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 5 of 41
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 201 | IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is an independent morpheme, THEN it will not be inseparable from the head noun. IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is inseparable from the head noun, THEN it is an independent morpheme. |
inflection, syntax | implication | case, adposition, head noun |
| 202 | IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is an independent morpheme, THEN it will not express subject-object relations. IF a relational marker (case, adposition) expresses subject-object relations, THEN it will not be an independent morpheme. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | case, adposition, grammatical relations |
| 203 | IF a relational marker (case, adposition) participates in agreement, THEN it will not fail to express subject-object relations. IF a relational marker (case, adposition) fails to express subject-object relations, THEN it will not participates in agreement. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | case, adposition, agreement, grammatical relations |
| 204 | IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is an independent morpheme, THEN it will not fail to express concrete relations. IF a relational marker (case, adposition) fails to express concrete relations, THEN it will not be an independent morpheme. |
inflection, syntax | implication | case, adposition, local relations |
| 205 | IF a relational marker (case, adposition) does not express subject-object relations, THEN it will express local relations. IF it does not express local relations, THEN it will express subject-object relations. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | case, adposition, grammatical relations, local relations |
| 206 | IF alignment is ergative, THEN there will be an opposition of ergative and absolutive series of personal affixes in verb inflection and an opposition of an ergative and an absolutive case in noun inflection, similar to each other in their function. | inflection, syntax | implication | alignment, ergative, case, absolutive, person, verb |
| 207 | IF basic order is VO, THEN syllable structure is complex (permitting initial and final consonant clusters). | phonology, syntax | implication | order, VO, syllable, complexity |
| 208 | IF basic order is OV, THEN there will be pitch accent. IF basic order is VO, THEN there will be stress accent, accompanied by reduction of unstressed vowels. |
phonology, syntax | implication | order, VO, OV, pitch accent, stress, vowel reduction |
| 209 | IF there is an opposition of two vowels of the same aperture, THEN there is a corresponding vocalic opposition of a narrower degree of aperture. | phonology | implication | vowel, degree of aperture, narrow |
| 210 | IF there is no differentiation of unrounded vowels according to degree of aperture, THEN there is no such a difference for the rounded vowels. | phonology | implication | rounded, unrounded, vowel, degree of aperture |
| 211 | IF alignment is accusative, THEN there will be a single “subject” series of personal affixes in verb inflection and an opposition of a nominative and an accusative case in noun inflection. | inflection, syntax | implication | alignment, accusative, verb, person, subject, case, accusative, nominative |
| 212 | IF there is a vocalic opposition, THEN there is a consonantal opposition. | phonology | implication | vocalic, consonantal, opposition |
| 213 | IF there is a derived-case comparative, THEN clause-combining is balancing. | inflection, syntax | implication | comparative, case, clause-combining, balancing |
| 214 | IF there is a fixed-case comparative, THEN clause-combining is deranking. | inflection, syntax | implication | comparative, case, clause-combining, deranking |
| 215 | IF there is noun-genitive order in the possessive construction, THEN there is quantitative-noun order in the partitive construction. | syntax | implication | order, noun, attributive, quantitative, partitive construction |
| 216 | IF alignment is active, THEN there will be an opposition of an active and inactive series of personal affixes in verb inflection and an opposition of an active and an inactive case in noun inflection, similar to each other in their function. | inflection, syntax | implication | alignment, active, verb, person, case, active, inactive |
| 217 | IF one of the elements of the hierarchy takes ergative case-marking, THEN all units to its right also take ergative case-marking as well; and IF one of the units takes accusative case-marking, THEN all units to its left also take accusative case-marking. | inflection, syntax | implicational hierarchy | alignment, case, ergative, accusative, pronoun, noun, NP hierarchy |
| 218 | IF there are mellow fricatives, THEN there are corresponding strident fricatives. | phonology | implication | mellow, strident, fricative |
