Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
827 entries · page 3 of 17
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 315 | IF any nominal forms function as direct objects, THEN they may also function as adverbial modifiers, especially adverbial modifiers of time. | inflection, syntax | implication | case, direct object, adverb |
| 317 | IF the indefinite direct object is marked with a syntactic form of accusative*, THEN the definite direct object is marked with the same syntactic form. | inflection, syntax | implication | case, accusative, direct object, definiteness |
| 319 | IF there are n backness distinctions, THEN there are at least n height distinctions. | phonology | implication | vowel, height, backness |
| 320 | IF there is the syntactic form of an absolutive, THEN there will also be the syntactic form of an ergative. | inflection | implication | case, absolutive, ergative |
| 321 | IF personal pronouns have an opposition of the syntactic forms of nominative and accusative, THEN nouns have this opposition as well. | inflection | implication | pronoun, personal pronoun, noun, case, nominative, accusative |
| 322 | IF nouns have a syntactic form of the accusative, THEN at least some of its allomorphs are non-zero. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | noun, case, accusative, allomorphy, zero |
| 325 | Whenever the verb agrees with subject and object, IF the agreement affixes can occur in the orders s-o-V and s-V-o, THEN they can also occur in the order o-V-s. |
inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, subject, object, person, affix-order |
| 327 | IF the transitive verb agrees in person with the direct object, THEN at least some transitive verb forms agree in person with the subject of a transitive verb. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, subject, direct object, transitivity, person |
| 329 | IF a verb agrees with the subject by a prefix, THEN verbs have affixes or clitics which agree with the direct object. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, subject, direct object, affix-order, prefix, clitic |
| 335 | IF object agreement is by means of a confix, THEN subject agreement can also be by confix in the same or other verb forms. |
inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, object, subject, affix-order, confix |
| 338 | Whenever the verb agrees with subject and object, IF there are confix forms such as s-V-s-o, THEN there is also non-confixal subject agreement in the order s-V-o. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, subject, direct object, person, affix-order, prefix, suffix, confix |
| 339 | Whenever the verb agrees with subject and object, IF there are confix forms such as o-V-s-o, THEN there is also non-confixal object agreement in the order o-V-s. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, subject, object, person, affix-order, confix, prefix, suffix |
| 342 | IF the dominant position of the subject with respect to the verb depends on their morphological properties, THEN the dominant order will be Verb-Object. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb, subject, object, order |
| 355 | Whenever there is verb agreement with subject and object, IF the orderings of agreement markers on verbs include s-V-o but not o-V-s, THEN basic word order is verb-initial (VSO or VOS). | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, VSO, VOS, verb agreement, subject, object, affix-order |
| 356 | Whenever there is verb agreement with subject and object, IF the orderings of agreement markers on verbs include o-V-s but not s-V-o, THEN basic word order is SOV. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, SOV, verb agreement, subject, object, affix-order |
| 357 | Whenever there is verb agreement with subject and object, IF the orderings of agreement markers on verbs is always V-s, THEN basic word order is SV. |
inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, subject, affix-order, order, SV |
| 361 | IF word order is free, THEN the words tend to be longer than one syllable. IF basic word order is SVO, THEN the words tend to be monosyllabic. |
phonology, syntax | implication | word length, syllable, order, SVO |
| 362 | The extent of “material“ articulation, pertaining in particular to (a) the elaboration of sound systems, (b) the complexity of syllable structures, (c) word length, (d) accentual differentiation (as opposed to not-so-articulated tonal modification), correlates with the extent of “formal“ articulation, pertaining in particular to (a) the differentiation of parts of speech, (b) the elaboration of inflectional and derivational systems, (c) analytic syntax (as opposed to not-so-articulated polysynthesis). | prosodic phonology, inflection, word formation, syntax, lexicon | mutual implication | phoneme system, syllable, word length, accent, tone, word class, polysynthesis |
| 364 | IF morphology is flexive or introflexive, THEN word forms tend to be two or three syllables long. IF morphology is agglutinative or incorporating, THEN word forms tend to be longer. IF bound morphology is lacking (i.e. a language is isolating), THEN word forms tend to be shorter. |
phonology, morphology, lexicon | mutual implication | flexion, introflexion, agglutination, incorporation, isolation, word length, syllable |
| 365 | IF morphology is agglutinative, THEN inflectional affixes tend to be longer. IF morphology is flexive, THEN inflectional affixes tend to be shorter. |
inflection | mutual implication | affix, complexity, agglutination, flexion |
| 366 | Whenever there is verb agreement with subject and object, IF object agreement markers can be preverbal, THEN basic word order is SV. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb agreement, order, subject, object, affix-order |
| 367 | IF morphology is agglutinative, THEN derivational affixes tend to have more complex syllabic structure. IF morphology is flexive, THEN derivational affixes tend to have less complex syllabic structure. |
phonology, morphology | mutual implication | affix, syllable, agglutination, flexion |
