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 27 of 41
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1315 | IF basic order is SOV, THEN causative affixes on verbs are suffixed with more than chance frequency. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, SOV, verb, causative, affix-order, suffix |
| 1316 | In numeral systems, every minuend is a base of the system or a multiple of the base. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1317 | IF head precedes modifier and specified item precedes specifier, THEN Family name follows Given name. IF modifier precedes head and specifier precedes specified item, THEN Family name precedes Given name. |
syntax | implication | order, head, modifier, proper name |
| 1318 | The various classes of adverbs (AdvPs) enter a rigidly ordered sequence, which is the same across languages. And if one sets aside agreement and negation, the order of the head morphemes encoding the different types of functional notions in the clause (mood, modality, tense, aspect, and voice) is also rigidly fixed, and apparently invariant across languages. The two hierarchies (that of AdvPs, and that of functional heads) match systematically, from left to right. |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, adverb, functional morpheme |
| 1319 | IF there is scrambling, THEN the order is head-final. | syntax | implication | scrambling, order, head-final |
| 1320 | IF there is long scrambling, THEN there is short scrambling. | syntax | implication | order, scrambling |
| 1321 | IF long scrambling is possible, THEN it occurs out of (extended) AP or PP, but not out of the extended nominal or verbal domain. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, scrambling |
| 1322 | IF there is long scrambling, THEN its landing site will be the verbal domain. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, scrambling |
| 1323 | IF a reflexive can take long-distance antecedents, THEN it is monomorphemic. IF a reflexive cannot take long-distance antecedents, THEN it is polymorphemic. |
morphology, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | binding, reflexive, long-distance reflexive |
| 1324 | Among the deictic elements of every human language is one that denotes the speaker and one that denotes the addressee. | lexicon | unconditional | deictic elements, personal pronoun, speaker, addressee |
| 1325 | Every human language has proper names. | lexicon | unconditional | proper name |
| 1326 | No human language has a grammatically homogeneous vocabulary. | lexicon | unconditional | vocabulary |
| 1327 | A major form-class distinction reminiscent of “noun” vs. “verb” is universal, though not always at the same size-level. | lexicon | unconditional | word class, noun, verb |
| 1328 | Every human language has a common clause type with bipartite structure in which the constituents can reasonably be termed “topic” and “comment”. | syntax | unconditional | clause, topic, comment |
| 1329 | Every human language has a distinction between one-referent and two-referent predicators. | lexicon, syntax | unconditional | predicate |
| 1330 | In every human language, redundancy, measured in phonological terms, hovers near 50%. | phonology, morphology, syntax | unconditional | redundancy |
| 1331 | Every human language makes use of distinction of vowel color. | phonology | unconditional | vowel |
| 1332 | A historical tendency toward phonological symmetry is universal. | phonology | unconditional | phoneme inventory |
| 1333 | There are gaps, asymmetries, or “configurational pressures” in every phonological system, no matter when examined. | phonology | unconditional | phoneme inventory |
| 1334 | Every phonological system contrasts phonemes that are typically stops with phonemes that are never stops. | phonology | unconditional | stop, phoneme inventory |
| 1335 | No phonological system has fewer than two contrasting positions of articulation for stops. | phonology | unconditional | stop |
| 1336 | IF there are contrasts of vowel tenseness, backness, length, etc., THEN there will be a contrast of height in that system. | phonology | implication | vowel, tongue height |
| 1337 | If we define a ‘vowel system’ to include all the segmental phonemes that occur as syllable peaks, then every language has a vowel system. = Every language has segmental phonemes that occur as syllable peaks. |
phonology | unconditional | phoneme, syllable |
| 1338 | IF there are prepositions, THEN if RelN then GenN, if GenN then AdjN, and if AdjN then DemN. | syntax | nested implication | order, preposition, noun, relative clause, attributive, adjective, demonstrative |
| 1339 | IF basic order is OSV, THEN SOV is an alternative order. IF basic order is OVS, THEN SVO is an alternative order. IF non dominant order is VSO, THEN SOV, OSV or SVO, OVS are alternative orders. IF dominant order is VSO, THEN SVO or VOS are alternative orders. IF basic orders are SOV and SVO, THEN OVS, OSV, VSO, and VOS are alternative orders. IF basic orders are OVS and OSV, THEN SOV, SVO, VSO, and VOS are alternative orders. IF basic orders are VSO (non dominant) and VOS, THEN SOV, SVO, OVS, and OSV are alternative orders. |
syntax | implication | order |
| 1340 | Universal Hierarchy of Markedness of basic word orders: SOV < SVO < OVS < VOS < VSO < OSV |
