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 22 of 25
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1722 | IF possessive determiners co-occur with demonstratives, THEN nominal possessives co-occur with definite articles. | syntax | implication | article, definiteness, possession, demonstrative |
| 1723 | IF indefinite articles co-occur with possessives, THEN definite articles do so, too. | syntax | implication | article, definiteness, possession |
| 1724 | If the definite article co-occurs with the noun accompanied by a demonstrative, it also co-occurs with nouns accompanied by at least some possessives. | syntax | implication | definite article, demonstrative, possessive |
| 1725 | IF the article co-occurs with the noun that is accompanied by a pronominal possessor, THEN the article co-occurs with the noun if the possessor is nominal. | syntax | implication | article, possessor |
| 1726 | IF the article co-occurs with the noun that is accompanied by an adjacent possessor, THEN the article co-occurs with the noun if the possessor is non-adjacent. | syntax | implication | article, possessor |
| 1727 | IF the article co-occurs with the noun that is accompanied by adnominal possessives that are not marked for genitive, THEN the article co-occurs with adnominal possessives that are marked for genitive. | syntax | implication | article, possessor, attributive, genitive case |
| 1728 | IF the article co-occurs with the noun when the demonstrative or the possessive is preposed, THEN the article co-occurs with the noun when the demonstrative or the possessive is postposed. | syntax | implication | article, possessive, demonstrative, order |
| 1729 | When a demonstrative is used nominally (forming an NP of its own, rather than being a determiner), it does not occur with a non-bound definite article. |
syntax | implication | definite article, demonstrative, pronoun |
| 1730 | IF the definite article can be the sole marker of definiteness in a noun phrase, THEN the definite article can be the sole marker of nominality. | syntax | implication | definite article, definiteness, noun |
| 1731 | Indigenous non-affixal articles are polyfunctional and at least one of their additional uses is pronominal. | syntax | unconditional | article, pronoun |
| 1733 | IF any non-bound noun phrase constituent can occur nominally, THEN so can all other more peripherally ordered ones. | syntax | implication | NP, boundedness, order, noun |
| 1734 | The phonological body of the definite article is never more substantial in adnominal use than in pronominal use. | inflection, syntax | implication | definite article, pronoun |
| 1735 | The phonological body of any noun phrase constituent is never more substantial in adnominal use than in pronominal use. | inflection, syntax | implication | NP, pronoun |
| 1739 | The definite article may govern but is never governed by a noun-phrase-internal constituent. | syntax | unconditional | definite article, NP, government |
| 1740 | IF an article is the sole carrier of gender and/or number and/or case, THEN it will co-occur with definite and generic nouns. | inflection, syntax | implication | article, case, number, gender, noun, definiteness, generic |
| 1741 | IF a less peripherally ordered noun phrase constituent marks gender, number, and/or case redundantly, THEN all more peripherally ordered constituents can mark these categories redundantly. | inflection, syntax | implication | NP, order, case, number, gender, agreement |
| 1742 | IF the adnominal demonstrative or possessive occurs with a noun that is accompanied by the definite article at one point in time but not at another point in time, THEN the former time precedes the latter. | syntax | implication | demonstrative, possessive |
| 1743 | On the NP analysis pronouns are arguably anomalous in lacking an overt noun head – unless pronouns are taken to be a kind of noun, a problematic view given that they cannot in general be modified by Dets (*this him, *the me). | syntax | unconditional | personal pronoun, definite article |
| 1744 | Noun phrases with personal pronouns as their heads tend not to take definite articles. | syntax | unconditional | pronoun, personal pronoun, article, definiteness |
| 1745 | There are no endoclitics, i.e., clitics inside words do not exist. | phonology, syntax | unconditional | clitics, endoclitics |
| 1748 | IF there are no overt articles, THEN non-specific direct objects fail to be accusative-marked. IF there are no overt articles, THEN non-specific direct objects fail to be marked in the same way as specific direct objects. |
inflection, syntax | implication | article, direct object, case, accusative, specificity |
| 1749 | When ordinal numerals are formally distinguished from cardinal numerals and one is based on / derived from / more complex than the other (rather than being suppletive), ordinals are always based on / derived from / more complex than corresponding cardinals. | word formation | unconditional | numeral, cardinal, ordinal |
| 1750 | When in some contexts the distinction between cardinal and ordinal numerals is neutralized, cardinals may replace ordinals but never vice versa. | syntax | unconditional | numeral, cardinal, ordinal |
| 1763 | Complete indefinite pronouns cannot be borrowed. | lexicon | unconditional | borrowing, indefinite pronoun |
