Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
827 entries · page 9 of 17
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1113 | IF predicate nouns are marked for person, THEN verbs are marked for person. | inflection, syntax | implication | predicate, person marking, noun, verb |
| 1114 | IF perfective aspect is expressed with the help of preverbs, THEN there will also be future tense formed by means of preverbs. | inflection, syntax | implication | tense, aspect, perfective, future |
| 1115 | IF case inflection on direct nominal arguments gets lost, THEN their word order becomes fixed, but not vice versa. |
inflection, syntax | implication | word order, inflection |
| 1117 | IF there is no syntactic wh-movement, THEN there is special marking in yes-no questions, and vice versa. | syntax, morphology | mutual implication | interrogative, question particle, wh-movement |
| 1118 | IF basic word order is VO, THEN complementizers are clause-initial. OR, BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF complementizers are clause-final, THEN basic word order is OV. |
syntax | implication | order, complementizer, VO, OV |
| 1119 | IF there is an optional rule such as scrambling, THEN its application must create a structure which is consistent with the parameter-setting (e.g., the head-parameter) for a language. | syntax | implication | order, optional movement, scrambling, parameter |
| 1138 | IF a dual is differentiated for a particular person of non-pronominal agreement forms, THEN there will be a dual, or other number, for this person in pronouns. In fact, more generally: IF any number is differentiated for a particular person of non-pronominal agreement forms, THEN this number will also be distinguished for this person in pronouns. |
inflection, syntax | implication | number, dual, agreement, person, pronoun |
| 1144 | IF there is a passive construction, THEN the verb is morphologically marked (vis-à-vis a basic, active construction). | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | diathesis, voice |
| 1145 | IF there is a passive construction, THEN most commonly it will be expressed with a stem affix. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | diathesis, voice |
| 1146 | IF there is a passive, THEN basic word order will be SVO rather than (S)OV. | syntax | implication | diathesis, voice, order, SVO, OV |
| 1149 | IF there is one (basic) passive construction, THEN there are commonly also other, formally distinct passive constructions. |
syntax | implication | diathesis, voice |
| 1151 | If there are two or more coexisting basic passives they are likely to differ semantically with respect to the aspect ranges they cover. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | diathesis, passive, aspect |
| 1157 | IF there are preposed relative clauses, THEN there are postposed ones. | syntax | implication | relative clause, order |
| 1167 | IF there is an indefinite article, THEN there is also a definite article. | syntax | implication | indefinite article, definite article |
| 1169 | Whenever order correlates with definiteness, the definite element tends to be placed at the beginning of the sentence. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, definiteness |
| 1178 | IF the terms for a cardinal direction are introduced, THEN the sun provides the most likely model to be selected. IF new terms for cardinal directions ‘east’ and ‘west’ are acquired, THEN most likely these terms are derived from expressions relating, respectively, to the rising and setting sun. |
lexicon | target < source | spatial orientation |
| 1179 | IF there are terms for ‘north’ and/or ‘south’, THEN there are terms for ‘east’ and/or ‘west’. | lexicon | implication | spatial orientation, direction |
| 1180 | Terms for ‘pupil (of the eye)’ are most likely to be derived from nouns denoting a small human like a baby, or a child, or a diminutive humanlike object like a doll. | lexicon | target < source | body part |
| 1181 | When terms for thumbs, big toes and remaining digits are derived from kin-terms, thumbs and big toes are likely to be built on kin-terms of an older, ascending generation and the remaining fingers and toes tend to be derived from terms for offspring or other younger relatives. |
lexicon | target < source | body parts, kinship term |
| 1182 | The notion ‘muscle’ is expressed predominantly by using small mammals as structural templates. As in the case of English muscle (which is ultimately derived from Latin Musculus ‘little mouse’), terms for ‘mouse’ or ‘rat’ appear to provide the most common source for ‘muscle’ or ‘muscular part of the body’, where the latter may refer to such notions as ‘thigh’, ‘calf of a leg’, or ‘biceps’. Other animals such as lizards, rabbits, toads, or calves, are used less frequently that mice and rabbits. | lexicon | target < source | body parts |
| 1183 | For the concept ‘testicle’, by far the most widespread source is provided by terms for ‘egg’, alternative options being ‘stone’, ‘pebble’, ‘seed’, and ‘fruit’. | lexicon | target < source | body parts |
| 1198 | IF there is inflectional tense or aspect , THEN there will be a past or perfective gram. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | verb, inflection, tense, aspect, past, perfective |
| 1199 | IF there is no inflectional tense or aspect, THEN there will be an anterior or completive gram or both. | inflection | implication | verb, inflection, aspect, tense |
| 1200 | IF any other semantic types are expressed by words of the word class of adjectives, THEN members of the semantic types AGE, DIMENSION, VALUE and COLOR are likely also to be expressed by adjectives. | syntax, semantics | implication | word classes, adjective |
| 1201 | IF a language is (more or less) analytic, THEN it has a (more or less) regular phraseological system. | morphology, lexicon | implication | phraseology, analytic |
