Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1678: Original Progressives (which develop from locative, postural or movement verb constructions) tend to develop into imperfectives or occasionally presents. Standardized Progressives (which develop…

Universal 1694: interrogative pronouns > interrogative pro-adverbs > interrogative pro-adjectives > interrogative pro-numerals > interrogative pro-verbs Original There appears to be a differentiation hierarchy in…

Universal 1710: Original The Attractiveness of Rhymes: A rhyme is the more attractive: (a) the more heavily its syllable is accented relative to the following…

Universal 1726: Original Indigenous non-affixal articles are polyfunctional and at least one of their additional uses is pronominal. Standardized Indigenous non-affixal articles are polyfunctional and…

Universal 1742: Original If a language has person marking affixes on verb (direct object), they are prefixed with more than chance frequency. Standardized When there…

Universal 1758: Original I know of no cases where a complete indefinite pronoun has been borrowed. Standardized Complete indefinite pronouns cannot be borrowed. Keywords borrowing,…

Universal 1774: Original See IPA. Standardized IF nasalization occurs before /f/, THEN it also occurs before /≈/. Keywords nasal, nasalization, vowel, consonant Domain phonology Type…

Universal 1790: -VN ⇒ +VN ⇒ ’VN (nasalization and N-deletion)’VN ⇒ +VN ⇒ -VN (denasalization) Original Extended Stress Parameter:Nasalization and N-deletion develop successively in a…

Universal 1806: Original Standardized IF there is a prenasalized voiced alveolar stop, THEN there is a prenasalized voiced bilabial stop. Keywords stop, bilabial, alveolar, voice,…

Universal 1822: Original Standardized IF there is a labialized voiceless uvular ejective stop, THEN there is a voiceless uvular fricative. Keywords stop, fricative, labial, uvular,…