Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
253 entries · page 3 of 6
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1114 | IF perfective aspect is expressed with the help of preverbs, THEN there will also be future tense formed by means of preverbs. | inflection, syntax | implication | tense, aspect, perfective, future |
| 1115 | IF case inflection on direct nominal arguments gets lost, THEN their word order becomes fixed, but not vice versa. |
inflection, syntax | implication | word order, inflection |
| 1142 | The passive-to-ergative change is unidirectional. There are no passive constructions which have been shown to have developed from ergative constructions. | inflection, syntax | target < source | diathesis, passive, alignment, ergative |
| 1143 | IF a verbal morpheme has both reflexive and passive use, THEN it will also have the anticausative use. | inflection, syntax | implication | morpheme, reflexive, passive, anticausative |
| 1147 | A causative can become a passive, but a passive cannot become a causative. | inflection, syntax | target < source | passive, causative |
| 1162 | IF the indefinite article is derived from the cardinal 'one', THEN non-numerable nouns cannot take indefinite article. | syntax | implication | indefinite article, numeral |
| 1165 | IF an overt indefinite article is used with mass nouns, THEN it is also used with plural nouns. | inflection, syntax | implication | indefinite article, number, plural, mass noun |
| 1166 | IF an overt indefinite article is used with plural nouns, THEN it is also used with singular nouns. | inflection, syntax | implication | indefinite article, number, plural, singular noun |
| 1167 | IF there is an indefinite article, THEN there is also a definite article. | syntax | implication | indefinite article, definite article |
| 1175 | IF there is a morphosyntactic process P to form a distributive-share universal quantifier, THEN there also will be P to form distributive-share numerals, distributive-share non-cardinal quantifiers, and distributive-share expressions of non-quantificational meanings. | lexicon | implication | quantifier, distributive, universal |
| 1177 | BACK > FRONT > UP, IN > DOWN. If any one of the five concepts is derived from the body-part model, then none of the concepts to its left may be derived from the landmark or any other model. |
lexicon | target < source | spatial orientation, body part |
| 1178 | IF the terms for a cardinal direction are introduced, THEN the sun provides the most likely model to be selected. IF new terms for cardinal directions ‘east’ and ‘west’ are acquired, THEN most likely these terms are derived from expressions relating, respectively, to the rising and setting sun. |
lexicon | target < source | spatial orientation |
| 1180 | Terms for ‘pupil (of the eye)’ are most likely to be derived from nouns denoting a small human like a baby, or a child, or a diminutive humanlike object like a doll. | lexicon | target < source | body part |
| 1181 | When terms for thumbs, big toes and remaining digits are derived from kin-terms, thumbs and big toes are likely to be built on kin-terms of an older, ascending generation and the remaining fingers and toes tend to be derived from terms for offspring or other younger relatives. |
lexicon | target < source | body parts, kinship term |
| 1182 | The notion ‘muscle’ is expressed predominantly by using small mammals as structural templates. As in the case of English muscle (which is ultimately derived from Latin Musculus ‘little mouse’), terms for ‘mouse’ or ‘rat’ appear to provide the most common source for ‘muscle’ or ‘muscular part of the body’, where the latter may refer to such notions as ‘thigh’, ‘calf of a leg’, or ‘biceps’. Other animals such as lizards, rabbits, toads, or calves, are used less frequently that mice and rabbits. | lexicon | target < source | body parts |
| 1183 | For the concept ‘testicle’, by far the most widespread source is provided by terms for ‘egg’, alternative options being ‘stone’, ‘pebble’, ‘seed’, and ‘fruit’. | lexicon | target < source | body parts |
| 1188 | When expressions for deictic orientation are derived forms, they may derive from terms for body parts or environmental landmarks but never from terms for celestial or atmospheric phenomena. | lexicon | target < source | location, deixis |
| 1189 | When terms for deictic and cardinal orientation are related, the terms for cardinal orientation are derived from terms for deictic orientation, but not vice versa. | lexicon | target < source | orientation, deixis |
| 1190 | When sun and wind provide templates for developing nomenclatures for orientation, they will be sources for terms of cardinal but not of deictic orientation. | lexicon | target < source | location, deixis |
| 1201 | IF a language is (more or less) analytic, THEN it has a (more or less) regular phraseological system. | morphology, lexicon | implication | phraseology, analytic |
| 1219 | Nouns denoting body parts are the preferred sources for the grammaticalization of local adpositions. | syntax, lexicon | target < source | case, local case, adposition, grammaticalization |
| 1221 | IF postpositions inflect for case, THEN nouns will also inflect for case. | inflection | implication | case, noun, postposition |
| 1227 | IF there is a local case other than locative, THEN there will also be a locative. | inflection | implication | case, local case, locative, ablative, allative |
| 1228 | IF there is syncretism of locative and ablative or of allative and ablative, THEN there is syncretism of locative and allative. | inflection | imlication | syncretism, case, local case, locative, ablative, allative |
| 1234 | Diachronically, an undifferentiated locative (expressing where, whereto, wherefrom) retains the meaning of a where case when ‘whereto’ and ‘wherefrom’ cases are being formally distinguished. | inflection | implication | case, local case, locative |
| 1235 | Diachronically, when an allative loses its local meaning (or acquires additional, non-local meanings), it will become a dative (expressing beneficiary and/or indirect object); when a locative loses its local meaning (or acquires additional, non-local meanings), it will become an accusative or ergative; when an ablative loses its local meaning (or acquires additional, non-local meaning)s, it will become a (partitive) genitive or ergative or (passive) agentive. | inflection | implication | case, local case, allative |
| 1236 | Diachronically, local cases tend to acquire temporal meanings; in particular, a terminative local case is predestined to acquire temporal meaning. | inflection | target < source | case, local case, terminative |
| 1237 | All languages have at least one so-called “primitive” adposition which specifies location. IF there is complex form for local expression, THEN there is also a simple adposition indicating location and the complex form is drawn from it. |
syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | location, adposition |
