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 40 of 41
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Within lexical morphemes of the shape C1VC2V, the sonority of C1 tends to be less than that of C2, with C1 tending to be an obstruent and C2 a sonorant. | phonology | unconditional | phonotactics, sonority, word |
| 1969 | For both stems and consonant clusters, IF less sonorant consonant combinations are permissible, THEN the corresponding more sonorant consonant combinations are also permissible: CVC > CVS > CV CC > CS > C |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | phonotactics, sonority, stem, consonant cluster |
| 1970 | IF clusters of n Cs are possible syllable-initially, THEN clusters of n-1 Cs are also possible syllable-initially, and IF clusters of n Cs are possible syllable-finally, THEN clusters of n-1 Cs are also possible syllable-finally. | phonology | implication | phonotactics, syllable, consonant cluster, complexity |
| 1971 | The Compensatory Principle: The co-occurrence patterns of hetero-organic consonants across a vowel are such that if the first consonant is more sonorous than the second according to laryngeal specification, then the second consonant will be more sonorous according to place of articulation; if the first consonant is more sonorous than the second according to place of articulation, then the second will be more sonorous according to laryngeal specification. |
phonology | implication | phonotactics, consonant, sonority |
| 1972 | Every language has at least one set of forms or constructions whose primary function (or one of several major functions) is to denote existence, generally with respect to location in space or time, but in the limiting case existence apart from specific location. In other words, every language has an existential element such as a verb or particle, and the denotation of existence is never merely a marginal function of something else. | syntax, semantics | unconditional | verb, particle, existence |
| 1973 | Every language has at least one set of forms or constructions whose primary function (or one of several major functions) is to denote copulative relationships (e.g., identity, equivalence, class membership, class inclusion, attribution of property). In other words, every language has at least one copula or copula constructions, even if this is a zero of some kind which clearly contrasts with other elements commutable with it. | syntax, semantics | unconditional | verb, copula, zero |
| 1974 | In a given language the grammatical categories of the verb (e.g., person, voice, mood, tense, negation) may be carried to a greater or lesser extent by auxiliary verbs or particles which co-occur with the verb. In an extreme case these categories may be carried by a dummy morph which has no apparent lexical meaning at all. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | verb, inflection, auxiliary |
| 1975 | There is a tendency for the existential, copulative, and verb-category carrying dummy elements of a language (a) synchronically to interpenetrate in complex patterns of suppletion, semantic overlapping, and partial homonymy, and (b) diachronically to merge, split, and otherwise restructure among themselves. | inflection, syntax, semantics | unconditional | verb, existence, copula, auxiliary, suppletion, homonymy |
| 1976 | There are severe limitations on the kinds of synchronic patterns and diachronic restructurings which may occur in existential-copulative-auxiliary systems, and such patterns and changes are related to syntactic characteristics of a very general typological nature. In other words, a particular pattern of constructions of 'being' tends to reflect the general syntactic character of the language, and changes in the pattern tend to form part of general typological shifts. | inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | verb, existence, copula, auxiliary |
| 1977 | Tenseless or present-tense copulative expressions connecting nouns are more likely to vary diachronically between zero and overt morphemic marking than other copulative expressions or existential or auxiliary expressions. On the one hand, the N1 is N2 construction is the most likely place for optional omission and eventual full deletion, and, on the other hand, when the language has a zero copula, this same construction is the most likely place for the appearance of a new copulative marker. | inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | |
| 1978 | An existential or copulative element tends to be omitted more often in a construction which involves a full predication such as a noun complement, a locative complement, or a clausal subject than otherwise. | syntax | implication | verb, existence, copula, zero |
| 1979 | A grammatical element is less likely to be omitted the greater the ambiguity which would result from its omission. | syntax, semantics | implication | ellipsis, ambiguity |
