Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
827 entries · page 1 of 17
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IF alignment is ergative for some rule(s), THEN alignment tends to be accusative for other rules, or also for the same rule(s) in other contexts. | morphology, syntax | implication | alignment, ergative-absolutive, nominative-accusative, split |
| 3 | IF adpositions precede their NPs (i. e. they are prepositions), THEN head nouns almost always precede their attributive nouns (genitives). | syntax | implication | order, preposition, attributive, genitive |
| 4 | IF adpositions follow their NPs (i.e. they are postpositions), THEN head nouns almost always follow their attributive nouns (genitives). | syntax | implication | order, postposition, attributive, genitive |
| 5 | IF basic order is SOV and attributive nouns (genitive) follow the head noun, THEN attributive adjectives likewise follow the noun. | syntax | implication | order, SOV, attributive, genitive, adjective |
| 6 | IF there is a case which has only zero exponence, THEN it will be that case whose functions include that of encoding the subject of intransitive verbs. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | case, zero exponence, subject, intransitive |
| 7 | IF morphemes of both number and case are present and both follow or both precede the noun base, THEN the exponent of number almost always comes between the noun base and the exponent of case. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | affix-order, case, number |
| 8 | IF basic order for nominal arguments is verb-final (i.e. SOV or OSV), THEN there is almost always a case system. | inflection, syntax | implication | order, verb-final, case system |
| 9 | IF in apposition the proper noun usually precedes the common noun, THEN the head noun precedes the attributive noun. IF in apposition the common noun usually precedes the proper noun, THEN, with much better than chance frequency, the attributive noun precedes the head noun. |
syntax | implication | order, apposition, proper name, attributive, genitive |
| 10 | IF in apposition the common noun usually precedes the proper noun, THEN, with much better than chance frequency, the attributive noun precedes its head noun. DELETE: is part of #9 |
syntax | implication | order, apposition, attributive, genitive |
| 11 | IF basic order is consistently OV, THEN the morphology tends to be agglutinative. | morphology, syntax | implication | order, OV, agglutination |
| 13 | IF basic order is consistently VO, THEN the morphology tends to be flexive. | morphology, syntax | implication | order, VO, flexion |
| 14 | IF verbs agree with objects when they are not marked for case, THEN they will also agree with the same objects when they are marked for case. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, case, direct object |
| 16 | IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN the segmental marker of internal case is closer to the stem of the attributive nominal than is the segmental marker of external case. | inflection | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | case, attribution, agreement, Suffixaufnahme, affix-order |
| 21 | IF the internal case involved in Suffixaufnahme is a case other than that of the possessor, THEN the case of the possessor (typically genitive) is almost always also involved in Suffixaufnahme. | inflection, syntax | implication | case, attribution, agreement, Suffixaufnahme, possessive, genitive |
| 44 | Assuming that grammatical relations are ordered from left to right according to their decreasing semantic concreteness and correspondingly increasing grammaticalization as in the diagram (where arrows indicate attested diachronic grammaticalization), then IF there is noun-phrase external agreement with a relation of any column of this diagram, THEN there will be noun-phrase external agreement with the relations of all columns to its right. IF there is overt case marking for a given column, THEN there will be overt case marking for all columns to its left. |
inflection, syntax | implicational hierarchy | NP, adjunct, direct object, indirect object, subject, attributive, locative, instrumental, comitative, directional, ergative, case, agreement<br> |
| 55 | IF basic order is VSO, THEN adpositions precede their NPs (i.e. they are prepositions). | syntax | implication | order, VSO, preposition |
| 56 | IF basic order is VSO, THEN, with overwhelmingly more than chance frequency, adjectives follow the noun. | syntax | implication | order, VSO, adjective, noun |
| 57 | IF the descriptive adjective precedes the noun, THEN, with overwhelmingly more than chance frequency, the demonstrative and the numeral do likewise. | syntax | implication | adjective, noun, demonstrative, numeral, order |
| 59 | When any or all of these items — demonstrative, numeral, descriptive adjective — precede the noun, they are always found in that order. If they follow, the order is the same or the opposite. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | order, adjective, demonstrative, numeral, noun |
| 60 | IF some or all adverbs follow the adjective they modify, THEN the qualifying adjective follows the noun and the verb precedes its nominal object as the basic order. | syntax | implication | order, adverb, adjective, noun, verb, object |
| 61 | IF in comparisons of superiority the only order, or one of the alternative orders, is Standard - Marker - Adjective, THEN there are postpositions; IF the only order is Adjective - Marker - Standard, THEN there are prepositions. |
syntax | implication | order, adjective, comparison, postposition, preposition |
| 62 | IF the relative clause precedes the noun either as the only or as an alternative construction, THEN either adpositions follow NPs (i.e. are postpositions) or the adjective precedes the noun or both. | syntax | implication | order, relative clause, adjective, noun, postposition |
| 66 | IF basic order is OV, THEN IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the genitive precedes the noun. | syntax | nested implication | order, OV, verb, object, adjective, noun, attributive, genitive |
| 68 | IF basic order is verb-initial, THEN IF the adjective follows the noun, THEN the genitive follows the noun. | syntax | nested implication | order, verb-initial, noun, adjective, attributive, genitive |
