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 20 of 25
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1463 | In no language is there a special form to denote a metaperson 'speaker+hearer(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | unconditional | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, inclusive |
| 1464 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s)', THEN it must also denote the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, speaker, hearer, non-participant, inclusive |
| 1470 | IF the metaperson 'speaker + non-participant(s)' is not the only meaning of a form, THEN this form must also denote the metapersons 'speaker' and/or 'speaker + hearer(s)' (and consequently, 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'). | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1474 | IF the metaperson 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' is not the only meaning denoted by a form, THEN this form must denote also metapersons 'hearer' in the non-singular and/or 'hearer' in the singular . | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1475 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN it cannot include among its meanings the metaperson 'speaker'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, 1st, hearer, non-participant, speaker |
| 1481 | IF the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' is not the only meaning of a form, THEN this form must also denote the metapersons 'speaker + hearer(s)' and /or 'speaker'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1482 | IF there are no special forms distinguishing the metapersons 'speaker' and 'speaker + hearer(s)' or 'speaker' and 'speaker + non-participant(s)', THEN there are no forms that differentiate between the metaperson 'hearer' in the singular and in the non-singular and between the metaperson 'non-participant' in the singular and in the non-singular. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1483 | IF there is no form with the meaning 'speaker + hearer(s)' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)' and/or 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' (i.e. a neutral form of the distinction inclusivity vs. exclusivity), THEN there is a form with the sole meaning 'speaker + non-participant(s)' (i.e. "we exclusive"). |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, speaker, hearer, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1484 | IF there is a special form with the meaning 'speaker + non-participant(s)' (i.e. "we exclusive"), THEN there is a special form with the meaning 'speaker + hearer(s)' and/or 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' (i.e. "we inclusive"). | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, speaker, hearer, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1485 | IF there is no form with the meaning 'hearer' and/or 'hearers' and/or 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN there is a special form with the meaning 'hearers' and/or 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, hearer, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1486 | IF there is a special form with the meaning 'hearers' and/or 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s) ', THEN there is a special form with the meaning 'hearer'. | lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, hearer, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1487 | IF there is a pronominal form denoting the dual of the metapersons 'hearer', 'hearer + non-participant' and/or 'non-participant', THEN there are pronominal forms denoting the dual of metapersons 'speaker + hearer' and/or 'speaker + non-participant'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, speaker, hearer, non-participant, number, dual |
| 1488 | IF there is a pronominal form denoting the trial of the metapersons 'hearer' and 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' and/or the trial of 'non-participant', THEN there is a pronominal form denoting the trial of the metapersons 'speaker + hearer(s)', 'speaker + hearer + non-participant' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, speaker, non-participant, number, trial |
| 1489 | IF there is an opposition of the metapersons 'speaker + hearer(s)' and 'speaker + non-participant(s)' (i.e. inclusive vs. exclusive) in the trial, THEN there is such an opposition in the dual and plural too. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, 2nd, hearer, speaker, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive, number, dual, plural, trial |
| 1491 | Noun incorporation, per movement in syntax (as opposed to lexical compound formation), is possible for underlying objects only. | morphology, syntax | unconditional | incorporation, noun, object, patient |
| 1492 | In ditransitive constructions, the theme/direct object may incorporate, but the goal/indirect object may not (per movement in syntax, as opposed to lexical compound formation). | morphology, syntax | unconditional | incorporation, theme, goal, indirect object, direct object |
| 1495 | IF a noun is incorporated (because it is generic), THEN it cannot trigger transformations' which imply specific reference: conjuction deletion, Equi-NP-deletion, passivization, relativization, and topicalization. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, conjunction deletion, diathesis, passivization, relativization, topicalization, Equi-NP-deletion, generic, specific reference |
| 1496 | IF basic word order is verb-initial, THEN nouns attach to the right of the verb stem when incorporated. |
morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, order, verb-initial |
| 1497 | IF basic word order is not-verb-initial (i.e. verb-medial or verb-final), THEN nouns attach to the left of the verb stem when incorporated. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, order, verb-medial, verb-final |
| 1498 | IF syntax is non-configurational, THEN morphology is agglutinative, but not vice versa. | morphology, syntax | implication | non-configurational, agglutination |
| 1499 | There are [basic?] terms for ‘eyes’, ‘nose’, and ‘mouth’. | lexicon | unconditional | body part |
| 1500 | The upper limb, ‘arm’ (and ‘hand’) is named by a distinct term in all languages. | lexicon | unconditional | body part |
| 1501 | All languages name ‘(finger)nail’ and ‘(toe)nail’. | lexicon | unconditional | body part |
| 1504 | Loan words maintain formal anomalies only of those types that are present in other peripheral classes of language. IF an anomaly arises from the transition of a nonperipheral element into a peripheral one, THEN there are already anomalies of this type in the periphery of the given language. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | borrowing |
