Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
19 entries
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 589 | IF morphology is agglutinative, THEN there is no grammatical gender. | inflection | implication | agglutination, gender |
| 912 | In a language with only a single genitive, when a transitive clause is nominalized, the subject’s prior claim to the genitive case is absolute. | syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | nominalization, genitive, case, subject |
| 1453 | In no language is there a special form to denote the metaperson 'hearer' in the non-singular. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | unconditional | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, number, non-singular, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1454 | IF a form denotes the metaperson 'hearer' in the non-singular, THEN this form includes among its meanings the metaperson 'hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 2nd, hearer, number, non-singular, non-participant, inclusive, exclusive |
| 1470 | IF the metaperson 'speaker + non-participant(s)' is not the only meaning of a form, THEN this form must also denote the metapersons 'speaker' and/or 'speaker + hearer(s)' (and consequently, 'speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)'). | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | personal pronoun, person, 1st, speaker, hearer, non-participant |
| 1745 | There are no endoclitics, i.e., clitics inside words do not exist. | phonology, syntax | unconditional | clitics, endoclitics |
| 1763 | Complete indefinite pronouns cannot be borrowed. | lexicon | unconditional | borrowing, indefinite pronoun |
| 1956 | IF there is partial or complete denasalization of nasal consonants, THEN there is a contrast of oral and nasal vowels. | phonology | implication | vowel, nasal, oral, denasalization |