Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
827 entries · page 7 of 17
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 934 | IF there is syllabic laryngeal h§§, THEN there are syllabic fricatives. | phonology | implication | laryngeal, fricative, syllabic, consonant |
| 935 | IF there are voiceless syllabic stops, THEN there are voiced syllabic stops. | phonology | implication | voice, stop, syllabic, consonant |
| 936 | If there is the syllabic laryngeal ֤ then there are syllabic obstruent stops. | phonology | implication | laryngeal, obstruent, syllabic, consonant |
| 937 | IF a vowel undergoes consonantalization, THEN it must be a high one. | phonology | implication | vowel, consonantalization, syllabic, consonant |
| 941 | Low vowels tend to be longer than high vowels, all things being equal. | phonology | unconditional | vowel, low, high, length |
| 950 | IF either inflectional morphology or derivational morphology is served by prosodic rules of stress shift, then typically either new phonological rules emerge or old phonological rules are put to new uses, or both. | phonology, word formation, inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | stress |
| 951 | When there is phonemic stress, the number of phonemic contrasts in stressed syllables will be greater than or equal to the number of phonemic contrasts in unstressed syllables. | phonology | unconditional | stress, phoneme, syllable |
| 958 | IF there are both dissolvable and non-dissolvable medial clusters, THEN the former will be significantly more frequent than the latter. | phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | phonotactics, consonant cluster |
| 959 | The presence of C1C2- makes -C2C1 as likely as or more likely than -C1C2. | phonology | unconditional | phonotactics, consonant cluster |
| 960 | When there is phonemic stress, IF there are n unstressed syllables flanking a stressed syllable, THEN there are n -1 unstressed syllables. | prosodic phonology | implication | stress, syllable |
| 962 | IF there is vowel harmony, THEN there is typically no vowel reduction, and vice versa. | phonology | mutual implication | vowel harmony, vowel reduction |
| 965 | Definite articles are often synchronically identical with or clearly related to demonstratives which are also in the overwhelming majority of cases derived from demonstratives historically. | lexicon | target < source | article, demonstrative, definite |
| 966 | IF the definite article is distinct from demonstratives and object follows verb, THEN the definite article precedes the noun. IF the definite article is distinct from demonstratives and object precedes verb, THEN the definite article follows the noun. |
syntax | implication | definite article, demonstrative, order, verb, object, noun |
| 968 | IF basic order is VO, THEN the article precedes the noun. IF basic order is OV, THEN the article follows the noun. |
syntax | implication | order, verb, object, article, noun |
| 969 | IF indefinite articles are quite distinct from the numeral ‘one’ and the object follows the verb, THEN they will precede the noun. IF indefinite articles are quite distinct from the numeral ‘one’ and the object precedes the verb, THEN they will follow the noun. |
syntax, lexicon | implication | order, verb, object, article, indefinite, numeral, noun |
| 970 | IF basic order order is OV, THEN plural words follow the noun. IF basic order order is VO, THEN plural words precede the noun. |
syntax | implication | order, verb, noun, plural word |
| 971 | IF there are plural words, THEN there is no inflectional morphology or morphology is head-marking. | inflection, syntax | implication | plural word, isolation, head-marking |
| 972 | IF one type of head-dependent construction will be either head-marked or dependent-marked, THEN other types of head-dependent constructions will equally be either head-marked or dependent-marked. | inflection, syntax | mutual implication | head-marking, dependent-marking |
| 973 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the number of synonymous morphemes (stems and affixes) is more likely to diminish than to increase. | morphology | unconditional | stem, affix, allomorphy, inflection class, synonymy, analogical change |
| 974 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, long morphemes (stems and affixes) or words are more likely to replace short or non-existent morphemes (stems and affixes) or words than the other way round. | morphology | unconditional | stem, affix, morpheme, word, length, analogical change |
| 975 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, short morphemes (stems and affixes) or words more likely cause a re-formation of long morphemes (stems and affixes) or words than the other way round. | morphology | unconditional | stem, affix, morpheme, word, length, analogical change |
| 976 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the forms (stems and affixes) of singular are more likely to be replaced than forms of other numbers. |
morphology | unconditional | stem, affix, number, singular, non-singular, analogical change |
| 977 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the forms (stems and affixes) of 3rd person are more likely to be replaced than forms of other persons. |
