Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
1,698 entries · page 31 of 34
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1776 | IF nasalization occurs before a stop, THEN it will occur before a continuant. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, stop, continuant |
| 1777 | IF nasalization occurs before a vowel, THEN it will occur before a consonant. | phonology | implication | nasal, consonant, vowel |
| 1778 | IF denasalization applies to /o/, THEN it also applies to /e/. | phonology | implication | nasal, denasalization, vowel |
| 1779 | IF nasalization occurs before /f/, THEN it also occurs before /≈/. | phonology | implication | nasal, nasalization, vowel, consonant |
| 1780 | IF nasalized /i/ lowers to nasalized /e/, THEN nasalized /e/ also lowers to nasalized /a/. | phonology | implication | nasal, lowering, vowel |
| 1781 | When there is final vowel deletion: IF /o/ undergoes elision at the end of a word, THEN /e/ will undergo elision as well. IF /e/ and /o/ undergo elision at the end of a word, THEN /o/ must be elided before /e/. |
phonology | implication | vowel, elision, apocope |
| 1782 | IF there is assibilation of labials, THEN there must be assibilation of dentals. IF there is assibilation of dentals, THEN there must be assibilation of velars. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | assibilation, labial, dental, velar |
| 1783 | IF assibilation occurs before /a/, THEN it must occur before /e/. IF assibilation occurs before /e/, THEN it must occur before /i/. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | assibilation, vowel |
| 1784 | IF there is a voiced affricate reflex, THEN there will also be a voicless affricate reflex. | phonology | implication | affricate, reflex, voice |
| 1785 | IF there are fricative + stop onset clusters, THEN there are stop + fricative onset clusters. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial, fricative, stop |
| 1786 | IF there are stop + fricative onset clusters, THEN there are stop + stop onset clusters. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial, fricative, stop |
| 1787 | IF there are fricative + stop onset clusters, THEN there are fricative + fricative onset clusters. | phonology | implication | consonant cluster, initial, fricative, stop |
| 1788 | The Length Strategy: The longer a sentence is, the more likely it is to be classified as belonging to a more formal register. |
syntax, pragmatics | implication | complexity, length, formality, register |
| 1789 | The Particle Strategy: The more short, particle-like words a sentence contains, the more likely it is to be classified as belonging to a more informal register. |
syntax, pragmatics | implication | particle, length, formality, register |
| 1790 | The shorter a linguistic expression is, the more likely it is will be associated with familiarity and high frequency of occurrence. The longer a linguistic expression is, the more likely it is will be associated with unfamiliarity and low frequency of occurrence. |
morphology, syntax, semantics | implication | iconicity, complexity, length, formality, register, frequency |
| 1791 | IF a vowel followed by a back velar nasal result in a nasal vowel, THEN a nasal vowel as the result of a vowel followed by a labial nasal already exists. | phonology | implication | nasalization, nasal, vowel, velar, bilabial |
| 1792 | Vowel Length Parameter: Vowel nasalization and N-deletion, as seperate and successive processes, occur preferentially in the context of long vowels before spreading to short vowels. |
phonology | implication | nasalization, nasal, deletion, vowel, length |
| 1793 | IF N-deletion occurs first in stressed/tonic syllables, THEN it will have already occurred in unstressed/atonic syllables. | phonology | implication | nasal, deletion, vowel, stress, tonic, atonic |
| 1794 | IF nasalization occurs in unstressed/atonic syllables, THEN it will occur in stressed/tonic syllables. | phonology | implication | nasal, nasalization, vowel, stress, tonic, atonic |
| 1795 | IF N-deletion occurs in post-tonic unstressed syllables, THEN it will have already occurred in pretonic unstressed syllables. IF N-deletion occurs in pretonic unstressed syllables, THEN it will have already occurred in tonic stressed syllables. IF denasalization occurs in tonic stressed syllables, THEN it will have already occured in pretonic unstressed syllables. IF denasalization occurs in pretonic unstressed syllables, THEN it will have already occured in post-tonic unstressed syllables. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | nasal, deletion, denasalization, stress, tonic, atonic |
| 1796 | IF nasalization is phonologized first on proparoxytonic vowels before nasals, THEN nasalization will have already been phonologized on paroxytonic vowels before nasals. IF nasalization is phonologized first on paroxytonic vowels before nasals, THEN nasalization will have already been phonologized on oxytonic vowels before nasals. |
prosodic phonology | implicational hierarchy | nasalization, nasal, oxytone, vowel |
| 1797 | IF nasals are deleted word-finally preceding vowels, THEN they are deleted word-finally before consonants. IF nasals are deleted word-finally preceding consonants, THEN they are deleted word-medially before consonants. |
prosodic phonology | implicational hierarchy | deletion, nasal, consonant, vowel |