| 371 | IF there is vowel harmony and perhaps other progressive phonological modifications, THEN basic word order is OV, but not vice versa; IF there is umlaut and perhaps other regressive/anticipatory phonological modifications, THEN basic word order is VO, but not vice versa. |
phonology, syntax | implication | vowel harmony, assimilation, order, object, verb, umlaut |
| 376 | IF an expression is the topic of a sentence, THEN it is typically definite or generic. | syntax, pragmatics | implication | topic, definiteness, generic |
| 377 | IF there are specialized topic markers, THEN these will always be postpositional and basic word order will almost always be SOV. | inflection, syntax | implication | topic, order, SOV |
| 386 | The most neutral position for focus in a language will be the position normally occupied by the direct object. | syntax, pragmatics | unconditional | focus, direct object |
| 388 | IF /h/ precedes a high vowel, THEN it also precedes a low vowel. |
phonology | implication | /h/, vowel, aspiration, high, low |
| 389 | IF there is no inflectional gender, THEN morphology is agglutinative, and vice versa. | inflection | mutual implication | agglutination, gender |
| 390 | IF aspirated consonants occur in absolute final position, THEN they also occur preconsonantally; IF they occur preconsonantally, THEN they also occur postvocalically; IF they occur postvocalically, THEN they also occur prevocalically. |
phonology | implication | /h/, consonant, aspiration, preconsonantal, prevocalic, absolute, final position |
| 391 | IF an aspirated consonant occurs preceding an unstressed vowel, THEN it also occurs preceding a secondary stressed vowel. IF an aspirated consonant occurs preceding a secondary stressed vowel, THEN it also occurs preceding a primary stressed one. |
prosodic phonology | implication | /h/, consonant, vowel, aspiration, primary, stress, secondary, unstressed |
| 405 | IF there are aspirated continuous obstruents, THEN there are also aspirated non-continuous obstruents. | phonology | implication | /h/, obstruent, continuous, non-continuous, aspiration |
| 412 | IF there are aspirated voiced consonants (especially sonorants), THEN there are also aspirated voiceless consonants (especially obstruents). | phonology | implication | /h/, consonant, voice, aspiration |
| 416 | Affixes are ordered so that their increasing distance from the stem reflects decreasing semantic relevance to it. | inflection, semantics | mutual implication | affix-order, stem, relevance |
| 417 | The degree of bounding between stem and affix is in proportion to the semantic relevance of the affix to the stem. | inflection, semantics | mutual implication | affix, stem, relevance |
| 438 | IF basic order is verb-initial or free, THEN head-marking is favoured, and vice versa. IF basic order is verb-medial or verb-final, THEN dependent-marking is favoured, and vice versa. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | order, verb-initial, verb-final, verb-medial, head-marking, dependent-marking |
| 440 | IF alignment is non-accusative, THEN there will be verb-initial order. | syntax | implication | alignment, non-accusative, order, verb-initial |
| 441 | IF basic order is SOV, THEN SO Neg V or SOV Neg. | syntax | implication | order, SOV, negation |
| 444 | IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN the negative precedes the verb. | syntax | implication | order, verb-initial, negation |
| 445 | IF morphologyis agglutinative, THEN there is complement-balancing and complement-deranking. IF morphology is flexive, THEN there is complement-balancing. |
morphology, syntax | implication | agglutination, flexion, complement-deranking, complement-balancing |
| 446 | IF there is complement-balancing, THEN assimilation of ANCs to non-derived NPs will be favoured. IF there is complement-deranking, THEN retention of sentential marking in ANCs will be favoured. |
syntax | implication | nominalization, complement-balancing, complement-deranking |
| 450 | IF a nominally possessed construction has Genitive before Noun, THEN the pronominal (non-affixal) construction has the same order. | inflection, syntax | implication | attributive, noun, order, possession, pronoun |
| 453 | IF there are pre-aspirated consonants, THEN there are also postaspirated ones. | phonology | implication | /h/, consonant, aspiration, postaspirated, pre-aspirated |
| 454 | IF there is a free, less intimate possessor form, THEN there may be a bound, more intimate form, but not the converse. | inflection, syntax | implication | possession |
| 456 | IF a noun is inalienably possessed in non-vocative uses, THEN this noun is not necessarily inalienably possessed in vocative uses too. | inflection, syntax | non-implication | inalienable possession, noun, case, vocative |
| 457 | IF /h/ occurs in syllable-initial position, THEN it also occurs in relative initial position. IF /h/ occurs in relative initial position, THEN it occurs in absolute initial position. |
phonology | implication | /h/, aspiration, syllable |
| 458 | IF /h/ precedes a palatal vowel, THEN it also precedes a velar vowel. | phonology | implication | /h/, vowel, aspiration, velar, palatal |
| 464 | When a language has an opposition of intransitive verbs of action and state, all (or almost all) verbs meaning 'to move in a certain way' will belong with the verbs of action in all formal respects. | inflection, syntax, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | semantics, verb, transitivity, stative, active |
| 465 | With more than chance frequency, an NP with the semantic role of peregrinator (the one who moves) will be the subject of clauses with verbs meaning 'to move in a certain way'. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | subject, verb, transitivity |
| 466 | With more than chance frequency, in predications of class membership, the NP referring to the class member will be the subject and the class the predicate. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | subject, predicate |
| 474 | IF nouns have the opposition ergative/absolutive, THEN with a high probability personal and/or demonstrative pronouns of 3rd person have the same opposition. | inflection, syntax | implication | alignment, case, ergative, absolutive, personal pronoun, demonstrative pronoun, person, 3, noun |