| 1980 | Existential verbs of indefinite subjects tend toward clause-initial position. | syntax, semantics | unconditional | verb, existence, definiteness, subject, order |
| 1981 | When a language with a full copula begins to lose it, or when a language with a zero copula begins to develop one, the use in which the change is initiated is that of identity or equivalence with a noun complement. | syntax | implication | copula, zero |
| 1982 | When a language with zero copula inserts a pro-copula it does so between the subject and complement regardless of the normal position of verbs in the language. | syntax | unconditional | copula, zero, order, verb |
| 1983 | In a language with optional omission of a copula (under the conditions of <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1981"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">), there is a tendency for the optional copula to appear between the subject and complement regardless of its position in constructions where it may not be omitted. | syntax | unconditional | copula, zero, order |
| 1984 | IF basic order is OV, THEN a frequently-used kind of subordinate clause is one with conjunctive verb forms. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, OV, subordination, conjunctive, |
| 1985 | IF basic order is OV, THEN there are compound verbs involving preverbs plus auxiliary. | syntax | implication | order, OV, compound verb, auxiliary, preverb |
| 1986 | IF basic order is OV, THEN sequences of events of the 'go, do, and return' type are expressed as 'having done, return'. IF basic order is VO, THEN sequences of events of the 'go, do, and return' type are expressed as 'go and do'. |
syntax | implication | order, OV, VO, clause combining, subordination, coordination |
| 1987 | IF basic order is OV, THEN plural marking on nouns is optional, and is avoided in particular when nouns are accompanied by numerals. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, OV, plural, numeral |
| 1988 | (i) IF subordinate clauses precede their main clauses, THEN quotations precede the quoting verb. (ii) IF there are conjunctive verb forms, THEN the conjunctive of a verb 'to say' is used as a quotation marker following after the quote. |
syntax | implication | order, subordination, speech reporting, quotative, verb, conjunctive |
| 1989 | IF the lexical items for existential or copulative function form a word class of their own, THEN its negative will be distinct from other negatives. | syntax | implication | word class, verb, copula, existence, negation |
| 1990 | IF the lexical items for existential or copulative function are lexically separate in the present tense, THEN they share a single past tense. | syntax | implication | verb, existence, copula, tense, present, past |
| 1991 | The negative of past tense forms of the lexical items for existential and copulative function tends to be more regular in formation than the present-tense negative. | inflection, syntax | implication | verb, existence, copula, negation, tense, past, present |
| 1992 | IF the lexical items for existential and copulative function are separate, and they are in a suppletive relation with verbs meaning 'become' and 'stay', then 'become' will be related to the copula and 'stay' to the existential verb. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | verb, existence, copula, suppletion |
| 1993 | In an SOV language with the lexical items for existential and copulative function separate, the Ex tends to be used as an auxiliary combining with the conjunctive to form 'present state' tenses of perfect or present continuous value; as such it tends to change from an independent following auxiliary to a tense-forming suffix. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | order, SOV, verb, existence, copula, auxiliary, conjunctive, tense, aspect, present, perfect, continuous, suffix |
| 1994 | The lexical meaning of adjectives is historically more stable than that of nouns, since it is simpler (simple property concepts vs. names for property bundles). On the other hand, adjectives become more easily obsolete than nouns and their diachronic turnover is faster than that of nouns, since when there is not much meaning in the first place its bleaching is tantamount to loss. Adjectives are more easily borrowed than nouns, since their meanings are simpler and easier to grasp. |
lexicon | implication | word class, adjective, noun, borrowing |
| 1995 | When gender distinctions are being neutralized in pronominal or other relevant paradigms by way of morphological replacement, non-human or neuter forms win out, replacing human/non-neuter forms, rather than vice versa. | inflection | unconditional | gender, neuter, animacy, markedness, neutralization |