syntax | implication | order, hierarchy, markedness, SOV, SVO, OVS, VOS, VSO, OSV<br> |
| 1341 | The more marked a basic word order is, the stronger the tendency towards having a less marked alternative word order. Hierarchy of Markedness of basic word orders: SOV < SVO < OVS < VOS < VSO < OSV |
syntax | implication | order |
| 1342 | The more marked the position in which a word appears, the stronger the tendency for this word to present a marked morphology. Therefore a marked position (centrifugal, VO, where V is the center and O the periphery) tends to be reflected by a marked morphology (flexional rather than agglutinative). That is: IF morphology is flexional rather than agglutinative, THEN basic order tends to be VO rather than OV. IF morphology is agglutinative rather than flexional, THEN basic order tends to be OV rather than VO. |
morphology, syntax | implication | markedness, order, VO, OV, flexion, agglutination |
| 1343 | IF an element serves as a semantic link between two other elements, THEN it is likely to occur in linear order between them. | syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, iconicity |
| 1344 | IF voiced obstruents occur word-finally, THEN voiceless obstruents also occur word-finally. | phonology | implication | consonant, obstruent, voice |
| 1345 | IF there is a verbal reciprocal/reflexive, THEN there must be verb agreement at least with subject. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb, reciprocal, reflexive, agreement, subject |
| 1346 | If a language has dominant SOV order and the genitive follows the governing noun and the language has a parts-of-speech system of types 4-5/6, then the adjective likewise follows the noun. | syntax | implication | word class, order, SOV, attributive, adjective, noun |
| 1347 | IF basic order is OV, THEN the adpositional phrase precedes the verb. IF basic order is VO, THEN the adpositional phrase follows the verb. |
syntax | implication | order, OV, VO, adpositional phrase |
| 1348 | IF basic order is VO, THEN there is adjective-marker-standard order. IF basic order is OV, THEN there is standard-marker-adjective order. |
syntax | implication | order, OV, VO, adjective, comparison |
| 1349 | IF basic order is OV, THEN manner adverbs precede the verb. IF basic order is VO, THEN manner adverbs follow the verb. |
syntax | implication | order, OV, VO, manner adverb |
| 1350 | IF adpositional phrases precede verbs, THEN overwhelmingly adverbs of manner precede verbs, and vice versa. IF adpositional phrases follow verbs, THEN – almost as overwhelmingly – also adverbs of manner follow verbs, and vice versa. |
syntax | mutual implication | order, manner adverb, adpositional phrase, verb, object |
| 1351 | IF the object precedes the predicate, and the adjective and genitive precede the noun, THEN the language is mainly left-recursive. | syntax | implication | order, object, predicate, adjective, attributive, noun, left-recursive |
| 1352 | In numeral systems, a subtrahend is always a simple lexical expression. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 1354 | IF a numeral system has division, THEN it is always expressed as multiplication by a fraction. | word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 1355 | In numeral systems, every superessive or possessive augend is a serialized augend. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 1356 | In numeral systems, a serialized augend is always larger than its addends. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1357 | In numeral systems, IF there are three or more summands and at least one is a product, THEN parenthesization starts by separating the summand with the largest numerical value from the rest. The same rule then applies to the remainder, if it consists of more than the summands, and so on. | word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 1358 | In numeral systems, the maximum number of sporadic addends is two. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1359 | In numeral systems, all adverbially or partitively expressed multiplicands are serialized multiplicands. | word formation | unconditional | numeral, adverb, partitive |
| 1360 | All the bases of numeral systems are divisible by the fundamental base. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1361 | In numeral systems, a multiplicand in a pseudo-base is always smaller than its multiplier. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1362 | In numeral systems, IF a serialized multiplicand is a factor in some product in which the multiplier is larger than the multiplicand, THEN it is also a factor in some product in which it is smaller than multiplicand. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 1363 | In numeral systems, the maximum number of sporadic factors is two. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1364 | In numeral systems, only a base is ever multiplied by 1. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1365 | In numeral systems, IF the multiplier follows the multiplicand in a particular numeral, THEN it follows in all higher numerals which are expressed by multiplication. IF there is this variability in multiplicand-multiplier order, THEN the numeral follows the noun. |
word formation | implication | order, numeral, noun |