for 2, THEN it is also by suppletion for 1. |
word formation | implication | numeral, ordinal, cardinal, suppletion |
| 1755 | IF the distinction between ordinal and cardinal forms for the number 1 at some decade is by suppletion, THEN it is also by suppletion for the same numeral at lower decades. | word formation | implication | numeral, ordinal, cardinal, suppletion |
| 1756 | IF ordinal numerals are distinguished from cardinal numerals for numbers higher than 1, THEN they are also distinguished for 1. | lexicon | implication | numeral, ordinal, cardinal |
| 1757 | When cardinal and ordinal numerals are ordered differently relative to nouns, cardinals always precede nouns and ordinals always follow them. | syntax | unconditional | numeral, ordinal, cardinal, noun, order |
| 1758 | IF only one (cardinal or ordinal) numeral differs from all others in its ordering relative to the noun, THEN it will be that for the number 1.IF another numeral joins 1 in failing to conform to general ordering rules, THEN it will be that for the number 2. | syntax | unconditional | numeral, ordinal, cardinal, noun, order |
| 1759 | IF person and/or number is marked on non-finite forms, THEN person and/or number is also marked on finite forms. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb, finite, non-finite, agreement, person, number |
| 1760 | IF the subject of a non-finite form is nominative, THEN the subject of (at least some) finite forms will also be nominative. | inflection, syntax | implication | finite, non-finite, subject, nominative case |
| 1761 | IF tense is marked on non-finite forms, THEN tense is also marked on finite forms. | inflection | implication | verb, finite, non-finite, tense |
| 1762 | IF basic word order is SOV, THEN there are no prepositions owing to borrowing. | lexicon, syntax | implication | borrowing, order, SOV, preposition |
| 1763 | Complete indefinite pronouns cannot be borrowed. | lexicon | unconditional | borrowing, indefinite pronoun |
| 1764 | Vowels are shorter before voiceless obstruents than before voiced obstruents or sonorants. | phonology | implication | vowel, voice, obstruent, sonorant, length |
| 1765 | IF there is consonantal deletion in initial position, THEN there will be consonantal deletion in intervocalic position. IF there is consonantal deletion in intervocalic position, THEN there will be consonantal deletion in final position. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | consonant, weakening, initial, intervocalic, final, hierarchy |
| 1766 | Hierarchy of major-class and manner features in the context of consonantal weakening: Ø < glides < liquids < nasals < +v fricatives < -v fricatives/-v stops < -v stops.<br> The consonants more to the left on the hierarchy are classified as weaker, leading to eventual deletion, diachronically speaking. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | consonant, weakening, hierarchy |
| 1767 | IF front consonants are deleted, THEN back consonants are as well. | phonology | implication | consonant, back, front, deletion |
| 1768 | IF labials undergo phonological weakening, THEN dentals will have undergone phonological weakening. IF dentals undergo phonological weakening, THEN velars will have undergone phonological weakening. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | consonant, weakening, labial, dental, velar |
| 1788 | The Length Strategy: The longer a sentence is, the more likely it is to be classified as belonging to a more formal register. |
syntax, pragmatics | implication | complexity, length, formality, register |
| 1789 | The Particle Strategy: The more short, particle-like words a sentence contains, the more likely it is to be classified as belonging to a more informal register. |
syntax, pragmatics | implication | particle, length, formality, register |
| 1790 | The shorter a linguistic expression is, the more likely it is will be associated with familiarity and high frequency of occurrence. The longer a linguistic expression is, the more likely it is will be associated with unfamiliarity and low frequency of occurrence. |
morphology, syntax, semantics | implication | iconicity, complexity, length, formality, register, frequency |
| 1791 | IF a vowel followed by a back velar nasal result in a nasal vowel, THEN a nasal vowel as the result of a vowel followed by a labial nasal already exists. | phonology | implication | nasalization, nasal, vowel, velar, bilabial |
| 1792 | Vowel Length Parameter: Vowel nasalization and N-deletion, as seperate and successive processes, occur preferentially in the context of long vowels before spreading to short vowels. |
phonology | implication | nasalization, nasal, deletion, vowel, length |
| 1793 | IF N-deletion occurs first in stressed/tonic syllables, THEN it will have already occurred in unstressed/atonic syllables. | phonology | implication | nasal, deletion, vowel, stress, tonic, atonic |
