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 21 of 25
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1583 | IF there are causative affixes which serve to form causative verbs from transitives, THEN there will be causative affixes which serve to form causative verbs from intransitives. | morphology, syntax | implication | causative, transitivity |
| 1584 | IF there are several causative affixes, THEN the means for deriving causatives from intransitives are more varied than those for forming causatives from transitive verbs. | morphology, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | causative morpheme, causative verb, intransitive verb, transitive verb |
| 1585 | If there are productive complex affixes among the causative affixes, then by means of them causatives can also (or only) be derived from intransitives. | morphology, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | causative, transitivity |
| 1586 | If a language has a causative morpheme which expresses permissiveness, this morpheme usually combines with a larger group of verbal stems in this meaning than in its second meaning, factitivity, which is implied by the first. | morphology, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | causative, permissiveness, factitivity |
| 1587 | The following four causative oppositions: (1) laugh - make laugh, amuse; (2) boil - bring to boil; (3) burn - ignite (of a paper); (4) break, get broken - break in two (of a stick), display varying predispositions to expression by one or another formal opposition. Thus, A. The probability that a formal opposition with a causative morpheme will appear decreases from the first causative opposition to the fourth. B. The probability that a formal opposition with an anticausative morpheme will appear increases from the first causative opposition to the fourth. C. The probability that a conversive formal opposition will appear increases from the second causative opposition to the fourth (it was not not found at all in the first). D. Suppletive formal oppositions are encountered almost exclusively in the second and third causative oppositions, which indicates that there is a greater tendency for the first and fourth semantic oppositions to be expressed by one and the same root morpheme. |
morphology, semantics | implication | causative |
| 1588 | IF culturally basic possessed items are among ‘inalienables’, THEN part-whole and/or spatial relations are included in the ‘inalienable’ class as well. IF part-whole and/or spatial relations are among ‘inalienables’, THEN kin terms and/or body parts are included in the ‘inalienable’ class as well. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | implicational hierarchy | possession, inalienable, alienable, kinship |
| 1589 | Provided there is a split in the marking of possession, inalienable possession tends to be encoded through head-marking and alienable possession through dependent-marking. | inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | possession, inalienable, alienable, head-marking, dependent-marking |
| 1592 | IF products are among inalienables, THEN so are pet animals; IF pet animals are among inalienables, THEN so are kin terms; IF kin terms are among inalienables, THEN so are clothing items; IF clothing items are among inalienables, THEN so are inherent attributes; IF inherent attributes are among inalienables, THEN so are body parts. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | implicational hierarchy | possession, alienable, inalienable, kinship, animacy |
| 1595 | IF there are internal relative clauses, THEN word order will be SOV. | syntax | implication | relative clause, internal (= replacive, =headless), order, SOV |
| 1596 | IF there are internally headed relative clauses, THEN basic word order will be OV. IF basic word order is OV, THEN there will be left-branching. FROM WHICH FOLLOWS: IF there are internally headed relative clauses, THEN there will be left-branching NP structure. |
syntax | implication | relative clause, internal (= replacive), order, OV, NP, left-branching |
| 1597 | IF there are internally headed relative clauses, THEN there will be null anaphora (i.e., pro drop). | syntax | implication | relative clause, internal (= replacive), anaphora, pro drop |
| 1598 | The linguistic distance between possessor and possessum is never greater for the terms in the left than it is for the terms on the right: kinsmen/body parts > artefacts. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | possession, alienable, inalienable, hierachy |
| 1600 | IF AUX occurs in final position (in surface-order), THEN basic order is rigidly verb-final. | syntax | implication | order, rigid, verb-final, AUX |
| 1601 | IF there are headless relative clauses, THEN basic word order will be verb-final. | syntax | implication | relative clause, internal (= replacive, =headless), order, verb-final |
