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 32 of 34
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1828 | IF there is a labialized voiceless uvular ejective stop, THEN there is a voiceless uvular ejective stop. | phonology | implication | stop, uvular, ejective, labial, voice |
| 1829 | IF there is a voiced pharyngeal fricative, THEN there is a voiceless pharyngeal fricative. | phonology | implication | fricative, pharyngeal, voice |
| 1830 | IF there is a nasalized high back rounded vowel, THEN there is a high front unrounded vowel. | phonology | implication | vowel, nasal, high, front round |
| 1831 | IF basic word order is SOV, THEN modifiers tend to come before nouns, most likely in nominalizations and with continuously decreasing likelihood with possessives, with relative clauses, and with attributive adjectives. | syntax | implication | order, SOV, verb, subject, object, nominalization, noun, modifier, possessive, adjective, relative clause |
| 1832 | IF a relative clause or adjective precedes the noun, THEN possessives also precede the noun. | syntax | implication | order, noun, modifier, possessive, adjective, relative clause |
| 1833 | IF there is a prenasalized labialized voiced velar stop, THEN there is also a prenasalized voiced velar stop. | phonology | implication | stop, velar, labial, prenasalized, voice |
| 1834 | IF there is a prenasalized labialized voiced velar stop, THEN there is also a prenasalized voiced bilabial stop. | phonology | implication | stop, velar, bilabial, labial, prenasalized, voice |
| 1835 | IF there is a laryngealized voiced palatal approximant, THEN there is also a glottal stop. | phonology | implication | stop, approximant, palatal, glottal, laryngeal, voice |
| 1836 | IF there is a laryngealized voiced labial-velar approximant, THEN there is also a glottal stop. | phonology | implication | stop, approximant, labial-velar, glottal, laryngeal, voice |
| 1837 | IF there is a breathy voiced bilabial stop, THEN there is also a breathy voiced velar stop. | phonology | implication | stop, bilabial, velar, breathy, voice |
| 1838 | IF there is a voiceless palatal approximant, THEN there is also a voiceless labial-velar approximant. | phonology | implication | approximant, palatal, labial-velar, voice |
| 1839 | IF there is a voiceless dental-alveolar nasal, THEN there is also a voiceless bilabial nasal. | phonology | implication | nasal, dental-alveolar, bilabial, voice |
| 1840 | IF there is a voiceless velar nasal, THEN there is also a voiceless bilabial nasal. | phonology | implication | nasal, velar, bilabial, voice |
| 1841 | IF there is a voiceless alveolar lateral ejective affricate, THEN there is also a voiceless alveolar sibilant ejective affricate. | phonology | implication | affricate, lateral, alveolar, sibilant, ejective, voice |
| 1842 | IF there is a voiced palatal affricate, THEN there is also a voiceless palatal affricate. | phonology | implication | affricate, palatal, voice |
| 1843 | IF there is a breathy voiced velar stop, THEN there is also a voiceless aspirated velar stop. | phonology | implication | stop, velar, breathy voice, aspirated |
| 1844 | IF there is a voiceless palatal nasal, THEN there is also a voiceless bilabial nasal. | phonology | implication | nasal, palatal, bilabial, voice |
| 1845 | IF there is a long raised low front unrounded vowel, THEN there is also a long high back rounded vowel. | phonology | implication | vowel, round, high, low, long |
| 1846 | IF there is a palatalized voiceless dental-alveolar stop, THEN there is also a voiceless dental-alveolar stop. | phonology | implication | stop, dental-alveolar, palatalized, voice |
| 1847 | IF there is a long raised low front unrounded vowel, THEN there is also a long high front unrounded vowel. | phonology | implication | vowel, unrounded, low, high, front |
| 1848 | IF there is a long nasalized high front unrounded vowel, THEN there is also a long high front unrounded vowel. | phonology | implication | vowel, unrounded, high, front, nasalized |
| 1849 | IF there is a breathy voice bilabial stop, THEN there is also a voiceless aspirated bilabial stop. | phonology | implication | stop, bilabial, aspirated, breathy voice |
| 1850 | IF there is a breathy voice bilabial stop, THEN there is also a voiceless aspirated velar stop. | phonology | implication | stop, bilabial, velar, aspirated, breathy voice |
| 1851 | IF there is a voiced dental trill, THEN there is also a voiceless dental stop. | phonology | implication | stop, trill, dental, voice |
| 1852 | IF there is a breathy voice palato-alveolar sibilant affricate, THEN there is also a breathy voice velar stop. | phonology | implication | stop, affricate, palato-alveolar, velar, sibilant, breathy voice |
| 1853 | IF there is a laryngealized voiced alveolar stop, THEN there is also a laryngealized voiced bilabial stop. | phonology | implication | stop, alveolar, bilabial, laryngealized, voice |
| 1854 | IF there is laryngealized a voiced palatal approximant, THEN there is also the voiceless glottal fricative. | phonology | implication | approximant, fricative, palatal, glottal, laryngealized, voice |
| 1855 | Vowels tend to be lower preceding non-laterals (trills or flaps) than preceding other consonants. |
phonology | implication | consonant, liquid, nonlateral, trill, flap, vowel, phonotactics |
| 1856 | Vowels tend to be lower in the environment of a velarized lateral than in other environments. |
phonology | implication | consonant, liquid, lateral, velarization, vowel, phonotactics |
| 1857 | When a vowel is adjacent to a nonlateral, it will be centralized or backed. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | liquid, nonlateral, centralization, back, vowel |
| 1858 | When a vowel is adjacent to a lateral, it will be fronted. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | liquid, lateral, front, vowel |
| 1859 | Languages tend to have laterals after grave consonants and nonlaterals after acute. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | liquid, lateral, acute, grave, consonant, vowel |
