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 30 of 41
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 1505 | IF there are anomalous allophones of any phonemes in onomatopoetic and expressive forms of a language, THEN allophones of this type are also present in other elements in emphatic speech. | phonology, semantics | implication | allophone, emphasis, expressive, onomatopoeia |
| 1506 | IF there are regular violations of the tonal pattern in imperative or vocative forms, THEN there is a special redistribution of tones in questions, commands, addresses, emphatic utterances. | phonology, morphology | implication | tone, imperative mood, vocative, interrogative sentence, emphasis, anomaly |
| 1507 | When there is an anomaly of stress in the appellative elements of a language, IF the language does not have fixed final stress THEN this anomalous stress falls on the last syllable of words, but IF the language does have fixed stress on the final syllable THEN the anomalous stress falls on the first syllable. | phonology, syntax | implication | stress, syllable |
| 1508 | IF there is a lexeme denoting motion out of or motion through some configuration, THEN there is a lexeme denoting either motion “into” that configuration or static location in it. | lexicon, semantics | implication | motion, adposition |
| 1509 | IF there is a single lexeme to denote either static location in a configuration or motion “out of” that configuration, THEN there will be a single lexeme to denote either static location in some configuration or motion into that configuration. | lexicon, semantics | implication | motion, adposition |
| 1510 | IF there are intransitive-based passives with non-protagonist subjects, THEN there are such with inanimate subjects. IF there are intransitive-based passives with INANIMATE subjects, THEN there are such with animate and potent subjects. IF there are intransitive-based passives with animate and potent subjects, THEN there are such with volitional animate or human subjects. IF there are intransitive-based passives with volitional animate or human subjects, THEN there are such with volitional human subjects. IF there are intransitive-based passives with volitional human subjects, THEN there are such with 1st person subjects. |
inflection, syntax | implicational hierarchy | diathesis, passive, intransitive, subject, animacy |
| 1511 | Reciprocal constructions, which are morphologically related to the reflexive constructions, are never (or, at least, far less often) “lighter” then the latter; they are either “heavier” or the same degree of complexity. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | reciprocal, reflexive, complexity |
| 1512 | IF verbs of authority and ruling use subject or object dispacement, THEN emotion verbs use these displacements as well. IF emotion verbs use subject or object dispacement, THEN emotion verbs with semantic component WANT will use subject or object dispacement. IF emotion verbs with semantic component WANT use subject or object dispacement, THEN general emotion verbs use these dispacements as well. IF general emotion verbs use subject or object displacement, THEN general psych-verbs use these displacements as well. |
syntax, semantics | implicational hierarchy | verb, semantics, subject, object |
| 1513 | IF one class of predicates is susceptible to voice-displacement properties, THEN all classes to the right should have this voice-displacements as well: motion > position (location) > shape > formless qualities (colors, textures, etc.) IF a split in the choice between parts of speech occurs, it occurs in accord with the agency and discreteness hierarchy. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | active verb, stative verb, semantics, word class |
| 1514 | IF a pronoun is bound in positions X and Y, THEN it is also bound in all intermediate positions between X and Y. IF a pronoun is free in positions X and Y, THEN it is also free in all interdmediate positions. IF a reflexive pronoun A is morphologically complex than a reflexive pronoun B, THEN the positions in which A occurs cannot be to the right of the positions in which A occurs. IF a non-syntactic (i.e. logophoric or emphatic) use of a reflexive pronoun is available in a position X, THEN it is available in all positions to the right of X. |
inflection, syntax | implicational hierarchy | reflexive |
| 1515 | IF numeral systems consists of less than five numerals, THEN the highest numeral is likely to be derived from an approximate quantifier such as ‘many’, ‘a few’, or ‘a couple’. | lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |