Universals Archive
A database of proposed crosslinguistic laws and tendencies in grammar across the world’s languages. 2,029 published entries.
44 entries
| # | Standardized / Original | Domain | Type | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 30 | IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN there will be NP-internal attributive constituents outside this construction. | inflection, syntax | implication | case, agreement, Suffixaufnahme, attribution<br> |
| 90 | An object agreement marker cannot be formally and semantically entirely distinct from a personal pronoun (in its object form). | inflection, syntax | unconditional | object, agreement, personal pronoun, verb |
| 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 |
| 131 | IF an argument retains its sentential head-marking in an action nominalization, THEN the same argument will also retain its sentential dependent-marking. | inflection, syntax | implication | nominalization, head-marking, dependent-marking |
| 187 | IF there are /t/, /d/, and the voiced aspirate /dh/, THEN there must already be the voiceless aspirate /th/. | phonology | implication | aspirate, voice |
| 190 | IF there is a prolative case, THEN there will be an ablative case. IF there is an ablative case, THEN there will be an allative case. IF there is an allative case, THEN there will be a locative case. |
inflection | implication | case system, local case, locative, allative, ablative, prolative |
| 209 | IF there is an opposition of two vowels of the same aperture, THEN there is a corresponding vocalic opposition of a narrower degree of aperture. | phonology | implication | vowel, degree of aperture, narrow |
| 210 | IF there is no differentiation of unrounded vowels according to degree of aperture, THEN there is no such a difference for the rounded vowels. | phonology | implication | rounded, unrounded, vowel, degree of aperture |
| 212 | IF there is a vocalic opposition, THEN there is a consonantal opposition. | phonology | implication | vocalic, consonantal, opposition |
| 218 | IF there are mellow fricatives, THEN there are corresponding strident fricatives. | phonology | implication | mellow, strident, fricative |
| 224 | IF there is an opposition labials vs. dentals, THEN there is an opposition of nasal vs. oral stops as well. | phonology | implication | labials, dentals, nasal, oral, stop |
| 262 | IF alignment is predominantly ergative, THEN there tend to be: possessive and affective verbs (verba habendi and verba sentiendi) in syntactic constructions distinct from that of verbs of action; a special affective case; nouns divided into lexical classes; "labile" (or "diffuse") verbs rather than a classification of verbs as transitive and intransitive; an opposition of inclusive and exclusive in the 1st person plural. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | alignment, ergative, verb, affective verb, possessive verb, labile verb, affective case, noun class, personal pronouns, exclusive, inclusive, 1st person, transitivity |
| 265 | IF alignment is predominantly active, THEN there tend to be the following properties as well: the class of inactive nouns is further subdivided by shape categories; the class of active nouns is further subdivided by animacy (person vs. animal); there are singular and plural verbs in suppletive relationship; there are polysemies of nouns based on analogies existing between animal and plant organisms and their functions. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | alignment, active, noun, noun classification, active, inactive, animacy, verbal number, suppletion, polysemy |
| 266 | IF alignment is predominantly active, THEN both nouns and verbs are subdivided into active and inactive classes (animate vs. inanimate, action vs. state), and there is a corresponding distinction of active vs. inactive syntactic constructions, showing a distinction of objects into "near" and "distant" rather than direct and indirect/oblique. | inflection, syntax, lexicon | implication | alignment, active, noun, noun classification, animacy, verb, verb classification, action, state, object, direct, indirect, oblique |
| 284 | IF there are palatoalveolar consonants, THEN there are dental consonants. | phonology | implication | consonant, palatoalveolar, dental |
| 305 | IF there is a three-member passive construction, THEN there will be a two-member passive construction, derived from the three-member construction by simple omission of the agent in an oblique object relation. | syntax | implication | diathesis, passive, oblique object |
| 351 | In a dominant order the object and the verb are juxtaposed, uninterrupted by the subject (i.e., SVO, SOV, VOS, OVS, but not VSO, OSV). | syntax | unconditional | order, verb, object, subject |
| 352 | In a dominant order the subject and the object are juxtaposed, uninterrupted by the verb (i.e., SOV, VOS, VSO, OSV, but not SVO, OVS). | syntax | unconditional | order, verb, object, subject |
| 362 | The extent of “material“ articulation, pertaining in particular to (a) the elaboration of sound systems, (b) the complexity of syllable structures, (c) word length, (d) accentual differentiation (as opposed to not-so-articulated tonal modification), correlates with the extent of “formal“ articulation, pertaining in particular to (a) the differentiation of parts of speech, (b) the elaboration of inflectional and derivational systems, (c) analytic syntax (as opposed to not-so-articulated polysynthesis). | prosodic phonology, inflection, word formation, syntax, lexicon | mutual implication | phoneme system, syllable, word length, accent, tone, word class, polysynthesis |
| 427 | IF any constituent other than anaphoric pronouns agrees in gender and/or number, THEN anaphoric pronouns agree in gender and/or number. | inflection, syntax | implication | agreement, gender, number, anaphoric pronoun |
| 554 | IF there is free variation in Noun Quantifier order depending on the identity of the numeral, THEN one of the two orders is used with a continuous series of numbers beginning with ‘one’, or ‘one’ and the bases of the system are used with one of the orders. IF there is free variation in Noun Quantifier order with a particular numeral ‘x’, THEN the next higher is also in free variation or is in the opposite order to that of ‘x’ with the noun. |
syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | numeral, order, noun, quantitative |
| 616 | IF PURPLE or PINK or ORANGE or GREY , THEN BROWN. IF BROWN, THEN BLUE. IF BLUE, THEN YELLOW and GREEN. IF YELLOW or GREEN, THEN RED. IF RED, THEN WHITE and BLACK. |
lexicon | implicational hierarchy | colour terms hierarchy |
| 716 | IF any further grammatical oppositions are expressed in forms marked for dual number, THEN the same oppositions will also be expressed in forms marked for plural number. | inflection | implication | number, dual, plural, inclusive, exclusive, gender, case |
| 721 | IF there is a deictic salience of the 2nd person, THEN there is a category of inclusive. | inflection, syntax | implication | person hierarchy, 2 person, inclusive |
| 805 | IF there are back consonants, THEN there will be front consonants. | phonology | implication | back, front, consonant |
| 808 | IF there is an opposition of a stop and an affricate, THEN there will be a fricative of the same series. | phonology | implication | affricate, stop, fricative |
| 811 | IF there are fricatives, THEN there will be stops. | phonology | implication | fricative, stop |
| 812 | IF there is vocalic opposition of wide vs. narrow, THEN there are two consonantal oppositions: nasal vs. oral stops and labials vs. dentals. | phonology | implication | narrow, wide, vowel, nasal, oral, stop, labial, dental |
| 937 | IF a vowel undergoes consonantalization, THEN it must be a high one. | phonology | implication | vowel, consonantalization, syllabic, consonant |
| 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 |
| 1143 | IF a verbal morpheme has both reflexive and passive use, THEN it will also have the anticausative use. | inflection, syntax | implication | morpheme, reflexive, passive, anticausative |
| 1165 | IF an overt indefinite article is used with mass nouns, THEN it is also used with plural nouns. | inflection, syntax | implication | indefinite article, number, plural, mass noun |
| 1166 | IF an overt indefinite article is used with plural nouns, THEN it is also used with singular nouns. | inflection, syntax | implication | indefinite article, number, plural, singular noun |
| 1167 | IF there is an indefinite article, THEN there is also a definite article. | syntax | implication | indefinite article, definite article |
| 1201 | IF a language is (more or less) analytic, THEN it has a (more or less) regular phraseological system. | morphology, lexicon | implication | phraseology, analytic |
| 1237 | All languages have at least one so-called “primitive” adposition which specifies location. IF there is complex form for local expression, THEN there is also a simple adposition indicating location and the complex form is drawn from it. |
syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | location, adposition |
| 1339 | IF basic order is OSV, THEN SOV is an alternative order. IF basic order is OVS, THEN SVO is an alternative order. IF non dominant order is VSO, THEN SOV, OSV or SVO, OVS are alternative orders. IF dominant order is VSO, THEN SVO or VOS are alternative orders. IF basic orders are SOV and SVO, THEN OVS, OSV, VSO, and VOS are alternative orders. IF basic orders are OVS and OSV, THEN SOV, SVO, VSO, and VOS are alternative orders. IF basic orders are VSO (non dominant) and VOS, THEN SOV, SVO, OVS, and OSV are alternative orders. |
syntax | implication | order |
| 1429 | IF there are non-basic passives, THEN there are basic passives. | syntax | implication | diathesis, passive |
| 1439 | IF there is no aspect differentiation, THEN there are continuous tenses. | inflection | mutual implication | aspect, tense, continuous |
| 1442 | IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of exasperation, relief, longing, torment, and enthrallment, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of pity, enthusiasm, and dismay. IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of pity, enthusiasm, and dismay, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of amazement, envy, and disgust. IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of amazement, envy, and disgust, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the category of contentment. IF there is at least one folk term for the category of contentment, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of anxiety, aggravation, and pride. IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of anxiety, aggravation, and pride, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the category of eagerness. IF there is at least one folk term for the category of eagerness, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of alienation, arousal, and agony. IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of alienation, arousal, and agony, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of adoration, alarm, amusement, and depression. IF there is at least one folk term for the categories of adoration, alarm, amusement, and depression, THEN there is most likely at least one term for the categories of anger and guilt. |
lexicon | implicational hierarchy | hierarchy, emotion categories |
| 1646 | IF there are transitive reflexive verbs, THEN there are objective reflexive verbs. IF there are objective reflexive verbs, THEN there are subjective reflexive verbs. |
inflection, syntax | implicational hierarchy | reflexive |
| 1682 | There is a strong tendency for agent-oriented modality to be expressed by verbs, auxiliaries or non-bound particles, whereas speaker-oriented and epistemic modalities are often expressed inflectionally. | inflection, syntax | no genuine implication; rather: provided that | modality, verb, auxiliary, mood |
| 1961 | IF there is tone rather than stress accent, THEN there are no/few consonant clusters and no closed syllables other than ones closed by a nasal; IF there is stress accent rather than tone, THEN there will be consonant clusters and closed syllables, and much word-internal assimilation and dissimilation among consonants and other consonantal processes (such as articulatory strengthening in stressed syllables). |
phonology | implication | tone, stress accent, syllable structure, consonant cluster, assimilation, dissimilation |