| 1769 | IF back and mid consonants (stops and nasals) have merged word-finally, THEN front and mid consonants have merged already. |
phonology | implication | consonant, front, back, merger |
| 1770 | IF dental or labial nasals are effaced [deleted?}, THEN velar nasals are deleted too. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, velar, labial, dental, deletion |
| 1771 | IF heterosyllabic (intervocalic) nasals are effaced [deleted?], THEN tautosyllabic (preconsonantal) nasals are effaced too. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, heterosyllabic, tautosyllabic, deletion, intervocalic, preconsonantal |
| 1772 | IF stressed nasals in stressed syllables are effaced [deleted?], THEN nasals in unstressed syllables are effaced too. | phonology | implication | nasal, stress, deletion |
| 1773 | IF nasals are effaced [deleted?] after short vowels, THEN nasals are effaced after long vowels too. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, length, deletion |
| 1774 | IF nasals are effaced [deleted?] after inherently weak vowels, THEN nasals are effaced after inherently strong vowels too. |
phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, vowel, strength, deletion |
| 1775 | IF comparatively strong (syllable-initial) nasals are effaced [deleted?], THEN there must already have been effacement of comparatively weak (syllable-final) nasals. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, strength, syllable, deletion |
| 1776 | IF nasalization occurs before a stop, THEN it will occur before a continuant. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, stop, continuant |
| 1777 | IF nasalization occurs before a vowel, THEN it will occur before a consonant. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, vowel |
| 1778 | IF denasalization applies to /o/, THEN it also applies to /e/. | phonology | implication | nasal, denasalization, vowel |
| 1779 | IF nasalization occurs before /f/, THEN it also occurs before /≈/. | phonology | implication | nasal, nasalization, vowel, consonant |
| 1780 | IF nasalized /i/ lowers to nasalized /e/, THEN nasalized /e/ also lowers to nasalized /a/. | phonology | implication | nasal, lowering, vowel |
| 1781 | When there is final vowel deletion: IF /o/ undergoes elision at the end of a word, THEN /e/ will undergo elision as well. IF /e/ and /o/ undergo elision at the end of a word, THEN /o/ must be elided before /e/. |
phonology | implication | vowel, elision, apocope |
| 1782 | IF there is assibilation of labials, THEN there must be assibilation of dentals. IF there is assibilation of dentals, THEN there must be assibilation of velars. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | assibilation, labial, dental, velar |
| 1783 | IF assibilation occurs before /a/, THEN it must occur before /e/. IF assibilation occurs before /e/, THEN it must occur before /i/. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | assibilation, vowel |
| 1784 | IF there is a voiced affricate reflex, THEN there will also be a voicless affricate reflex. | phonology | implication | affricate, reflex, voice |
| 1785 | IF there are fricative + stop onset clusters, THEN there are stop + fricative onset clusters. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial, fricative, stop |
| 1786 | IF there are stop + fricative onset clusters, THEN there are stop + stop onset clusters. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial, fricative, stop |
| 1787 | IF there are fricative + stop onset clusters, THEN there are fricative + fricative onset clusters. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial, fricative, stop |
| 1794 | IF nasalization occurs in unstressed/atonic syllables, THEN it will occur in stressed/tonic syllables. | phonology | implication | nasal, nasalization, vowel, stress, tonic, atonic |
| 1796 | IF nasalization is phonologized first on proparoxytonic vowels before nasals, THEN nasalization will have already been phonologized on paroxytonic vowels before nasals. IF nasalization is phonologized first on paroxytonic vowels before nasals, THEN nasalization will have already been phonologized on oxytonic vowels before nasals. |
prosodic phonology | implicational hierarchy | nasalization, nasal, oxytone, vowel |
| 1797 | IF nasals are deleted word-finally preceding vowels, THEN they are deleted word-finally before consonants. IF nasals are deleted word-finally preceding consonants, THEN they are deleted word-medially before consonants. |
prosodic phonology | implicational hierarchy | deletion, nasal, consonant, vowel |
| 1798 | IF there is nasal deletion preceding stops, THEN there is nasal deletion preceding fricatives. | phonology | implication | nasal, deletion, stop, fricative |
| 1799 | IF there is nasalization before intervocalic nasals, THEN there will have already been nasalization in tautosyllabic ($VN)sequences. | phonology | implication | nasal, nasalization, intervocalic, tautosyllabic |
| 1800 | IF there is tautosyllabic distinctive nasalization in preconsonantal position, THEN there will have already been tautosyllabic distinctive nasalization in word-finally. | phonology | implication | nasalization, final, preconsonantal, tautosyllabic |
| 1801 | In preconsonantal position distinctive nasalization develops preferentially before continuants. | phonology | unconditional | nasalization, preconsonantal, continuant |