| 1996 | IF there is a gender system, THEN the domain of animate nouns is further differentiated; IF there is a system of noun classification, THEN the domain of inanimate nouns is further differentiated. |
inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | gender, noun class, animacy |
| 1997 | It is more natural for a two-term gender distinction in the plural, human vs. non-human, to come about, through semantic reanalysis, from the two-term distinction human male vs. other than the other way round. | inflection, syntax, semantics | target < source | gender, animacy, human, masculine, feminine |
| 1998 | IF there are gender-number-person contrasts on the predicate agreeing in these categories with the subject, THEN there are the same contrasts on subject pronouns. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, verb, gender, number, person, pronoun |
| 1999 | IF a bound form is morphologically replaced through analogical levelling or otherwise, THEN the corresponding free form is also replaced, or has already been replaced. | inflection, syntax | implication | free form, bound form, analogy, levelling |
| 2000 | All grammars leak. | phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, etc. | unconditional | analogy, iconicity, economy, plumbing |
| 2001 | Some semantic criteria never define a gender completely. For example, there is never a gender exclusively for the names of languages. | inflection | unconditional | gender |
| 2002 | Gender cannot be assigned on the basis of syntactic properties of nouns (such as, e.g., that of taking prepositional complements). | inflection, syntax | unconditional | gender, gender assignment |
| 2003 | When gender is assigned according to morphological properties of nouns (such as declension class, or other inflectional or derivational categories) or to phonological properties of nouns, this is always secondary, being limited to residues of semantic assignment or being overruled by semantic assignment rules. | phonology, morphology | unconditional | gender, gender assignment, declension |
| 2004 | IF there is a gender distinction in any pronoun other than 3rd person, THEN there will be a gender distinction (the same?) in 3rd person. | inflection | implication | pronoun, person, gender |
| 2005 | The higher the (simple) cardinal numerals, the unlikelier they are to agree in gender. | inflection, syntax | implication | numeral, agreement, gender |
| 2006 | IF an agreement target can agree [in gender, number, or whatever], THEN typically it must agree, even if the agreement controller lacks the appropriate features. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, gender, number |
| 2007 | IF infinitive phrases are non-prototypical controllers of agreement in gender and number, requiring neutral agreement forms, THEN so are clauses. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, gender, number, infinitive, clause |
| 2008 | The Agreement Hierarchy:attributive < predicate < relative pronoun < personal pronoun(i) Possible agreement pattern are constrained as follows: As we move rightwards along the hierarchy, the likelihood of semantic agreement [in gender or number] [with hybrid nouns] will increase monotonically (that is, with no intervening decrease).(ii) Whenever, in a given position on the Agreement Hierarchy there is a difference between the agreements found in the nominative and in the oblique cases, the likelihood of semantic agreement in the nominative will be as high as or higher than the likelihood of semantic agreement in the oblique cases.(iii) When stacked targets of a given controller stand in different agreement forms, the further target will show semantic agreement.(iv) If parallel targets show different agreement forms, then the further target will show semantic agreement.(v) For any particular target type, the further it is removed from its controller, the greater the likelihood of semantic agreement. | inflection, syntax, semantics | implicational hierarchy | agreement, gender, number, case, nominative, oblique |
| 2009 | When gender agreement is in decline, IF target words other than personal pronouns continue to agree in gender, THEN personal pronouns also continue to agree in gender. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, gender, personal pronoun |
| 2010 | In agreement with conjoined NPs and person resolution is required, when the conjuncts include a 1st person, 1st person agreement forms will be used; otherwise, when the conjuncts include a 2nd person, 2nd person agreement forms will be used; otherwise, 3rd person agreement forms (the default) are used. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | agreement, coordination, resolution rules, person, person hierarchy, 1, 2, 3 |
