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 28 of 41
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1366 | In numeral systems, IF 1 is expressed as a multiplier with a particular base, THEN it is expressed with all higher bases. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 1367 | In numeral systems, IF any numeral expressions are deleted, THEN these are expressions for 1 and for bases of the system. | word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 1368 | IF there are numeral systems with more than one base, THEN there is a base, the base for predictable explanation, above which in all numerals certain regularities hold. Such numerals, when analyzed into their two principal constituents, will fall into two types: simple (A) and complex (B) ones: <table class = "textTable"> <tr> <td> </td> <td>(Ai)</td> <td colspan="2"> In the simple numeral we have a product, or rarely a quotient.</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td valign="top">(Aii)</td> <td colspan="2">In the simple constituent the factors or elements in a division are expressed in the same way as when they occur in isolation.</td> </tr> <td> </td> <td valign = "top">(Bi)</td> <td colspan="2"> In the complex numeral the two constituents are summands.</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td valign = "top">(Bii)</td> <td colspan="2">Complex expressions fall into two parts, a product and a remainder.</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td vallign = "top">(Bii1)</td> <td>The remainder has the two following properties. It never has a larger value than the next lower base of the total expression.</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td valign = "top">(Bii2)</td> <td>the remainder is expressed by the same mathematical function as when it occurs in isolation.</td> </tr> </table> |
word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 1369 | All numeral series have the same mathematical structure. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 1370 | There is a universal principle that in numeral classifier languages a classifier concatenates with a quantifier, locative, demonstrative, or predicate to form a nexus that cannot be interrupted by the noun which is classified. |
syntax | unconditional | classifier, numeral, order |
| 1371 | If grammatical number (singular, dual, paucal, plural) is marked at all on classifier constructions, it is usually marked on or by the classifier, not on the noun, which has the characteristic of a mass, collective, or uncountable noun. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | classifier, number, noun |
| 1372 | No language contrasts a 'round' classifier with a 'polyhedral' classifier, unless the latter is the classifier for buildings, or some similar material classifier. | syntax, semantics | implication | classifier |
| 1373 | The smaller the number of classifiers in a language, the more likely they are to be configurational rather than material. | syntax, semantics | implication | classifier |
| 1374 | IF there are intra-locative classifiers, THEN there are no quanta classifiers. | syntax, semantics | implication | classifier, locative |
| 1375 | IF a classifier language has no inflectional plural, THEN neither counters nor measures take plural markers. IF a classifier language has no inflectional plural, THEN classifiers themselves never vary lexically for number |
inflection, syntax | implication | classifier, number |
| 1376 | IF basic word order is verb-peripheral (i.e. SOV, VOS), THEN there tends to be no transitive verb of possession HAVE. IF there is a transitive verb HAVE, THEN basic word order is SVO. |
syntax, lexicon | implication | order, verb, possession |
| 1377 | Filler-Gap Complexity Hypothesis: If Filler-Gap Domain (FGD) of complexity n on a complexity hierarchy H is grammatical, then the FGDs for all less complex variables on H(n-1) will also be grammatical. |
syntax | implication | filler, gap, complexity |
| 1378 | Clause embedding hierarchy: IF a gap in a complex NP is grammatical, THEN gaps in finite subordinate clauses and infinitival phrases will also be grammatical. IF a gap in a finite subordinate clause is grammatical, THEN a gap in an infinitival phrase will also be grammatical. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | gap, embedding, hierarchy |
| 1379 | Subordinate Gap/No Gap Hierarchy: IF a matrix filler can be matched with a gap in a subordinate clause of complexity n containing another gap, THEN it can be matched with a gap in a subordinate clause of complexity n containing no other gap. |
syntax | implication | filler, gap, complexity |
| 1380 | Relative Clause and WH-Question Filler: In languages that have filler-gap structures for both relative clauses and WH-questions, IF a gap is grammatical for a relative clause filler in an FGD of complexity n on a hierarchy H, THEN a gap will also be grammatical for a WH-question word filler in an FGD of complexity n. |
syntax | implication | filler, gap, relative clause, wh-question, complexity |
| 1381 | Bridging Verb Hierarchy: IF a bridging verb or verb complex V of semantic specificity n is grammatical in an FGD, THEN all verbs or verb complexes V´ with less semantic specificity than V will also grammatical. |
syntax, semantics | implication | filler, gap, bridging verb, specificity |
| 1382 | Head Noun Phrase Hierarchy: IF an NP with head noun (phrase) N of semantic specificity n on the path from filler to gap is grammatical, THEN all head noun (phrases) N´ with less semantic specificity than N will also be grammatical. |
syntax, semantics | implication | filler, gap, NP, specificity |
| 1383 | Question-word Movement Universal: IF there is a WH-question word movement to clause-peripheral position, THEN it proceeds to the left, not to the right. |
syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | question, wh-movement |
| 1384 | Question-word Fronting and Basic Word Order: A fronted WH-question word will be preferred across languages in proportion to the distance between WH and the subcategorizing verb in its basic order: the smaller the FGD, the more the WH-word is fronted. |
syntax | implication | question, fronting, order |
| 1385 | Gap Subcategorizor Hierarchy: IF a gap can be subcategorized by P, THEN it can be subcategorized by V. |
syntax | implication | gap, subcategorization |
| 1386 | IF basic word order is SVO or VSO, THEN an auxiliary is clause medial or clause initial. OR: IF an auxiliary occurs in a clause initial position, THEN word order will be rigid V-initial. |
