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 18 of 34
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 995 | IF there is absolute posterior consecutive deranking, THEN basic order is VSO. | syntax | implication | order, VSO, deranking |
| 996 | IF there is conditional deranking, THEN basic order is SVO. | syntax | implication | order, SVO, deranking |
| 997 | IF there is absolute deranking, THEN basic order is either SOV or VSO. | syntax | implication | order, SOV, VSO, SVO, deranking |
| 998 | IF there is particle comparative, THEN there is no deranking and total identity deletion. or IF there is particle comparative, THEN there is balancing and total identity deletion |
syntax | implication | comparative, deranking, balancing, identity deletion |
| 999 | IF there is posterior consecutive deranking and basic order is SVO, THEN there is conditional deranking. | syntax | implication | order, SVO, deranking |
| 1000 | IF there is posterior consecutive deranking and basic order is VSO, THEN there is absolute deranking. | syntax | implication | order, SVO, deranking |
| 1001 | IF there is an Exceed-1 Comparative, THEN adjectives are verby. IF adjectives are verby and there is an Exceed Comparative, THEN this comparative is of Exceed-1 type. |
syntax | implication | comparative, word class, adjectives, verb |
| 1002 | IF a back nasal vowel is lowered, THEN the corresponding front nasal vowel is lowered as well. | phonology | implication | nasal, vowel, back, front, low |
| 1003 | IF the illocutionary force is finality and assertion, THEN terminal intonation is low or falling. IF the illocutionary force is non-finality or non-assertion, THEN terminal intonation is high or rising. |
phonology, semantics | implication | intonation, illocutionary force |
| 1006 | If a metathesis is synchronically regular, THEN it is not phonologically conditioned. | phonology, morphology | implication | metathesis |
| 1007 | Resonance Hierarchy: vowel > semivowel > liquid > spirant > sibilant > nasal > stop. The more resonant a sound, the more susceptible it is to metathesis given the necessary conditions therefore. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | metathesis, sonority hierarchy |
| 1008 | IF a phoneme cannot occur at a word boundary, THEN it cannot occur at an utterance boundary either. | phonology | implication | word boundary |
| 1009 | IF dentals are spirantized, THEN labials and velars are most likely spirantized as well. | phonology | implication | spirantization |
| 1012 | IF there is an Exceed-2 Comparative or an Exceed-3 Comparative, THEN the adjectives are nouny. IF the adjectives are nouny and there is an Exceed Comparative, THEN the comparative will be of Exceed-2 or of Exceed-3 type. |
syntax | implication | comparative, adjective, nouny |
| 1013 | IF accent is on the third syllable from the left edge, THEN the system is not quantity-insensitive bound. OR, BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF the system is quantity-insensitive bound, THEN accent is not on the third syllable from the left edge. |
prosodic phonology | implication | accent, stress, quantity, syllable |
| 1014 | IF there are n labials or velars, THEN there will be at least n dentals. |
phonology | implication | consonant, dental, labial, velar |
| 1015 | IF there are peripheral affricates, THEN there are medial affricates. | phonology | implication | affricate, peripheral, medial |
| 1016 | IF there are diffuse medial affricates and compact medial fricatives, THEN there are compact medial affricates. | phonology | implication | affricate, fricative, diffuse, compact, medial |
| 1017 | IF there is a compact nasal consonant, THEN there are two diffuse consonants, one acute and the other grave. | phonology | implication | consonant, nasal, compact, diffuse, acute, grave |
| 1018 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the forms (stems and affixes) of inferior numerals are more likely to replace the forms (stems and affixes) of superior numerals than the other way round. | morphology | implication | stem, affix, numeral, analogical change |
| 1019 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the forms (stems and affixes) of cardinal numerals are more likely to replace the forms (stems and affixes) of ordinal numerals than the other way round. | morphology | implication | stem, affix, numeral, ordinal, cardinal, analogical change |
| 1020 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the forms (stems and affixes) of the present are more likely to replace the forms of the other tenses than the other way round. | morphology | implication | stem, affix, tense, present, non-present, analogical change |
| 1021 | IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN genitive tends to follow the noun. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, noun, attributive |
| 1022 | IF the parts-of speech system is of types 1-2/3, THEN basic word order is predicate-initial or predicate-final. | syntax | implication | word class, order |
