Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
1,237 entries · page 8 of 25
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 483 | IF progressive aspect is expressed by a suffix, THEN any tense, mood, or person suffixes will follow the progressive suffix. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | aspect, progressive, affix-order, suffix, tense, mood, person |
| 487 | In variable order SVO languages where indirect-object marking is optional, IF the indirect object is unmarked, THEN it is contiguous with the verb, and IF the indirect object is marked, THEN the direct object is contiguous with the verb. | syntax, inflection | implication | direct object, indirect object, order, verb, SVO |
| 488 | When direct object is zero-marked or non-zero-marked depending on animacy/definiteness, non-zero case marking is used for direct objects higher on the hierarchies. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | case, accusative, zero, direct object, animacy, definiteness |
| 490 | In declarative sentences with nominal subject and object, the dominant order is always one in which the subject precedes the object. | syntax | unconditional | declarative sentence, order, subject, object |
| 492 | IF dominant order is VSO, THEN SVO will be an alternative or the only alternative order. | syntax | implication | order, SOV, VSO, VOS |
| 493 | IF SOV is the dominant order and there is no alternative basic order or only OSV as the alternative, THEN all adverbial modifiers of the verb likewise precede the verb. | syntax | implication | order, SOV, OSV, verb, adverb |
| 494 | When a yes-no question is differentiated from the corresponding assertion by an intonational pattern, the distinctive intonational features of each of these patterns are reckoned from the end of the sentence rather than from the beginning. | syntax, prosodic phonology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | sentence type, interrogative, yes-no question, intonation |
| 496 | Every human language has a stock of elements that shift their denotations depending on elementary features of the speech situation – i.e., deictics. | lexicon | unconditional | deixis |
| 498 | IF interrogative sentences are formed from declarative sentences by inversion so that verb precedes subject, THEN the question word or phrase is normally initial. IF such inversion occurs in yes-no questions, THEN it also occurs in information questions. |
syntax | implication | order, sentence type, interrogative, subject-verb inversion |
| 499 | IF basic order in declarative sentences is VSO, THEN interrogative words or phrases always occupy the first position in interrogative word questions. IF basic order is SOV, THEN there is never such an invariant rule. |
syntax | implication | order, sentence type, interrogative, interrogative word, VSO, SOV, wh-movement |
| 500 | IF the nominal object always precedes the verb, THEN verb forms subordinate to the main verb also precede it. | syntax | implication | order, object, noun, verb, subordinate |
| 501 | In conditional statements, the conditional clause precedes the conclusion as the normal order in all languages. | syntax | unconditional | clause combining, conditional clause, order |
| 503 | IF the dominant order is VSO, THEN an inflected auxiliary always precedes the main verb. IF the dominant order is SOV, THEN an inflected auxiliary always follows the main verb. |
inflection, syntax | implication | order, auxiliary, verb, inflection |
| 504 | IF the pronominal object follows the verb, THEN the nominal object also does. | syntax | implication | order, verb, object, noun, pronoun |
| 505 | IF there are discontinuous affixes, THEN there is prefixing and/or suffixing. |
morphology | implication | affix-order, prefix, suffix |
| 506 | IF there are only suffixes, THEN there will be postpositions; IF there are only prefixes, THEN there will be prepositions. |
morphology, syntax | implication | prefix, suffix, postposition, preposition |
| 507 | IF both the derivation and inflection follow the root or they both precede the root, THEN the derivation is always between the root and the inflection. | morphology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | root, order |
| 508 | IF there is inflection, THEN there is derivation. | inflection, word formation | implication | |
| 509 | IF the verb inflects for person-number or for gender, THEN it also inflects for tense-mood. | inflection | implication | verb, person, number, gender, tense, mood |
| 510 | IF the verb agrees with either the subject or the object in gender, THEN the adjective always agrees with the noun in gender. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, gender, verb, adjective<br> |
| 511 | IF the verb agrees with a nominal subject or nominal object in gender, THEN it also agrees in number. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, subject, object, noun, gender, number |
| 512 | Whenever there is number agreement between an NP and the verb and such agreement can be suspended depending on the order of NP and verb, it can only be suspended when the verb precedes the NP and the default number form of the verb is always singular. |
inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | agreement, number, singular, verb, order |
| 513 | IF there is a trial, THEN there is also a dual. IF there is a dual, THEN there is also a plural. OR, BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF there is no dual, THEN there is no trial. IF there is no plural, THEN there is no dual. |