| 69 | IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the adjective follows the noun, THEN the genitive follows the noun. | syntax | nested implication | order, preposition, adjective, noun, attributive, genitive |
| 70 | IF there are prepositions and basic order is not SVO, THEN IF the adjectives follows the noun, THEN the genitive follows the noun. | syntax | nested implication | order, SVO, preposition, adjective, noun, attributive, genitive |
| 71 | IF there are postpositions, THEN IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the genitive precedes the noun. | syntax | nested implication | order, postposition, adjective, noun, attributive, genitive |
| 72 | IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the demonstrative determiner follows the noun, THEN the adjective follows the noun. | syntax | nested implication | order, preposition, noun, demonstrative, adjective |
| 73 | IF the demonstrative determiner follows the noun, THEN the adjective follows the noun. OR, BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the demonstrative determiner precedes the noun. |
syntax | implication | order, noun, demonstrative, adjective |
| 74 | IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the numeral follows the noun, THEN the adjective follows the noun. | syntax | nested implication | order, preposition, noun, numeral, adjective |
| 75 | IF the numeral follows the noun, THEN the adjective follows the noun. OR, BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF the adjective precedes the noun, THEN the numeral precedes the noun. |
syntax | implication | order, noun, numeral, adjective |
| 88 | IF the demonstrative follows the noun, THEN the relative clause follows the noun. OR, BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF the relative clause precedes the noun, THEN the demonstrative precedes the noun. |
syntax | implication | order, relative clause, demonstrative, noun |
| 93 | IF there is a gender distinction in the 2nd person singular of pronouns, THEN the 3rd person singular is likelier to have than to lack a gender distinction. | inflection | implication | pronoun, gender, number, singular, person, 2, 3 |
| 98 | IF there are postpositions, THEN IF the adverb precedes the adjective within the adjective phrase, THEN the standard of comparison precedes the adjective. | syntax | nested implication | order, postposition, adjective, adverb, comparison |
| 99 | Within noun phrases, lighter constituents tend to precede heavier constituents, as follows: Dem/Num ≥ Adj ≥ Gen ≥ Rel Relative heaviness is a composite notion defined in terms of (at least) the following four factors: length and quantity of morphemes, quantity of words, syntactic depth of branching nodes, inclusion of dominated constituents. |
syntax | implicational hierarchy | relative clause, attributive, genitive, adjective, demonstrative, numeral, order, heaviness, complexity |
| 101 | IF the possessive adjective follows the noun, THEN the descriptive adjective follows the noun. OR, EQUVALENTLY, BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF the descriptive adjective precedes the noun, THEN the possessive adjective precedes the noun. |
syntax | implication | order, possessive, noun, adjective |
| 104 | IF noun-phrase internal agreement (in class) is being lost on demonstratives, THEN adjectives do not, or no longer agree in class; IF it is being lost on adjectives, THEN numerals do not, or no longer agree in class. |
inflection, syntax | implication | adjective, numeral, demonstrative, noun class, agreement |
| 105 | IF adjectives are losing number agreement, THEN they do not, or no longer, have class agreement. | inflection, syntax | implication | adjective, agreement, noun class, number |
| 106 | When class and number agreement is being lost, not all class/number-agreeing adjectives lose it at the same time. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | adjective, noun class, number, agreement |
| 107 | IF basic order is VO , THEN relative clauses, attributive adjectives, and attributive nouns follow their head nouns. IF basic order is OV, THEN relative clauses, attributive adjectives, and attributive nouns precede their head nouns. |
syntax | implication | order, OV, VO, verb, object, noun, modifier, relative clause, attributive, genitive, adjective |
| 109 | IF basic order is SVO, THEN the negation marker most commonly occurs between subject and verb. |
syntax | implication | order, SVO, negation |
| 110 | IF relative clauses precede their head nouns, THEN adjectives mostly precede their head nouns also; IF relative clauses follow their head nouns, THEN adjectives mostly follow their head nouns also. |
syntax | implication | order, noun, adjective, relative clause |
| 111 | IF verbs precede adverbs, THEN nouns precede attributive adjectives, mostly. | syntax | implication | order, noun, verb, adjective, adverb |
| 113 | IF adjectives precede qualifiers, THEN nouns tend to precede adjectives. | syntax | implication | order, noun, adjective, qualifier |
| 114 | IF nouns precede demonstratives, THEN nouns tend to precede adjectives also. | syntax | implication | order, noun, adjective, demonstrative |
| 121 | IF there are prepositions, THEN IF the numeral follows the noun, THEN the relative clause follows the noun. | syntax | nested implication | order, preposition, noun, numeral, relative clause |
| 126 | IF the numeral follows the noun, THEN the relative clause follows the noun. OR, BY CONTRAPOSITION: IF the relative clause precedes the noun, THEN the numeral precedes the noun. |
syntax | implication | order, noun, numeral, relative clause |
| 128 | IF in transitive action nominalizations the non-Agent argument loses the dependent-marking or head-marking that it has in sentential constructions, THEN the Agent argument will lose it too, except in the marginal SENT-POSS type of action nominalizations. | inflection, syntax | implication | nominalization, dependent-marking, head-marking |
| 129 | In transitive action nominalizations, either all arguments retain their sentential dependent-marking or at least one of them genitivizes, except in the marginal MIX-type. | inflection, syntax | unconditional | nominalization, dependent-marking, case, genitive |
| 130 | IF heads precede/follow dependents in non-derived noun phrases, THEN they will also precede/follow them in action nominalizations. | syntax | mutual implication | nominalization, order |