| 1798 | IF there is nasal deletion preceding stops, THEN there is nasal deletion preceding fricatives. | phonology | implication | nasal, deletion, stop, fricative |
| 1799 | IF there is nasalization before intervocalic nasals, THEN there will have already been nasalization in tautosyllabic ($VN)sequences. | phonology | implication | nasal, nasalization, intervocalic, tautosyllabic |
| 1800 | IF there is tautosyllabic distinctive nasalization in preconsonantal position, THEN there will have already been tautosyllabic distinctive nasalization in word-finally. | phonology | implication | nasalization, final, preconsonantal, tautosyllabic |
| 1802 | IF vowels preceding clusters nasal + stop are lengthened, THEN vowels preceding clusters fricative + stop are lengthened. IF vowels preceding clusters nasal + voiced stop are lengthened, THEN vowels preceding clusters nasal + stop are lengthened. |
phonology | implication | vowel, length, nasal, stop, cluster |
| 1803 | IF obstruents are devoiced initially, THEN they are devoiced finally. | phonology | implication | obstruent, voice |
| 1805 | IF obstruents occur syllable- and word-finally, THEN they occur syllable- and word-initially. IF sononrants occur syllable- and word-initially, THEN they occur syllable- and word-finally. |
phonology | implication | obstruent, sonorant, syllable, word, initial, final, phonotactics |
| 1806 | In word-final nasal + obstruent clusters, IF the nasal is deleted, THEN the obstruent should have already been deleted as well. |
phonology | implication | obstruent, nasal, deletion |
| 1807 | IF there is a voiced alveolar sibilant fricative [z], THEN there is a voiceless alveolar sibilant fricative [s]. | phonology | implication | fricative, sibilant, alveolar, voice |
| 1808 | IF there is a long high back rounded vowel [u:], THEN there is a long high front unrounded vowel [i:]. | phonology | implication | vowel, length, height, back, front, roundedness |
| 1809 | IF there is a voiced dental-alveolar sibilant fricative, THEN there is a voiceless dental-alveolar sibilant fricative. | phonology | implication | fricative, sibilant, dental-alveolar, voice |
| 1810 | IF there is a voiced labial-velar stop, THEN there is a voiceless labiodental fricative. | phonology | implication | fricative, stop, labial-velar, labiodental, voice |
| 1811 | IF there is a prenasalized voiced alveolar stop, THEN there is a prenasalized voiced bilabial stop. | phonology | implication | stop, bilabial, alveolar, voice, prenasalized |
| 1812 | IF there is a voiceless dental-alveolar ejective stop, THEN there is a voiceless velar ejective stop. | phonology | implication | stop, dental-alveolar, velar, voice, ejective |
| 1813 | IF there is a voiced alveolar implosive, THEN there is a voiced bilabial implosive. | phonology | implication | implosive, bilabial, alveolar, voice |
| 1814 | IF there is a voiced palatal stop, THEN there is a voiced bilabial stop. | phonology | implication | stop, palatal, bilabial, voice |
| 1815 | IF there are uvular stops, THEN there are velar stops. | phonology | implication | stop, velar, uvular |
| 1816 | IF there is a voiceless dental-alveolar ejective stop, THEN there is a voiced dental-alveolar nasal. | phonology | implication | stop, nasal, dental-alveolar, ejective, voice |
| 1817 | IF there is a voiceless dental-alveolar sibilant ejective affricate, THEN there is a voiceless velar ejective stop. | phonology | implication | stop, affricate, dental-alveolar, velar, ejective, sibilant, voice |
| 1818 | IF there is a nasalized high back rounded vowel, THEN there is a high back rounded vowel. | phonology | implication | vowel, nasal, high, back, round |
| 1819 | IF there is a labialized voiceless uvular fricative, THEN there is a also voiceless uvular fricative. | phonology | implication | fricative, labial, uvular, voice |
| 1820 | IF there is a voiceless dental-alveolar sibilant ejective affricate, THEN there is a voiceless dental-alveolar sibilant fricative. | phonology | implication | fricative, dental-alveolar, sibilant, ejective, affricate, voice |
| 1821 | IF there is a voiceless dental-alveolar sibilant ejective affricate, THEN there is a voiced dental-alveolar nasal. | phonology | implication | affricate, nasal, dental-alveolar, sibilant, ejective, voice |
| 1822 | IF there is a labialized voiceless uvular ejective stop, THEN there is a labialized voiceless uvular fricative. | phonology | implication | stop, fricative, labial, uvular, ejective, voice |
| 1823 | IF there is a labialized voiceless uvular stop, THEN there is a voiceless uvular stop. | phonology | implication | stop, labial, uvular, voice |
| 1824 | IF there is a labialized voiceless uvular ejective stop, THEN there is a labialized voiceless velar ejective stop. | phonology | implication | stop, labial, uvular, velar, ejective, voice |
| 1825 | IF there is a labialized voiceless uvular stop, THEN there is a labialized voiceless velar stop. | phonology | implication | stop, labial, uvular, velar, voice |
| 1826 | IF there is a labialized voiceless uvular ejective stop, THEN there is a labialized voiceless velar fricative. | phonology | implication | stop, fricative, labial, uvular, velar, ejective, voice |
| 1827 | IF there is a labialized voiceless uvular ejective stop, THEN there is a voiceless uvular fricative. | phonology | implication | stop, fricative, labial, uvular, ejective, voice |