| 1202 | IF morphological categories are marked on verbs rather than nouns, THEN they specify aspects of events and states rather than of persons and objects, and they are derivational rather than inflectional. |
morphology | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | gender, number, case, aspect, Aktionsart |
| 1212 | Regardless of relational alignment, IF nouns in instrumental and/or locational relations can be incorporated into the verb, THEN nouns for patients of transitive and intransitive verbs can also be incorporated; IF patients of intransitive verbs can be incorporated, THEN patients of transitive verbs can also be incorporated. |
morphology, syntax | implication | incorporation, patient, location, instrument |
| 1216 | IF an affix expresses a local case, THEN it will preferably be a suffix and never an infix. | inflection | unconditional | case, local, affix, infix, prefix |
| 1217 | IF there is an extensive system of local cases, THEN there will very likely also be numerous local postpositions. | inflection, syntax | implication | case, local, postpositions |
| 1218 | IF there are local cases, THEN basic word order tends to be SVO or SOV. | inflection, syntax | implication | case, local, word order, SOV, SVO |
| 1219 | Nouns denoting body parts are the preferred sources for the grammaticalization of local adpositions. | syntax, lexicon | target < source | case, local case, adposition, grammaticalization |
| 1222 | IF there are no local cases but non-local (grammatical, abstract) cases, THEN localization will preferably be expressed by adpositions plus non-local cases rather than by localizing nouns in construction with localized nouns. | inflection | implication | case, local case, adposition |
| 1223 | IF a case is governed by a local postposition, THEN this case will preferably also be used to express possession. | inflection | implication | case, local, postposition, possession |
| 1226 | IF there are local cases, THEN there are other expressions for localization, viz. local adpositions, specialized local verbs, and/or localizing nouns. | inflection, syntax | implication | case, local |
| 1228 | IF there is syncretism of locative and ablative or of allative and ablative, THEN there is syncretism of locative and allative. | inflection | imlication | syncretism, case, local case, locative, ablative, allative |
| 1234 | Diachronically, an undifferentiated locative (expressing where, whereto, wherefrom) retains the meaning of a where case when ‘whereto’ and ‘wherefrom’ cases are being formally distinguished. | inflection | implication | case, local case, locative |
| 1235 | Diachronically, when an allative loses its local meaning (or acquires additional, non-local meanings), it will become a dative (expressing beneficiary and/or indirect object); when a locative loses its local meaning (or acquires additional, non-local meanings), it will become an accusative or ergative; when an ablative loses its local meaning (or acquires additional, non-local meaning)s, it will become a (partitive) genitive or ergative or (passive) agentive. | inflection | implication | case, local case, allative |
| 1236 | Diachronically, local cases tend to acquire temporal meanings; in particular, a terminative local case is predestined to acquire temporal meaning. | inflection | target < source | case, local case, terminative |
| 1246 | The likelihood of initial clusters is greater for languages with final consonants than for languages without final consonants, even greater for languages with final clusters. The likelihood for final clustering is greater for languages with initial clusters than for languages without. |
phonology | unconditional | consonant cluster |
| 1247 | The loss of all a language’s initial vowels (or prothesis of a consonant before them) is significantly less likely than a language with no initial vowels acquiring them by consonant loss or vowel prothesis. | phonology | implication | initial vowel, consonant |
| 1250 | IF syllables containing sequences of n consonants are to be found as syllabic types, THEN sequences of n-1 consonants are also to be found in the corresponding position (prevocalic or post vocalic) except that CV → V ... [and VC → V] ... do not hold [V(C) → CVC]. | phonology | implication | syllable structure, consonant, vowel |
| 1252 | In numeral systems, IF there is multiplication, THEN there is addition. | word formation | implication | numeral |
| 1253 | The more to the left on the hierarchy a consonant is, the greater is its tone-raising effect. The more to the right a consonant is, the greater is its tone-lowering effect: implosive > voiceless aspirated > voiceless unaspirated > sonant > voiced obstruent > breathy |
prosodic phonology | implicational hierarchy | consonant, tone, raising, lowering, hierarchy |
| 1254 | Sonants tend to participate in consonant gradation much more than other phonemes. | phonology | implication | consonant gradation |
| 1255 | IF consonant gradation plays a role in the grammar, THEN it serves the function to identify nouns. | phonology, syntax | implication | consonant gradation |
| 1256 | Front consonants are less prone to develop in accordance with consonant gradation than back consonants. | phonology | implication | consonant gradation |
| 1257 | Anterior consonants are less likely to participate in consonant gradation than posterior consonants. | phonology | implication | consonant gradation |
| 1258 | Labiovelar stops are less likely to participate in consonant gradation than other stops of the same series. | phonology | implication | consonant gradation |
| 1259 | The less sonorous a vowel (or class of vowels), the more prone it will be to assimilate; and conversely, the more sonorous it is, the more resistant it will be to assimilation. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony, sonority |
| 1260 | High vowels tend to assimilate more readily and earlier than low vowels. | phonology | implication | assimilation, vowel harmony |