| 1505 | IF there are anomalous allophones of any phonemes in onomatopoetic and expressive forms of a language, THEN allophones of this type are also present in other elements in emphatic speech. | phonology, semantics | implication | allophone, emphasis, expressive, onomatopoeia |
| 1506 | IF there are regular violations of the tonal pattern in imperative or vocative forms, THEN there is a special redistribution of tones in questions, commands, addresses, emphatic utterances. | phonology, morphology | implication | tone, imperative mood, vocative, interrogative sentence, emphasis, anomaly |
| 1507 | When there is an anomaly of stress in the appellative elements of a language, IF the language does not have fixed final stress THEN this anomalous stress falls on the last syllable of words, but IF the language does have fixed stress on the final syllable THEN the anomalous stress falls on the first syllable. | phonology, syntax | implication | stress, syllable |
| 1508 | IF there is a lexeme denoting motion out of or motion through some configuration, THEN there is a lexeme denoting either motion “into” that configuration or static location in it. | lexicon, semantics | implication | motion, adposition |
| 1510 | IF there are intransitive-based passives with non-protagonist subjects, THEN there are such with inanimate subjects. IF there are intransitive-based passives with INANIMATE subjects, THEN there are such with animate and potent subjects. IF there are intransitive-based passives with animate and potent subjects, THEN there are such with volitional animate or human subjects. IF there are intransitive-based passives with volitional animate or human subjects, THEN there are such with volitional human subjects. IF there are intransitive-based passives with volitional human subjects, THEN there are such with 1st person subjects. |
inflection, syntax | implicational hierarchy | diathesis, passive, intransitive, subject, animacy |
| 1514 | IF a pronoun is bound in positions X and Y, THEN it is also bound in all intermediate positions between X and Y. IF a pronoun is free in positions X and Y, THEN it is also free in all interdmediate positions. IF a reflexive pronoun A is morphologically complex than a reflexive pronoun B, THEN the positions in which A occurs cannot be to the right of the positions in which A occurs. IF a non-syntactic (i.e. logophoric or emphatic) use of a reflexive pronoun is available in a position X, THEN it is available in all positions to the right of X. |
inflection, syntax | implicational hierarchy | reflexive |
| 1516 | IF full noun phrase subjects must follow full noun phrase direct objects, THEN the verb is initial. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, subject, object |
| 1517 | If basic word order is VOS, THEN SVO will be an alternative order. | syntax | implication | order, VOS, SVO |
| 1518 | IF basic order is subject-final (for full noun phrases), THEN either transitive verbs of unmarked sentences agree with no full noun phrase in the sentence or they agree with two noun phrases (subject and object). | inflection, syntax | implication | order, subject, object, agreement |
| 1519 | Whenever transitive verbs in subject-final languages have agreement at all, there is prefixal (pre-verb stem) agreement with the subject noun phrase and suffixal agreement with a non-subject. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, subject, object, agreement, affix-order, prefix, suffix |
| 1520 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there will be little nominal case marking. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, subject, object, case |
| 1523 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there will be morphemically independent subordinate conjunctions which precede a finite clause. | syntax | implication | order, subject, object, subordinate conjunction |
| 1524 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN full noun phrase possessors always follow the head (the possessed) noun phrase. | syntax | implication | order, subject, object, attributive |
| 1525 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN relative clauses always present the head noun to the left of the restricting clause. | syntax | implication | order, subject, object, relative clause |
| 1530 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN negative elements precede the verb. |
syntax | implication | order, subject, object, negation |
| 1531 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN a causative element precedes the root of the causativized verb. |
morphology, syntax | implication | order, subject, object, causative |
| 1532 | IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there will be passive forms of verbs. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, subject, object, diathesis, passive |
| 1554 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN the relative clause is postnominal. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, relative clause |
| 1555 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN relativization is primarily by deletion; the next most common strategy being the use of personal pronouns in positions relativized. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, relative clause, personal pronoun |
| 1557 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN modals, auxiliaries (if such exist), negative particles or words, desideratives and volitionals, if expressed by separate words, always precede the main verb. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, modal, auxiliary, negation, desiderative, volition |
| 1560 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN sentential objects are never embedded; they normally follow the main sentence but may precede, especially in direct quote contexts. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, sentential object, embedded |
| 1561 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN verbal forms subordinate to the to the “main” verb always follow the main verb, and are commonly finite. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, main verb, subordinate verb, finiteness |
| 1562 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN causativized verbs follow the causativizing verb. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, verb, causative |
| 1563 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN there will be passive voice which is almost always marked in the verbal morphology. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, diathesis, passive |
| 1565 | IF word order is verb-initial, THEN there is no overt copula. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, copula |
| 1566 | IF word order is strictly verb-initial, THEN there are no relative pronouns (i.e., no strong pronouns moved to initial or final position) in prenominal nor in postnominal relative clauses. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, relative clause, relative pronoun |