| 1795 | IF N-deletion occurs in post-tonic unstressed syllables, THEN it will have already occurred in pretonic unstressed syllables. IF N-deletion occurs in pretonic unstressed syllables, THEN it will have already occurred in tonic stressed syllables. IF denasalization occurs in tonic stressed syllables, THEN it will have already occured in pretonic unstressed syllables. IF denasalization occurs in pretonic unstressed syllables, THEN it will have already occured in post-tonic unstressed syllables. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | nasal, deletion, denasalization, stress, tonic, atonic |
| 1803 | IF obstruents are devoiced initially, THEN they are devoiced finally. | phonology | implication | obstruent, voice |
| 1804 | There is a tendency for consonants to front when in initial position and to back when in final position. | phonology | unconditional | obstruent, voice |
| 1805 | IF obstruents occur syllable- and word-finally, THEN they occur syllable- and word-initially. IF sononrants occur syllable- and word-initially, THEN they occur syllable- and word-finally. |
phonology | implication | obstruent, sonorant, syllable, word, initial, final, phonotactics |
| 1806 | In word-final nasal + obstruent clusters, IF the nasal is deleted, THEN the obstruent should have already been deleted as well. |
phonology | implication | obstruent, nasal, deletion |
| 1831 | IF basic word order is SOV, THEN modifiers tend to come before nouns, most likely in nominalizations and with continuously decreasing likelihood with possessives, with relative clauses, and with attributive adjectives. | syntax | implication | order, SOV, verb, subject, object, nominalization, noun, modifier, possessive, adjective, relative clause |
| 1832 | IF a relative clause or adjective precedes the noun, THEN possessives also precede the noun. | syntax | implication | order, noun, modifier, possessive, adjective, relative clause |
| 1855 | Vowels tend to be lower preceding non-laterals (trills or flaps) than preceding other consonants. |
phonology | implication | consonant, liquid, nonlateral, trill, flap, vowel, phonotactics |
| 1856 | Vowels tend to be lower in the environment of a velarized lateral than in other environments. |
phonology | implication | consonant, liquid, lateral, velarization, vowel, phonotactics |
| 1857 | When a vowel is adjacent to a nonlateral, it will be centralized or backed. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | liquid, nonlateral, centralization, back, vowel |
| 1858 | When a vowel is adjacent to a lateral, it will be fronted. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | liquid, lateral, front, vowel |
| 1859 | Languages tend to have laterals after grave consonants and nonlaterals after acute. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | liquid, lateral, acute, grave, consonant, vowel |
| 1860 | Consonantality of a neighboring sound has the effect of changing a nonlateral into a lateral whereas nonconsonantality has the reverse effect of changing a lateral into a nonlateral. | phonology | unconditional | liquid, lateral, consonantality, consonant |
| 1861 | The consonantality of a neighboring sound has the effect of changing a nontrill (flap or tap) into a trill whereas a neighboring nonconsonantal sound has the reverse effect of changing a trill into a nontrill. | phonology | unconditional | liquid, trill, tap, flap, consonantality, consonant |
| 1862 | A trill is found to occur in a stressed position, to denote emphasis, or in slow speech. As against this, a flap (or tap) occurs in unstressed position, and in non-emphatic or fast speech. | phonology | unconditional | liquid, trill, tap, flap, stress, consonant |
| 1863 | A retroflexed flap (out-flap) and also other retroflexed consonants have a retroflexing or centralizing influence on a preceding rather than following segment. | phonology | unconditional | liquid, flap, retroflexion, centralization, consonant |
| 1864 | The alveolar and retroflex stops generally tend to become taps and flaps intervocalically. | phonology | unconditional | liquid, stop, tap, flap, retroflex |
| 1865 | The liquids tend to become devoiced in the final and also in initial position. They further become spirantized especially in initial position. | phonology | unconditional | liquid, devoicing, spirantization |
| 1866 | IF nasalization and nasal deletion occur in the context of high vowels, THEN it will have already occurred in the context of mid vowels. IF nasalization and nasal deletion occur in the context of mid vowels, THEN it will have already occurred in the context of low vowels. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | nasalization, nasal deletion, vowel, low, high, mid |
| 1868 | IF reduplication is used for grammatical purposes in any other word class, THEN it is also used (for whatever purpose: gradation, superlative, intensification, distributivity, diminution, ...) for adjectives or adjective-derived nouns [perhaps rather: property words]. |
word formation | implication | reduplication, word class, adjective |
| 1869 | There is a "tone of voice" appropriate for talking to young children: (i) overall higher pitch and/or exaggerated intonation contours; (ii) slower speech tempo. |
phonology, pragmatics | unconditional | baby talk, pitch, intonation, tempo |