| 1023 | IF the parts-of speech system is of types 1-3/4, THEN there is no variation in the ordering of Subject and Predicate (unless the potential ambiguity arising from solved by morphological means). | syntax | implication | word class, order |
| 1024 | IF the parts-of speech system is of types 1-3/4 and basic word order is Predicate-final, THEN there is ModifierHead basic word order within the term phrase (unless the potential ambiguity arising from a deviant order is solved by morphological means). | syntax | implication | word class, order |
| 1025 | IF there is a parts-of speech system of types 1-3/4 and Predicate-initial word order, THEN there is HeadModifier basic word order within the term phrase (unless the potential ambiguity arising from a deviant order is solved by morphological means). | syntax | implication | word class, order |
| 1026 | IF there is a parts-of speech system of types 1-3/4, THEN there is no variation in the order of Head and Modifier within the term phrase. | syntax | implication | word class, order |
| 1027 | IF there is a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3 and Predicate-final basic word order, THEN there is Modifier Head basic word order within the predicate phrase. | syntax | implication | word class, order, head, modifier |
| 1028 | IF there is a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3 and Predicate-initial basic word order, THEN there is Head Modifier basic word order within the predicate phrase. | syntax | implication | word class, order, head, modifier |
| 1029 | IF there is a parts-of speech system of types 1-2/3 and Predicate-initial basic word order, THEN there is no variation in the order of Head and Modifier within the predicate phrase. | syntax | implication | word class, order, head, modifier |
| 1030 | IF there is a dominant VSO order and the language has parts-of-speech system of types 1-3/4, THEN the adjective always follows the noun. | syntax | implication | word class, order, VSO, adjective, noun |
| 1031 | IF VO, THEN Non-tensedness, Non-casedness, WITH-Construction, and Non-Absolute Converb. IF Non-tensedness, THEN VO, Non-casedness, WITH-Construction, and Non-Absolute Converb. IF Non-casedness, THEN VO, Non-tensedness, WITH-Construction, and Non-Absolute Converb. IF AND-construction, THEN VO, Non-tensedness, Non-casedness, and Non-Absolute Converb. IF Non-Absolute Converb, THEN VO, Non-tensedness, Non-casedness, and WITH-Construction. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | order, VO, verb, object, non-tensedness, non-casedness, WITH-construction, converb |
| 1032 | IF basic word order OV, THEN Tensedness, Casedness, AND-Construction, and Absolute Converb. IF Tensedness, THEN basic word order OV, Casedness, AND-Construction, and Absolute Converb. IF Casedness, THEN basic word order OV, Tensedness, AND-Construction, and Absolute Converb. IF AND-construction, THEN basic word order OV, Tensedness, Casedness, and Absolute Converb. IF Absolute Converb, THEN basic word order OV, Tensedness, Casedness, and AND-Construction. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | order, OV, verb, object, tensedness, casedness, AND-construction, converb |
| 1035 | The climactic poles of the three accentual features tend to correlate with each other. Thus, e.g., where stress is predictable from vowel length, it is always the long degree which attracts stress. | prosodic phonology | mutual implication | stress, vowel, length, accent |
| 1037 | When stress is phonologically predictable and automatic (i.e., always on the same syllable), it may only fall on initial, final, or penultimate syllables. | prosodic phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | stress, syllable, accent |
| 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 |
| 1042 | IF secondary stress is phonological, THEN it most frequently involves alternations of weak stress (unstressed?) with secondary stress (so the favorite position of secondary stress is two syllables before or after the main stress); when there are deviations, a factor of syllabic weight is probably always involved. | prosodic phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | stress, syllable, 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 |
| 1054 | IF there is agreement within NPs, THEN there is almost certainly agreement within clauses. | inflection, syntax | implication | NP, clause, agreement |
| 1055 | IF there is agreement within clauses, THEN agreement is likelier to be used than not to be used within NPs. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, NP, clause |
| 1056 | IF determiners and modifiers both agree with head nouns, THEN head nouns do not agree with attributive nouns. IF head nouns do not agree with attributive nouns, THEN both determiners and modifiers agree with head nouns. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | agreement, NP, determiner, modifier, attribution |