| 1247 | The loss of all a language’s initial vowels (or prothesis of a consonant before them) is significantly less likely than a language with no initial vowels acquiring them by consonant loss or vowel prothesis. | phonology | implication | initial vowel, consonant |
| 1256 | Front consonants are less prone to develop in accordance with consonant gradation than back consonants. | phonology | implication | consonant gradation |
| 1259 | The less sonorous a vowel (or class of vowels), the more prone it will be to assimilate; and conversely, the more sonorous it is, the more resistant it will be to assimilation. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, sonority |
| 1260 | High vowels tend to assimilate more readily and earlier than low vowels. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony |
| 1261 | IF there is assimilation of low vowels, THEN there is assimilation of high vowels. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, height |
| 1262 | Unstressed vowels are more likely to assimilate than stressed vowels. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, stress |
| 1263 | IF an otherwise harmonizing unstressed vowel becomes stressed due to intonational factors, THEN it can no longer harmonize. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | assimilation, vowel harmony, stress, intonation |
| 1287 | 1. TARGETS OF PALATALIZATION a. in terms of place of articulation: IF a less back consonant is palatalized, THEN all more back consonants are also palatalized. (BACK-to-FRONT scale: velar > dental > labial). b. in terms of manner of articulation: IF a less sonorant consonant is palatalized, THEN all more sonorant consonants are also palatalized. (SONORITY scale: sonorant > sibilant > stop / non-strident). 2. TRIGGERS OF PALATALIZATION a. in terms of place of articulation: IF a less high front vowel palatalizes a preceding consonant, THEN all more high vowels also palatalize this consonant. b. in terms of consonantality: IF a nuclear vowel palatalizes a preceding consonant, THEN a corresponding glide also palatalizes this consonant. (e.g., [y] > [i]) |
phonology | implication | palatalization |
| 1288 | IF nasality co-occurs in the neighborhood of a vowel or is inherent in the vowel itself of a given height m, THEN nasality must co-occur also in the neighborhood of or be inherent in a vowel of any lesser degree of height. Instantiations of this general implication: IF a less low vowel is nasalized, THEN any more low vowels are also nasalized. IF a more low vowel is denasalized, THEN any less low vowels are also denasalized. IF a consonant is nasalized preceding a less low vowel, THEN this consonant is also nasalized preceding any more low vowels. IF a consonant is denasalized preceding a more low vowel, THEN this consonant is also denasalized preceding any less low vowels. Upon nasalization, vowels tend to lower rather than to rise. |
phonology | implication | nasalization, denasalization, vowel height |
| 1293 | IF non-necessity is expressed by an auxiliary, THEN so is impossibility; IF impossibility is expressed by an auxiliary, THEN so is necessity; IF necessity is expressed by an auxiliary, THEN so is possibility. |
syntax, semantics, lexicon | implication | modality, auxiliary |
| 1332 | A historical tendency toward phonological symmetry is universal. | phonology | unconditional | phoneme inventory |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 1427 | Secondary fricatives are the results of diachronic developments from clusters. | phonology | target < source | fricative, cluster |
| 1428 | Secondary oral stops, apart from borrowings, are the results of diachronic developments from clusters. | phonology | target < source | stop, cluster |
| 1429 | IF there are non-basic passives, THEN there are basic passives. | syntax | implication | diathesis, passive |
| 1439 | IF there is no aspect differentiation, THEN there are continuous tenses. | inflection | mutual implication | aspect, tense, continuous |
| 1442 | IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of exasperation, relief, longing, torment, and enthrallment, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of pity, enthusiasm, and dismay. IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of pity, enthusiasm, and dismay, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of amazement, envy, and disgust. IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of amazement, envy, and disgust, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the category of contentment. IF there is at least one folk term for the category of contentment, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of anxiety, aggravation, and pride. IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of anxiety, aggravation, and pride, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the category of eagerness. IF there is at least one folk term for the category of eagerness, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of alienation, arousal, and agony. IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of alienation, arousal, and agony, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of adoration, alarm, amusement, and depression. IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of adoration, alarm, amusement, and depression, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of anger and guilt. |
lexicon | implicational hierarchy | hierarchy, emotion categories |
| 1502 | IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a comparative marker, THEN it is also used as a conjunction with conditional clause. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a conjunction with conditional clause, THEN it is also used as a complementizer with embedded question. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a complementizer with embedded question, THEN it is also used as a marker with question word. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a marker with question word, THEN it is also used as a conjunction with reason clause. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a conjunction with reason clause, THEN it is also used as a conjunction with purpose clause. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a conjunction with purpose clause, THEN it is also used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘hope’. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘hope’, THEN it is also used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘believe’. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘believe’, THEN it is also use as a quotative/complementizer with ‘know’. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘know’, THEN it is also used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘say’. IF a de-verbal morpheme is used as a quotative/complementizer with ‘say’, THEN it is also used as a quotative particle. |
morphology | implicational hierarchy | grammaticalization, verb, complementizer, adverbial conjunction |