| 2011 | The type of gender resolution system found is constrained by the [gender] assignment system of the language. Languages with strict semantic assignment systems [...] have semantic resolution systems, as do those with predominantly semantic systems [...]. Languages with formal assignment systems may have semantic resolution [...], syntactic (=formal) resolution [...], or mixed resolution [...]. Informally speaking, gender resolution may be "more semantic" but not "less semantic" than gender assignment. | inflection, syntax, semantics | implication | agreement, coordination, resolution rules, gender |
| 2012 | When vowel length is contrastive, pitch is the most important cue, intensity the second-most important cue, and duration the least important cue for word stress.When vowel length is not contrastive, duration is the most important cue for word stress.When there is contrastive tone, duration is the most important cue for word stress and pitch the least important. | prosodic phonology | unconditional | stress, pitch, vowel length, intensity, duration, tone |
| 2013 | If there is contrastive pitch accent, then there is a vocalic length contrast.If there is a vocalic length contrast, then there cannot also be contrastive dynamic (=stress) accent.If there is contrastive dynamic (=stress) accent, then there cannot also be contrastive vowel length.[i.e., and vice versa] | prosodic phonology | implication | pitch, stress, vowel length |
| 2014 | IF augmentatives/diminutives can be formed from Determiners, THEN they can also be formed from Adverbs, Numerals, Pronouns, or Interjections;IF from Adverbs, Numerals, Pronouns, or Interjections, THEN also from Adjectives or Verbs;IF from Adjectives or Verbs, THEN from Nouns. | word formation | implicational hierarchy | augmentative, diminutive, word class, noun, adjective, verb, adverb, numeral, pronoun, interjection, determiner |
| 2015 | IF the attributive noun (genitive, esp. when morphologically unmarked) precedes the head noun, THEN (i) nominal affixes (for case, number, gender/class) and adpositions are postposed (suffixes, postpositions), (ii) pronominal possessives precede the head noun, (iii) attributive adjectives precede the head noun, (iv) verbal affixes (person, number) and pronouns (for subject) precede the verb, (v) direct objects (accusative, esp. when morphologically unmarked) precede the verb. IF the attributive noun (genitive, esp. when morphologically unmarked) follows the head noun, THEN (i) nominal affixes (for case, number, gender/class) and adpositions are preposed (prefixes, prepositions), (ii) pronominal possessives follow the head noun, (iii) attributive adjectives follow the head noun, (iv) verbal affixes (person, number) and pronouns (for subject) follow the verb, (v) direct objects (accusative, esp. when morphologically unmarked) follow the verb. |
syntax, culture/mind | implication | order, attribution, possessive, genitive, object, adjective |
| 2016 | Overall Dependency Hierarchy between Grammatical Systems: 1. Polarity (I) 2. Tense; Aspect; Evidentiality (II) 3. { Person; Reference classification (gender etc.) (III) 4. { Number (III) } 5. Case (IV) } This basically indicates that a grammatical system may be dependent on any system above it in the hierarchy. The lower system may have a different set of choices available according to which term is chosen from the higher system. The braces indicate mutual dependencies (i) between person and reference classification, and number; and (ii) between number and case. Further expectations: 1. Mood should not be dependent on aspect, number, or case; mood should not be dependent on polarity, nor vice versa. 2. Definiteness is probably to be added quite low in the hierarchy, just above Case and below Number, or at the same level as Case or Number (Definiteness may depend on Number, and vice versa; Definiteness may depend on number, and vice versa). |
inflection | implicational hierarchy | polarity, tense, aspect, evidentiality, person, gender, number, case, neutralization, syncretism |
| 2017 | When a system does show functional markedness it is generally the case that (i) when the number of choices in the system is reduced, in a particular context, the unmarked term will always be retained, and will have its semantic scope extended; and (ii) if the choices in system X depend on that made in system Y, we will always expect more choices in X to be associated with the unmarked than with the marked terms from Y.Markedness distributions:Polarity: positive is functionally and almost always formally unmarked, and negative marked;Number: singular is almost always functionally and often also formally unmarked;Person: if any person, then 3rd;Tense, Aspect: often no unmarked term, or crosslinguistically variable;Case: generally case that covers intransitive subject function is unmarked, but sometimes also accusative;Reference classification: often masculine unmarked, sometimes feminine. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | markedness, polarity, tense, aspect, evidentiality, person, gender, number, case |