syntax | implication | auxiliary, order, SVO, VSO, VOS |
| 1387 | IF the finite verb agrees with a subject, THEN the auxiliary agrees with a subject. [??? ] |
inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, auxiliary, verb |
| 1388 | No language with a traditional auxiliary verb will exist in which the auxiliary does not take what is usually verbal inflection. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | auxiliary, inflection, verb |
| 1389 | IF basic word order is free, THEN an auxiliary is clause-initial or clause-medial. | syntax | implication | auxiliary, order |
| 1390 | The auxiliary always potentially includes tense; that is, in a sentence with tense and an auxiliary, tense will always be part of the auxiliary. | syntax | unconditional | auxiliary, tense |
| 1391 | IF future tense markers are morphologically bound, THEN past and/or present tense markers are also bound or indeed more closely bound. |
inflection, syntax | implication | tense, past, future, auxiliary |
| 1392 | When the future is periphrastic, the auxiliary will always be a present tense or unmarked form. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | tense, present, future, auxiliary |
| 1393 | Retrospective languages tend toward finer temporal gradation in the past than in the future and prospective languages tend toward no or equal gradation of past and future tenses. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | tense, past, future |
| 1394 | In retrospective languages, IF there is past tense, THEN there will be future tense. In prospective languages, IF there is future tense, THEN there will be past tense. |
inflection, syntax | implication | tense, past, future |
| 1395 | IF past-nonpast contrast is neutralized in a subjunctive or semantically comparable category, THEN future-nonfuture contrast is neutralized as well. | inflection | implication | tense, past, nonpast, future, nonfuture |
| 1396 | IF there is deletion of past tenses in non-initial (or non-final) verbs of conjunctive series, THEN there is deletion of future tenses in the same environment. |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, tense, past, future, conjunctive |
| 1397 | IF there is a future participle, THEN there is a past participle and a present participle. | inflection, syntax | implication | participle, tense, future, present, past |
| 1398 | All languages have non-reduced adverbial constructions. If a language has reduced adverbials, these are always more restricted in their privileges of occurrence than non-reduced adverbials. |
syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | adverbial |
| 1399 | IF there are argument-reduced adverbials, THEN there are predicate-reduced adverbials. | syntax | implication | adverbial |
| 1400 | IF there are locative argument-reduced adverbials, THEN there are temporal argument-reduced adverbials. | syntax | implication | adverbial |
| 1401 | Adverbial case affixes are always suffixes. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | adverbial, case, affix, prefix, suffix |
| 1402 | No language has adverbial predicates which are expressed as argument-internal clitics that are postposed to the constituents that they are bound to. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | adverbial, clitic, order |
| 1403 | All languages have sentences with sentence-initial and non-sentence initial adverbial constituents. For most, if not all, adverbial constructions in all languages , the most "normal", most prosaic, and implicationally most unmarked ordering for such constructions is in a non-sentence-initial position-following either the superficial subject, or the superficial object, or both. |
syntax | unconditional | order, sentence, adverbial |
| 1404 | If a language has S (O) V ordering but no SOV orderings, then it will have S (O) ADV V orderings, but no S (O) V ADV orderings. | syntax | implication | order, verb, object, adverbial |
| 1405 | If a language has either of the orderings (S ADV V X) or (S V X ADV), then it will have both of them one being normative for a large majority of adverbial sub-types, the other being normative for the remainder of adverbial subtypes. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, adverbial |
| 1406 | IF there are adverbial predicates which are analyzable into a noun and a case affix, THEN any postposed arguments of such predicates will always include case affixes on their head nouns. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | adverbial, case, affix, order |
| 1407 | IF transitive verbs have suffixes agreeing in definiteness or in person-gender-number with their direct objects, THEN prepositions also have suffixes that agree with their complements in the same categories. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, verb, object, preposition, definiteness, person, gender, number |
| 1408 | When there is a general number not specifying any particular number term, it will be expressed, either solely or as the normal case, through the maximally unmarked form, that is, the inflectional root. | inflection | unconditional | number, markedness |
| 1409 | IF there is a dual for 2nd person pronoun, THEN there is a dual for either 1st or a 3rd person or both. There will be never a dual limited to 2nd person. | inflection | implication | pronoun, number, dual, person, 1, 2, 3, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1410 | IF in the dual there is only an inclusive pronoun and no exclusive one, THEN in the plural both forms will be present. | inflection | implication | pronoun, number, dual, plural, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1411 | IF there are irregularities in the constituency of the numerals, THEN they immediately precede or follow the base. | word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 1412 | The higher the number of principle phonemes, the higher the probability of redundancy. | phonology | implication | phoneme, redundancy |
| 1413 | In interjections one or more marginal phonemes occur with a percentage which is characteristic only for principle phonemes. | phonology | unconditional | phoneme, interjection |
| 1414 | In all languages possessing the vowel /ä/, the /a/ is articulated more backward (velar) than in languages which have no /ä/. | phonology | implication | vowel, backness |
| 1415 | IF only one member of a customary phoneme opposition exists, THEN the existing member of the opposition can take over (fully or partially) the articulatory peculiarities of the lacking member. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | phoneme, opposition |