| 219 | Provided there are non-root as well as root morphemes, non-root morphemes have a more limited inventory of phonemes than root-morphemes and are on average shorter than root-morphemes. | phonology, morphology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | morpheme, root, non-root, phoneme inventory, length |
| 220 | IF there are converbs with the fundamental meaning of succession, THEN there are converbs with the fundamental meaning of precedence. IF there are converbs with the fundamental meaning of precedence, THEN there are converbs with the fundamental meaning of simultaneity. |
syntax, semantics | implication | converb |
| 221 | Every free root morpheme (in contrast to non-root morphemes) is expressed with more than one consonant phoneme. | phonology, morphology | unconditional | root, non-root, phoneme, consonant |
| 222 | IF there is a distributive-key quantifier word, THEN that word is a distributive-key universal quantifier. |
lexicon | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | quantifier, distributive |
| 223 | IF there are phonemic alternations in root morphemes, THEN there are [the same?] phonemic alternations in non-root morphemes as well. | phonology, morphology | implication | root, non-root, alternation |
| 224 | IF there is an opposition labials vs. dentals, THEN there is an opposition of nasal vs. oral stops as well. | phonology | implication | labials, dentals, nasal, oral, stop |
| 225 | IF alignment is active, THEN there is no case inflection. IF alignment is ergative, THEN there are ergative, absolutive, (and locative) cases. IF alignment is accusative, THEN there are nominative, accusative, (genitive, dative, instrumental, and locative) cases. |
inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | alignment, active, ergative, accusative, case, locative, nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental |
| 226 | IF clause structure is of the class type, THEN there is no case inflection. IF alignment is predominantly active, THEN there is either no case inflection or cases encode active and inactive participation rather than subject and object. IF alignment is predominantly ergative, THEN case marking non-distinctively expresses subject and object relations. IF alignment is predominantly nominative [i.e., ergative], THEN cases distinctively express subject and object. |
inflection, syntax | implication | alignment, class, active, ergative, accusative, subject, object, case |
| 227 | If there are only affixes which derive causatives form intransitive verbs, THEN these affixes will not have a permissive meaning. | morphology, semantics | implication | causative, transitivity, permissive |
| 228 | IF nouns inflect for case, THEN verbs inflect for some inflectional category. | inflection | implication | noun, case, verb |
| 229 | IF nominals inflect for number, THEN they also inflect for case. | inflection | implication | noun, number, case |
| 230 | IF constituent order is rigid, THEN cases are absent, and vice versa; If cases are absent, THEN the use of prepositions is extensive, and vice versa; IF order is rigid, THEN the use of prepositions is extensive, and vice versa. IF constituent order is flexible, THEN cases are present, and vice versa; IF cases are present, THEN the use of prepositions is sparse, and vice versa; IF order is flexible, THEN the use of prepositions is sparse, and vice versa. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | order, case, preposition |
| 231 | IF constituent order is rigid (or if there is no case inflection), THEN the gradation of adjectives is expressed by function words; IF constituent order is flexible (or if there is case inflection), THEN the gradation of adjectives is expressed inflectionally. |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, case, adjective, comparison, inflection, function word |
| 232 | IF constituent order is rigid and there is no case inflection, THEN there is a definite article, but not vice versa. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, case, definite article |
| 233 | Governors either follow or they precede their governees in all of the following constructions alike: (a) subject, object, and verb, (b) nominal attribute and head noun, (c) adjectival attribute and head noun, (d) adposition and noun phrase, (e) particle (especially conjunctions and interrogative words) and clause, (f) subject and verb in interrogative clauses, (g) indirect object, direct object, and subject, (h) core and circumstantial actants. |
syntax | mutual implication | order, subject, direct object, indirect object, verb, nominal attribute, adjectival, head noun, adposition, NP, particle, conjunction, interrogative word, clause, interrogative clause, core, circumstantial actant |
| 234 | In times of inflectional expansion, IF there is number inflection, THEN there is also case inflection; and IF there is case inflection, THEN there is also gender inflection. In times of inflectional reduction, IF there is gender inflection, THEN there is also case inflection; and IF there is gender inflection, THEN there is also number inflection. |