inflection | implication | number, trial, dual, plural |
| 514 | There is no language in which the plural does not have some non-zero allomorphs, whereas there are languages in which the singular is expressed only by zero. The dual and the trial are almost never expressed only by zero. | inflection | unconditional | number, singular, plural, dual, trial, allomorphy, zero<br> |
| 515 | IF there is the category of gender, THEN there is always the category of number. | inflection | implication | number, gender |
| 516 | IF there are n genders in the non-singular, THEN there will be at least n genders in the singular. | inflection | implication | gender, number |
| 517 | All languages have pronominal categories involving at least three persons and two numbers. | inflection | unconditional | pronoun, number, person |
| 518 | IF there are gender categories in the noun, THEN there are also gender categories in the pronoun. | inflection | implication | gender, noun, pronoun |
| 519 | IF there are gender distinctions in the 1st person [of the personal pronoun], THEN there are gender distinctions in the 2nd and/or 3rd person. | inflection | implication | pronoun, gender, person, 1, 2, 3 |
| 523 | IF the adnominal adjective agrees with the noun, THEN so does the adnominal demonstrative. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, demonstrative, adjective, NP |
| 525 | In more than one language, and possibly in all, preposed demonstratives are peripheral to tautolateral numerals and adjectives; postposed demonstratives are most frequently so. | syntax | unconditional | order, demonstrative, numeral, adjective, noun |
| 526 | IF the adnominal demonstrative and the definite article occur on the same side of the head noun, THEN the demonstrative is consistently more peripheral than the article. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | adnominal demonstrative, definite article, noun, order |
| 527 | Every language has a numeral system of finite scope. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 528 | Every number n (0<n<L) can be expressed as part of the numeral system in any language. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 529 | Zero is never expressed as part of the numeral system. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 530 | In every numerical system some numbers are expressed by basic terms. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 531 | No number is ever expressed in any numeral system by means of a function any of whose arguments is ≥ L. | lexicon | unconditional | numeral |
| 534 | It seems probable that in all languages expressions of time and place may appear in the initial positions in the sentence. | syntax | unconditional | order |
| 536 | IF a number is expressed by subtraction, or a subtraction occurs as a constituent of a complex expression, THEN the subtrahend is never larger than the remainder. | word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 538 | IF in any sum the smaller addend precedes the larger, THEN the same order holds for all smaller numbers expressed by addition. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 539 | IF in any sum the larger addend precedes the smaller, THEN the same order holds for all larger numbers expressed by addition. | word formation | implication | order, numeral |
| 540 | IF there are numerals in which the expression of the multiplier follows that of the multiplicand, THEN the numeral will follow the noun. | word formation, syntax | implication | numeral, order, noun |
| 541 | A link for addition is never initial in a numeral. | word formation | unconditional | numeral |
| 543 | IF a link for addition occurs medially, THEN it always goes with the following numeral in a prepositional language and with the preceding numeral in a postpositional language. | word formation, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral, order, postposition, preposition |
| 544 | When there is a word order variation in addition between larger and smaller, and one order has an overt link and the other has not, it is always the order smaller+larger which has the link. | word formation, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, numeral |
| 545 | IF a link for subtraction is final, THEN there are postpositions. | word formation, syntax | implication | numeral, postposition |
| 546 | IF a numeral expression contains a complex constituent, THEN the numerical value of the complex constituent itself in isolation receives either simple lexical expression or is expressed by the same function and in the same phonological shape, except for possible automatic phonological alternations, stress shifts, or overt expressions of co-ordination. |
word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral |
| 547 | The degree of morphological fusion varies inversely with the size of the numerical value. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 548 | IF plural marking on nouns is optional, THEN the singular may be used on nouns in construction with numerals higher than 1. | inflection, word formation | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | noun, numeral |
| 549 | Provided the number marking of nouns distinguishes singular, dual, and plural, IF the plural is used in any instances where a set of two objects is designated, THEN the plural can be used on nouns in construction with the numeral ‘two’. |
inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | number, dual, plural, numeral |