Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
2,029 entries · page 30 of 41
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1455 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'hearer' in the non-singular, THEN it cannot denote the metaperson 'speaker'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, 1st, hearer, number, non-singular, speaker |
| 1456 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'hearer' in the non-singular, THEN it cannot include among its meanings the following metapersons: (a) 'hearer' in singular; (b) 'speaker + hearer(s)' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)', (c) 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' ; (d) 'non-participant'. |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, number, non-singular, speaker |
| 1457 | IF the metaperson 'hearer' in the non-singular (and consequently, the metaperson 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)') are not the only meanings of a pronominal form, THEN the metaperson 'hearer' in the singular is also among its meanings. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, number, singular, non-singular, non-participant |
| 1458 | In all languages, there is a special form to denote the metaperson 'non-participant'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | unconditional | personal pronoun, person, 3rd, non-participant |
| 1459 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'non-participant' in the singular, THEN it cannot be used to denote the metaperson 'non-participant' in the non-singular. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 3rd, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1460 | IF the metaperson 'non-participant' in the singular is not the only meaning denoted by a pronominal form, THEN the only other metaperson expressed will be 'non-participant' in the non-singular. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 3rd, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1461 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'non-participant' in the non-singular, THEN it cannot be used to denote the metaperson 'non-participant' in the singular. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 3rd, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1462 | IF the metaperson 'non-participant' in the non-singular is not the only meaning denoted by a form, THEN among its meanings can only be metaperson 'non-participant' in the singular. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 3rd, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1463 | In no language is there a special form to denote a metaperson 'speaker+hearer(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | unconditional | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, inclusive |
| 1464 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s)', THEN it must also denote the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, speaker, hearer, non-participant, inclusive |
| 1465 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s)', THEN (a) in some languages this form can also denote the metaperson 'speaker + non-participant(s)'; (b) in some other languages it can not denote the metaperson 'speaker + non-participant(s)'. |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, 2nd, speaker, hearer, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1466 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s)' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)', THEN it cannot denote the metaperson 'non-participant'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1467 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s)' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)', THEN it cannot include among its meanings the following metapersons: (a) 'speaker'; (b) 'hearer' in singular; (c) 'hearer' in non-singular; (d) 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1468 | IF the metapersons 'speaker + hearer(s)' and 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' are not the only meanings denoted by a form, THEN the others metapersons expressed will be 'speaker' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1469 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + non-participant(s)', THEN (a) in some languages it cannot include among its meanings any other metaperson; (b) in some other languages it can also denote metapersons 'speaker + hearer(s)' and 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', and for this case universals <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1466"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">, <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1467"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0"> are valid. |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1470 | IF the metaperson 'speaker + non-participant(s)' is not the only meaning of a form, THEN this form must also denote the metapersons 'speaker' and/or 'speaker + hearer(s)' (and consequently, 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'). | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1471 | In an overwhelming majority of languages, there is no special form to denote the metaperson 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | unconditional | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1472 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN it also denotes the metaperson 'hearer' in the non-singular. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, non-participant, number, non-singular |
| 1473 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN it cannot include among its meanings the following metapersons: (a) 'hearer' in singular; (b) 'speaker + hearer(s)' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)'; (c) 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'; (d) 'non-participant'. |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, speaker, hearer, non-participant, number, singular |
| 1474 | IF the metaperson 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' is not the only meaning denoted by a form, THEN this form must denote also metapersons 'hearer' in the non-singular and/or 'hearer' in the singular . | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1475 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN it cannot include among its meanings the metaperson 'speaker'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, 1st, hearer, non-participant, speaker |