| 1603 | Every language has N’s and NPs of the type e → t (common nouns as predicates). | syntax, semantics | unconditional | quantification, NP, DP, semantic type |
| 1604 | IF there are DPs of types other than e, THEN there are DPs of type e. When there are no DPs distinct from NPs, NPs can be used as type e. |
syntax, semantics | implication | quantification, NP, DP, semantic type |
| 1605 | IF the feature [nasal] is compatible with obstruent stops, THEN it is also compatible with fricatives; IF the feature [nasal] is compatible with fricatives, THEN it is also compatible with liquids; IF the feature [nasal] is compatible with liquids, THEN it is also compatible with semivowels; IF the feature [nasal] is compatible with semivowels, THEN it is also compatible with vowels. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | nasal harmony, hierarchy |
| 1613 | Languages would not be expected to exhibit phonological constrasts such as [-nasal] laryngeal segments and [+nasal] laryngeal segments. | phonology | unconditional | nasalization, laryngeal (h, glottal stop) |
| 1618 | IF person agreement of the verb is of the grammatical type, THEN it is with just the transitive subject. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, person |
| 1620 | IF null subjects is permissible (aka subject pro-drop), THEN the inflectional paradigms of verbs are morphologically uniform, and vice versa. | inflection, syntax | mutual implication | subject pro-drop, verb, paradigm |
| 1621 | IF there are numeral classifiers distinguishing anything else, THEN there are numeral classifiers distinguishing animate/human and inanimate/nonhuman. For animate/human class: IF a numeral classifier system distinguishes objects by their sex, THEN it also distinguishes them by social status (including kinship relations). For inanimate/nonhuman class: IF a numeral classifier system distinguishes objects by orientation, THEN it also distinguishes them by shape. IF a numeral classifier system distinguishes objects by their rigidity, THEN it also distinguishes them by shape. IF a numeral classifier system distinguishes objects by their nature/function, THEN it also distinguishes them by shape. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | implicational hierarchy | numeral classifier, animacy<br> |
| 1622 | IF there are classifiers for edible possessed items, THEN there are for nonedible ones, and vice versa. For the edible class: IF a possessive classifier system distinguishes objects by state of food, THEN it also distinguishes them by manner of ingestion. For the nonedible class: IF a possessive classifier system distinguishes objects by purpose or function, THEN it also distinguishes them by value. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | possessive classifier<br> |
| 1623 | IF there are predicate classifiers for anything else, THEN there are predicate classifiers distinguishing animate and inanimate. IF for animates there are predicate classifiers for anything other than Posture, THEN there are predicate classifiers for Posture. IF for inanimates there are predicate classifiers in terms of Individuation and/or Rigidity, THEN there are predicate classifiers in terms of Shape/Orientation. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | predicate classifier, animacy<br> |
| 1624 | IF there are noun class distinctions for anything else, THEN there is a noun class distinction in terms of animacy. IF for humans/animates there are distinctions other than for sex gender, THEN there is a distinction in terms of sex gender. IF or nonhumans/inanimates there are distinctions other than Nature or Individuation, THEN there is a distinction in terms of Nature or Individuation. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | noun class, animacy |
| 1626 | IF there is a distinct word class of adjectives, THEN nouns are characterised by the feature [+ Shape]. | syntax, semantics | implication | word class, adjective, noun |
| 1627 | In numeral classifier languages: When concrete objects are counted, the numeral always occurs with the appropriate classifier. |
syntax, semantics<br> | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral classifier, numeral |
| 1630 | In languages with double numeral systems: IF the numeral of the A set is used, THEN the item counted or measured tends to be in the singular. |
morphology, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | double numeral system, number, singular |
| 1631 | IF there is a double object causative, THEN there is an alternative causative construction. | syntax | implication | causative, double object |
| 1632 | IF basic order is VOS, OVS, or OSV and there is a double object construction, THEN the patient in that clause precedes the other object. OR IF in a basic word order object precedes subject and there is a double object construction, THEN the patient in that clause precedes the other object. |
