Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
2,029 entries · page 16 of 41
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 754 | IF there is tense-induced multiple switching, THEN category switching (if any) is restricted to Present Tense. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | multiple-switching, present tense |
| 755 | IF there are glottalic obstruents and sonants, THEN the ejective obstruent is unvoiced. | phonology | implication | glottalic, ejective, sonant, obstruent, voice |
| 756 | A contrast between five basic vowel qualities is the norm for a human language, and in general the most common systems are those with close to this number of basic vowels. | phonology | unconditional | vowel |
| 757 | IF an obstruent is injective, THEN it will most likely be bilabial. | phonology | implication | consonant, injective, obstruent, bilabial |
| 758 | Preferences regarding point of articulation for glottalic obstruents are as follows: injectives tend to have front articulation, ejectives back articulation. | phonology | unconditional | injective, ejective, glottalic, obstruent |
| 759 | There are at most four injective obstruents. | phonology | unconditional | consonant, obstruent, injective |
| 760 | IF there is at least one posterior (compact) injective, THEN there will be least one anterior (diffuse) injective. | phonology | implication | consonant, injective, posterior, anterior, compact, diffuse |
| 761 | The injective corresponding to a noninjective dental is often retracted to the alveolar or alveopalatal position and is consistently apical, often with accompanying retroflexion. | phonology | unconditional | consonant, injective, noninjective, dental, alveolar, alveopalatal, apical, retroflexion |
| 762 | IF there are bilabial, alveolar, and palatal implosives,THEN ¿y is used in place of the expected palatal stop. | phonology | implication | implosive, stop, bilabial, alveolar, palatal |
| 763 | Palatal noninjective stops have a strong tendency to be replaced by alveopalatal affricates. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | palatal, injective, stop, alveopalatal, affricate, noninjective |
| 764 | IF there are glottalic consonants in positions other than syllable-initial, THEN they will also occur syllable-initially. | phonology | implication | syllable, initial, glottalic, consonant |
| 765 | Injectives tend not to cluster with plain consonants. | phonology | unconditional | injective, consonant cluster |
| 766 | A voiced injective, like an ordinary breathy or voiced consonant, may raise tone or have no effect at all, but may not lower tone. | phonology | unconditional | consonant, injective, voice, tone |
| 767 | IF there are unvoiced ejectives, THEN there will be plain stops. | phonology | implication | ejective, stop, voice |
| 768 | When ... the injective in the dental or alveolar position has become retracted and/or retroflexed, there is a tendency for its glottalic feature to be lost since it has become redundant. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | injective, glottalic, dental, alveolar, retracted, retroflexed |
| 769 | There is at least one primary fricative. | phonology | unconditional | primary, fricative |
| 770 | IF there is only one primary fricative, THEN its primary allophone is most likely to be /s/. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | fricative, sibilant |
| 771 | IF there are only two primary fricatives, THEN the second one is most likely to be /f/. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | fricative |
| 772 | The number of voiceless primary fricatives is highly likely to be greater than the number of voiced ones. | phonology | implication | fricative, voice |
| 773 | IF there is a voiced primary fricative, THEN there is also the corresponding unvoiced primary fricative. | phonology | implication | fricative, voice |
| 774 | The preferred number of primary fricatives in a given language is two. | phonology | unconditional | fricative |
| 775 | The number of primary fricatives is very unlikely to be greater than the number of stops and affricates together. | phonology | implication | fricative, stop, affricate |
| 776 | IF there are secondary fricatives, THEN there will be primary fricatives. | phonology | implication | fricative |
| 777 | The number of secondary fricatives is never greater than that of primary fricatives. | phonology | implication | fricative |
| 778 | Every language must have at least one Primary Nasal Consonant in its inventory. | phonology | unconditional | nasal, consonant |
| 779 | IF there is an /h/, THEN there will most likely also be a primary fricative. | phonology | implication | fricative |
| 780 | There are at least three primary oral stops. | phonology | unconditional | consonant, oral, stop |
| 781 | IF there are only three primary oral stops, THEN their primary allophones are most likely to be /p t k/. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | consonant, oral, stop, allophone |
| 782 | IF there is an affricated stop, THEN there is most likely to be at least three plain stops. | phonology | implication | affricate, stop |
| 783 | IF there is only one primary affricated stop, THEN the primary allophone is most likely to be /t∫/. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | affricate, allophone |
| 784 | The number of voiceless primary oral stops is nearly always greater than the number of voiced ones. | phonology | implication | consonant, oral, stop, voice |
| 785 | IF there is a voiced primary oral stop, THEN its the voiceless equivalent is highly likely to be present too. | phonology | implication | consonant, oral, stop, voice |
| 786 | The number of primary oral affricates will be less than the number of primary oral stops. | phonology | implication | oral, affricate, stop, primary |
| 787 | The preferred number of primary oral stops in a given language is between four and eight. | phonology | unconditional | consonant, oral, stop |
| 788 | IF there are secondary oral stops, THEN there are most likely primary ones as well. | phonology | implication | consonant, oral, stop |
| 789 | The number of secondary oral stops is not likely to be greater than that of primary oral stops. | phonology | implication | oral, stop, secondary, primary |
| 790 | IF there is a glottal stop, THEN there must be a primary oral stop. | phonology | implication | consonant, oral, glottal, stop |
| 791 | IF there is a Primary Nasal Consonant other than apical /n/, THEN there is also a Primary Nasal Consonant /n/. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, apical, allophone |
| 792 | IF there are only two Primary Nasal Consonants, THEN the first one is apical (/n/), and the other is /m/, that is its most characteristic allophone is labial. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | nasal, consonant, labial, apical, allophone |
| 793 | IF there are n obstruents, THEN there will not be more than n Primary Nasal Consonants. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, obstruent |
| 794 | The preferred number of primary nasal consonants in a language is between two and four. | phonology | unconditional | nasal, consonant |
| 795 | IF there are Secondary Nasal Consonants, THEN there will be at least one Primary Nasal Consonant. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant |
| 796 | IF there are n Secondary Nasal Consonants, THEN there will not be more than n Primary Nasal Consonants. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant |
| 797 | IF there is only one place of articulation for a given type of consonant, THEN it is most likely to be the alveo/dental region. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | consonant, alveolar, dental |
| 798 | There are more voiceless obstruents than voiced ones. | phonology | implication | consonant, obstruent, voice |
| 799 | IF there is a voiced obstruent, THEN most likely its voiceless counterpart is present as well. | phonology | implication | consonant, obstruent, voice |
| 800 | The preferred set of consonants in a given language is: /p, t, k, t∫, f, s, m, n/. | phonology | unconditional | consonant |
| 801 | IF there is tensedness, THEN adjectives are nouny. IF adjectives are nouny, THEN there is tensedness. |
morphosyntax | mutual implication | predicative adjective, noun, tensed |
| 802 | IF there is non-tensedness, THEN adjectives are verby. IF adjectives are verby, THEN there is non-tensedness. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | predicative adjective, verb, tensed |
| 803 | IF a language is isolating (with bound morphology lacking), THEN there tend to be noun classifiers rather than noun classes. IF there is agglutination or flexion (in languages with rich inflectional systems), THEN there tend to be noun classes rather than noun classifiers |
inflection, syntax | implication | agglutination, flexion, isolation, classifier, noun class |