inflection | implication | number, case, gender |
| 235 | In phases of inflectional reduction and expansion of the fund of function words, IF there are numerals and/or quantifiers, THEN there are also prepositions; IF there are prepositions, THEN there are also adjectives; and IF there are adjectives, THEN there are also nouns and (personal) verbs. | syntax | implication | word class, numeral, quantifier, preposition, adjective, noun, verb |
| 236 | During inflectional expansion, IF there are cases marking subject, object, and attribute, THEN there are also local and other adverbial cases. During inflectional reduction, IF there are local and other adverbial cases, THEN there are also subject, object, and attributive cases. |
inflection | implication | case, subject, object, attributive, local, adverbial |
| 237 | IF adjectives inflect for any category, THEN nouns inflect for this category as well. | inflection | implication | adjective, noun, inflection |
| 238 | IF constituent order is rigid, THEN all determined constituents precede their respective determining constituents; in particular, subjects precede their predicates, verbs their complements (objects, prepositional phrases), prepositions their complements (noun phrases), head nouns their attributive adjectives, relative clauses, and complements (prepositional phrases). | syntax | implication | order, subject, predicate, verb, complement, object, PP, preposition, NP, head noun, attributive adjective, relative clause |
| 239 | IF constituent order is free, THEN all potentially declinable kinds of nominal words in relationships of determination — nouns, pronouns, adjectives (including articles) — are declined at least for case, the cardinal relational category, but presumably for number and gender as well. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, noun, pronoun, adjective, article, case, number, gender |
| 240 | IF there is ergative case marking, THEN with far more than chance frequency there is divergent ordering of genitive and adjective attributes, with genitives preceding and with adjectives following their head nouns; IF there is divergent genitive and adjective ordering, THEN supposedly with somewhat lower frequency, there is ergative case marking. |
inflection, syntax | implication | ergative case, order, attributive, adjective, noun |
| 241 | IF there is segmental relation marking, THEN word order is free, and vice versa. IF there is no segmental relation marking, THEN word order is rigid, and vice versa. |
inflection, syntax | mutual implication | inflection, order |
| 242 | During inflectional expansion, IF there is a plural, THEN there is also a dual. During inflectional reduction, IF there is a dual, THEN there is also a plural. |
inflection | implication | number, plural, dual |
| 243 | IF verbs inflect for dual number, THEN nouns inflect for dual number as well. | inflection | implication | number, dual, noun, verb |
| 244 | Inflectional systems either have all three of the following properties or none of them: (i) inflectional exponents are intimately joined to the units inflected; (ii) inflectional exponents vary with classes of units to be inflected (i.e. there are coexisting inflection classes); (iii) inflections express several categories cumulatively; (iv) inflectional exponents neutralize some paradigmatic distinctions. | inflection | mutual implication | inflection class, cumulation, syncretism, fusion |
| 245 | IF constituent order is free without limits, THEN nominal words are inflected, but not vice versa; IF constituent order is rigid without inversions, THEN there is no nominal inflection, but not vice versa. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, noun |
| 246 | IF constituent order is free, THEN words tend to be longer. | morphology, syntax | implication | word length, order |
| 247 | IF there is an accusative case distinct from the nominative, THEN there is a category of gender. | inflection, syntax | implication | gender, case, accusative, nominative |
| 248 | IF there is an Adverb as a distinct word class, THEN there are also Adjectives, Nouns, and Verbs. IF there are Adjectives, THEN there are also Nouns and Verbs. IF there are Nouns, THEN there are also Verbs. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | word class, verb, noun, adjective, adverb |
| 249 | Predicate hierarchy 1A: non-presentative ascriptive predications (Xi)loc > A > N > (Xi)poss. This hierarchy says that if a predication type at a certain point in the hierarchy is predicable in that language, then all predication types preceding it in the hierarchy are also predicable in that language. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | word class, predicate, possessive, noun, adjective, locative |
| 250 | IF parts-of-speech classification is truly flexible, THEN all classes of predicates can be used predicatively. | inflection, syntax | implication | word class, flexible, predicate, possessive |