| 1476 | In an overwhelming majority of languages, there is no special form to denote the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | unconditional | personal pronoun, person, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1477 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN it denotes also the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, 2nd, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1478 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' , THEN: (a) in some languages it also denotes the metaperson 'speaker + non-participant(s)'; (b) in other languages it does not denote the metaperson 'speaker + non-participant(s)'. |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1479 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN it cannot denote the metaperson 'non-participant' . | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1480 | IF some form denotes metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN it cannot denote the following metapersons: (a) 'speaker'; (b) 'hearer'; (c) 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1481 | IF the metaperson 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' is not the only meaning of a form, THEN this form must also denote the metapersons 'speaker + hearer(s)' and /or 'speaker'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1482 | IF there are no special forms distinguishing the metapersons 'speaker' and 'speaker + hearer(s)' or 'speaker' and 'speaker + non-participant(s)', THEN there are no forms that differentiate between the metaperson 'hearer' in the singular and in the non-singular and between the metaperson 'non-participant' in the singular and in the non-singular. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1483 | IF there is no form with the meaning 'speaker + hearer(s)' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)' and/or 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' (i.e. a neutral form of the distinction inclusivity vs. exclusivity), THEN there is a form with the sole meaning 'speaker + non-participant(s)' (i.e. "we exclusive"). |
inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, speaker, hearer, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1484 | IF there is a special form with the meaning 'speaker + non-participant(s)' (i.e. "we exclusive"), THEN there is a special form with the meaning 'speaker + hearer(s)' and/or 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' (i.e. "we inclusive"). | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, speaker, hearer, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1485 | IF there is no form with the meaning 'hearer' and/or 'hearers' and/or 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)', THEN there is a special form with the meaning 'hearers' and/or 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, hearer, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1486 | IF there is a special form with the meaning 'hearers' and/or 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s) ', THEN there is a special form with the meaning 'hearer'. | lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, hearer, non-participant, number, singular, non-singular |
| 1487 | IF there is a pronominal form denoting the dual of the metapersons 'hearer', 'hearer + non-participant' and/or 'non-participant', THEN there are pronominal forms denoting the dual of metapersons 'speaker + hearer' and/or 'speaker + non-participant'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, speaker, hearer, non-participant, number, dual |
| 1488 | IF there is a pronominal form denoting the trial of the metapersons 'hearer' and 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)' and/or the trial of 'non-participant', THEN there is a pronominal form denoting the trial of the metapersons 'speaker + hearer(s)', 'speaker + hearer + non-participant' and/or 'speaker + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, speaker, non-participant, number, trial |
| 1489 | IF there is an opposition of the metapersons 'speaker + hearer(s)' and 'speaker + non-participant(s)' (i.e. inclusive vs. exclusive) in the trial, THEN there is such an opposition in the dual and plural too. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, 2nd, hearer, speaker, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive, number, dual, plural, trial |
| 1490 | IF there is an opposition of the metapersons 'speaker + hearer' and 'speaker + non-participant' (i.e. inclusive vs. exclusive) in the dual, THEN usually there is such opposition in the plural too. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, hearer, speaker, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive, number, dual, plural |
| 1491 | Noun incorporation, per movement in syntax (as opposed to lexical compound formation), is possible for underlying objects only. | morphology, syntax | unconditional | incorporation, noun, object, patient |
| 1492 | In ditransitive constructions, the theme/direct object may incorporate, but the goal/indirect object may not (per movement in syntax, as opposed to lexical compound formation). | morphology, syntax | unconditional | incorporation, theme, goal, indirect object, direct object |
| 1493 | Incorporation is favoured with the verbs denoting permanent and general activity (also typical or characteristic activity) whereas "accidental" or indifferent activities take autonomous direct object. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | incorporation, verb |
| 1494 | When there is a choice between independence from and incorporation into the verb, objects tend to be incorporated when they are generic, non-referential, indefinite, inanimate/non-human, semantically dependent, pragmatically non-prominent, and to be independent when they are specific, referential, definite, animate/human, semantically independent, pragmatically prominent. | inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | incorporation, object, definiteness, specific reference, animacy, human, |
| 1495 | IF a noun is incorporated (because it is generic), THEN it cannot trigger transformations' which imply specific reference: conjuction deletion, Equi-NP-deletion, passivization, relativization, and topicalization. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, conjunction deletion, diathesis, passivization, relativization, topicalization, Equi-NP-deletion, generic, specific reference |
| 1496 | IF basic word order is verb-initial, THEN nouns attach to the right of the verb stem when incorporated. |
morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, order, verb-initial |
| 1497 | IF basic word order is not-verb-initial (i.e. verb-medial or verb-final), THEN nouns attach to the left of the verb stem when incorporated. | morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, order, verb-medial, verb-final |
| 1498 | IF syntax is non-configurational, THEN morphology is agglutinative, but not vice versa. | morphology, syntax | implication | non-configurational, agglutination |
| 1499 | There are [basic?] terms for ‘eyes’, ‘nose’, and ‘mouth’. | lexicon | unconditional | body part |
| 1500 | The upper limb, ‘arm’ (and ‘hand’) is named by a distinct term in all languages. | lexicon | unconditional | body part |
| 1501 | All languages name ‘(finger)nail’ and ‘(toe)nail’. | lexicon | unconditional | body part |
| 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 |
| 1503 | IF there are serial verb constructions, THEN there will be VO ordering with verb serialization, one object per verb, isolating morphology, simple syllable structure, and lexical/or grammatical tone distinctions. | prosodic phonology, morphology, syntax | implication | serial verb, order, isolating, syllable, tone |
| 1504 | Loan words maintain formal anomalies only of those types that are present in other peripheral classes of language. IF an anomaly arises from the transition of a nonperipheral element into a peripheral one, THEN there are already anomalies of this type in the periphery of the given language. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | borrowing |