morphology | unconditional | stem, affix, person, 3, analogical change |
| 978 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the forms (stems and affixes) of indicative forms are more likely to be replaced than the forms of other moods. | morphology | unconditional | stem, affix, indicative, non-indicative, mood, analogical change |
| 979 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the forms (stems and affixes) of local cases of place names are more likely to be replaced than forms of local cases of common nouns. |
morphology | unconditional | case, local case, place names, common noun, analogical change |
| 980 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the forms of non-local cases of common nouns are more likely to be replaced than stems and affixes of non-local cases of place names. | morphology | unconditional | case, local case, place names, common nouns, analogical change |
| 981 | When there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the stems and affixes of common nouns are more likely to be replaced than stems and affixes of proper/personal names. |
morphology | unconditional | common nouns, proper names, personal names, common nouns, analogical change |
| 982 | When there are plural allomorphs conditioned by semantically transparent classes of nouns, these classes will typically be defined along the Split Plural Hierarchy. | inflection, semantics | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | allomorphy, number, plural, animacy |
| 983 | IF nouns low on the split plurality hierarchy have irregular plurals, THEN nouns high on the split plurality hierarchy also have irregular plurals. | inflection, semantics | implication | number, plural, animacy |
| 984 | IF there is a separative comparative, THEN basic order is SOV. | syntax | implication | comparative, order, SOV |
| 985 | IF there is an allative comparative, THEN basic order is VSO. | syntax | implication | comparative, order, VSO |
| 987 | IF there is an exceed comparative, THEN basic order is SVO. | syntax | implication | comparative, order, SVO |
| 988 | IF there is separative comparative, THEN there is absolute anterior consecutive deranking and total identity deletion. | syntax | implication | comparative, deranking, identity deletion |
| 989 | IF there is allative comparative, THEN there is absolute posterior consecutive deranking and total identity deletion. | syntax | implication | comparative, deranking, identity deletion |
| 990 | IF there is locative comparative, THEN there is absolute simultaneous deranking and total identity deletion. | syntax | implication | comparative, deranking, identity deletion |
| 991 | IF there is adverbial comparative, THEN there is absolute deranking and total identity deletion. | syntax | implication | comparative, deranking, identity deletion |
| 992 | IF there is exceed comparative, THEN there is conditional deranking and limited identity deletion. | syntax | implication | comparative, deranking, identity deletion |
| 993 | IF there is conjoined comparative, THEN there is no deranking and no identity deletion. or IF there is conjoined comparative, THEN there is balancing and no identity deletion. |
syntax | implication | comparative, deranking, balancing, identity deletion |
| 994 | IF there is absolute anterior consecutive deranking, THEN basic order is SOV. | syntax | implication | deranking, order, SOV |
| 995 | IF there is absolute posterior consecutive deranking, THEN basic order is VSO. | syntax | implication | order, VSO, deranking |
| 996 | IF there is conditional deranking, THEN basic order is SVO. | syntax | implication | order, SVO, deranking |
| 997 | IF there is absolute deranking, THEN basic order is either SOV or VSO. | syntax | implication | order, SOV, VSO, SVO, deranking |
| 998 | IF there is particle comparative, THEN there is no deranking and total identity deletion. or IF there is particle comparative, THEN there is balancing and total identity deletion |
syntax | implication | comparative, deranking, balancing, identity deletion |
| 999 | IF there is posterior consecutive deranking and basic order is SVO, THEN there is conditional deranking. | syntax | implication | order, SVO, deranking |
| 1000 | IF there is posterior consecutive deranking and basic order is VSO, THEN there is absolute deranking. | syntax | implication | order, SVO, deranking |
| 1001 | IF there is an Exceed-1 Comparative, THEN adjectives are verby. IF adjectives are verby and there is an Exceed Comparative, THEN this comparative is of Exceed-1 type. |
syntax | implication | comparative, word class, adjectives, verb |
| 1004 | Vowel ablaut is the commonest iconic means (especially for expressing distance). | phonology, semantics | unconditional | iconicity, ablaut |
| 1005 | Front vowels predominantly correspond to diminutive and associated categories. | phonology, semantics | unconditional | iconicity |
| 1006 | If a metathesis is synchronically regular, THEN it is not phonologically conditioned. | phonology, morphology | implication | metathesis |
| 1007 | Resonance Hierarchy: vowel > semivowel > liquid > spirant > sibilant > nasal > stop. The more resonant a sound, the more susceptible it is to metathesis given the necessary conditions therefore. |
phonology | implicational hierarchy | metathesis, sonority hierarchy |