syntax | implication | order, VOS, OVS, OSV, double object, patient |
| 1633 | IF basic order is Topic-before-Focus, THEN the secondary topic precedes the focus. Correspondingly: IF subject precedes object in a basic word order, THEN causee, recipient, and benefactive [being secondary topics] precede the patient in double object constructions. |
syntax | implication | order, SOV, SVO, VSO, topic, focus, secondary topic, double object, causee, recipient, benefactive, patient |
| 1634 | IF basic order is Focus-before-Topic, THEN the secondary topic will follow the focus. Correspondingly: IF object precedes subject in a basic word order, THEN causee, recipient, and benefactive [being secondary topics] follow the patient in double object constructions. |
syntax | implication | order, VOS, OVS, OSV, topic, focus, secondary topic, causee, recipient, benefactive, patient |
| 1638 | IF basic order is verb-final, THEN there will be no WH-movement, and vice versa. | syntax | mutual implication | order, verb-final, Wh-movement |
| 1650 | IF there is major, salient dependent-marking morphology at the clause level, THEN there is dependent marking morphology at the phrase level. | inflection, syntax | implication | head-marking, dependent-marking |
| 1655 | IF basic word order is rigidly verb-final, THEN the rhematic focus of a sentence is most likely to be in the position immediately preceding the finite verb. | syntax | implication | order, verb-final, rheme |
| 1660 | IF the same term is used to designate the mother and the father’s sister, THEN this same term is used for the mother’s sister also. | lexicon | implication | kinship |
| 1661 | Lineal kinship term is unmarked as against collateral, consanguineal is unmarked as against affinal, the less remote from the speaker (measured in the number of generations) is unmarked as against the more remote, older is unmarked in relation to younger. (See Graphics) | lexicon | implication | kinship, markedness |
| 1662 | All systems distinguish male and female parent by separate terms even though very frequently other kin types are included in the referents of both. | lexicon | unconditional | kinship |
| 1663 | Whenever there are two terms differing in generation which are true reciprocals, or there is one which is a self-reciprocal term with two referents, and one involves the sex of the speaker in its definition and the other does not, it is always the term of lower generational reference which contains the sex of the speaker in its definition. | lexicon | unconditional | kinship |
| 1664 | IF there is distinction of sex in the second descending generation, THEN there is the same distinction in the second ascending generation. | lexicon | implication | kinship |
| 1665 | The most common word for ‘first generation descendant’ is always the same as the most common word for ‘person who has not reached puberty’ (i.e. ‘child’). | lexicon | unconditional | kinship |
| 1666 | IF any other kin terms are used like proper names, THEN those denoting ascending relations, and in particular parental ones, such as ‘father’ and ‘mother’, are used like proper names too. | lexicon | implication | kinship |
| 1667 | IF there are doublets for kin terms other than of parental prototype, THEN there are doublets for kin terms of parental prototype. | lexicon | implication | kinship |
| 1668 | IF the same expression is used both as intensifier and reflexive anaphor, THEN this expression is not used as a marker of derived intransitivity. | inflection, syntax | implication | anaphor, intensifier, reflexive, intransitivity |
| 1674 | IF a consonant is palatalized before [e], THEN necessarily it will be also palatalized before [i]. | phonology | implication | palatalization, consonant |
| 1675 | IF one of the two tones in contiguous syllables is low, THEN a contour tone is more likely to appear than otherwise. | prosodic phonology | implication | tone, contour tone |
| 1679 | IF there is a phoneme all of whose allophones are variants of /x/, THEN there is a phoneme whose characteristic variant is /©/. | phonology | implication | velar, fricative, allophone |
| 1680 | IF there is a phoneme all of whose allophones are variants of /†/, THEN there is a phoneme whose characteristic variant is /ð/. | phonology | implication | dental, fricative, allophone |
| 1681 | IF there is a phoneme all of whose allophones are variants of /f/, THEN there is a phoneme whose characteristic variant is /∫/ or /v/. | phonology | implication | labial, fricative, allophone |
| 1686 | In agreement conflicts due to conjuncts of different number and/or gender, IF there is number resolution, THEN there is also gender resolution, and vice versa. | inflection, syntax | mutual implication | number, gender, agreement, coordination |
| 1721 | IF possessive determiners co-occur with definite articles, THEN nominal possessives do so, too. | syntax | implication | article, definiteness, possession |