| 1866 | IF nasalization and nasal deletion occur in the context of high vowels, THEN it will have already occurred in the context of mid vowels. IF nasalization and nasal deletion occur in the context of mid vowels, THEN it will have already occurred in the context of low vowels. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | nasalization, nasal deletion, vowel, low, high, mid |
| 1867 | IF there is a acute/grave opposition of compact nasal consonants, THEN there is an identical opposition of compact oral stops. | phonology | implication | consonant, nasal, oral, compact, acute, grave |
| 1868 | IF reduplication is used for grammatical purposes in any other word class, THEN it is also used (for whatever purpose: gradation, superlative, intensification, distributivity, diminution, ...) for adjectives or adjective-derived nouns [perhaps rather: property words]. |
word formation | implication | reduplication, word class, adjective |
| 1876 | IF there is a 1st person exclusive dual, THEN there is also a 1st person inclusive dual. | morphology | implication | inclusive, exclusive, person, 1, number, dual |
| 1878 | In the coding of subordination vis-a-vis that of non-subordinate clauses: (a) If there is elimination of Aspect, then there is elimination of Tense and Mood. (b) If there is elimination of agreement, then there is elimination of Tense, Aspect, or Mood. (c) If there is case/adposition marking, then there is elimination of Tense, Aspect, or Mood. (d) If there is possessor/oblique coding, the there is elimination of Tense, Aspect, Mood or Agreement. |
syntax, inflection | implication | clause combining, subordination, tense, aspect, mood, agreement, case, adposition, possessor, oblique |
| 1880 | Frequency hierarchy for the coding of subordination vis-a-vis that of non-subordinate clauses: elimination of tense/aspect/mood >> elimination of agreement distinctions, omission of verb arguments >> case/adposition marking on the verb >> coding of verb arguments as possessor or obliques. |
inflection, syntax | implicational hierarchy | clause combining, subordination, tense, aspect, mood, agreement, case, adposition, possessor, oblique |
| 1881 | In the coding of subordination vis-a-vis that of non-subordinate clauses, IF there is loss of subject-verb agreement and non-direct (but possessive/oblique) case marking of the subordinate subject, THEN there is loss of tense/aspect/mood, but not vice versa |
syntax, inflection | implication | clause combining, subordination, tense, aspect, mood, agreement, case, adposition, possessor, oblique |
| 1883 | IF a verbal form inflects for tense-aspect-modality (TAM) like a predicated verb, THEN it will take subject and object dependents like a predicated verb. IF a verbal form takes a subject dependent like a predicated verb, THEN it will take an object dependent like a predicated verb. |
inflection, syntax | implication | deverbalization hierarchy, predicated verb, tense, aspect, mood, sunject, object |
| 1884 | IF there is an expletive subject, THEN there is some definite argument elsewhere in the clause. | syntax | implication | clause, expletive subject, definite argument |
| 1885 | When there are different tense categories and there is a split between 1st versus 2nd/3rd person in one of these categories, IF such a split occurs in tenses other than future, THEN it will also occur in the future. | inflection, syntax | implication | person, 1, 2, 3, split, tense, future, present, past |
| 1886 | IF there is a split between 1st versus 2nd/3rd person in the past, THEN there is such a split this split in the future too. | inflection, syntax | implication | person, 1, 2, 3, split, tense, future, past |
| 1887 | IF there is a split between 1st versus 2nd/3rd person marking in modal categories, THEN it is more likely to occur in: (a) optative than in indicative; (b) irrealis than realis; (c) volitional than involitional modality . |
inflection, syntax | implication | person, 1, 2, 3, split, mood, optative, indicative, irrealis, relais, volitional, involitional |
| 1888 | IF there is a split between 1st and 2nd person versus 3rd person marking, THEN it is more likely with a verb marked for direct or sensory evidence than verbs marked for indirect evidence, e.g. the widespread hearsay category. | inflection, syntax | implication | person, 1, 2, 3, split, evidentiality |
| 1889 | IF there is a split between 1st and 2nd person versus 3rd person marking, THEN this split is more likely with the verbal category assertive than with the category non-assertive. | inflection, syntax | implication | person, 1, 2, 3, split, assertive |
| 1890 | IF Object of Comparison can be clefted, THEN Genitive NP can be clefted as well. IF Genitive NP can be clefted, THEN Oblique NP can be clefted as well. IF Oblique NP can be clefted, THEN Indirect Object can be clefted as well. IF Indirect Object can be clefted, THEN Direct Object can be clefted as well. IF Direct Object can be clefted, THEN Subject can be clefted as well. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | cleft, subject, direct object, indirect, oblique, attributive, comparison |
| 1891 | The Cleftability Hierarchy: Subject > Direct Object > Indirect Object > Oblique NP > Genitive NP > Object of Comparison. Syntactic positions on the top of the cleftability hierarchy have more access to the deletion strategy and/or less access to the pronoun retention strategy. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | cleft, pronoun deletion, retention |
| 1892 | The Cleftability Hierarchy: Subject > Direct Object > Indirect Object > Oblique NP > Genitive NP > Object of Comparison. Syntactic positions on the top of the hierarchy can be clefted in a larger variety of sentences, or in more complex constructions than those on the bottom of the hierarchy. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | cleft, complexity |
| 1893 | IF there is an opposition of voice vs. voiceless and aspirate vs. non-aspirate, THEN there is a phoneme /h/. | phonology | implication | aspirate, voice, /h/ |