Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
2,017 entries · page 21 of 41
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1011 | Pidginization processes tend to replace fricatives other than s by stops. | phonology | unconditional | spirantization, pidginization |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 1033 | It is these three features – stress, tone and length (with the possible addition of glottalization) – which function accentually and no others. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | stress, tone, length, accent, glottalization |
| 1034 | Only the intense pole – loud stress, high pitch and length – ever has the accentual property. There is no language in which there is one and just one weakest stress or one lowest pitch (or shortest segment) in a phonological word. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | stress, pitch, length, accent |
| 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 |
| 1036 | Morphemically simple phonological words never have more than one main stress. | phonology, morphology | unconditional | stress, 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 |
| 1038 | Morphemically simple words must have one main stress. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | stress, accent |
| 1039 | When stress is phonologically predictable 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 reckoned either initially forward or from the ultima backwards, with the relevant syllables being identified in terms of only three properties: (i) heaviness (vowel length and/or a complex nucleus of unlike vowels (diphthong) and/or syllable-final consonant(s), as opposed to lightness, (ii) open or peripheral vowel quality, as opposed to central vowel, or (iii) high tone, as opposed to low tone. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | stress, syllable, accent, tone, weight, vowel quality |
| 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 |
| 1043 | Root accent is systematically favoured over inflectional accent. | phonology, morphology | unconditional | root, affix, accent |
| 1044 | Concerning the relation of word prosody to phrase prosody: Word accent of the final syllable is lost unless phrase final, whereas internal word accent is retained. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | prosody, word, 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 |
| 1053 | We would expect that a system which stresses the initial syllable as the elsewhere case (i.e., if words lack a long vowel, full vowel, or heavy syllable that would attract stress) would be more common than a system which places stress on the final syllable in the elsewhere case, regardless of whether stress on strong syllables is determined from the left or from the right. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | stress, syllable |
| 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 |
| 1057 | IF determiners agree within NPs, modifiers are likelier also to agree than not to agree. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, NP, determiner, modifier |
| 1058 | IF verbs agree in number, THEN they are very likely to agree in person. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, verb, number, person |
| 1059 | IF verbs agree in person, THEN they are even likelier also to agree in number. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, verb, number, person |
| 1060 | IF verbs agree in gender, THEN they are very likely also to agree in number. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, verb, number, gender |
| 1061 | IF verbs agree in person, THEN they are likelier not to agree than to agree in gender. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, verb, person, gender |