Category: Universals Archive

Universal 602: Original No accusative language has only ergative-type verb agreement in person or number or gender. Standardized IF alignment is accusative for some/many purposes,…

Universal 618: Original If a language can relativize a subordinate direct object, then it can relativize a main clause direct object. Standardized IF a subordinate…

Universal 634: SA ⇒ non-configurational syntax Original If a language has Suffixaufnahme, then it has non-configurational (“flat”) syntax. Standardized IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN syntax…

Universal 650: stative-active (3) ⇒ stative-active (1&2) Original IF a language has agent-patient case marking in 3rd person, it will also have agent-patient marking in…

Universal 666: information question inversion ⇒ question words are sentence initial Original If a language has information question inversion, question words are almost always sentence…

Universal 682: Original If morphological Negation, then following factors are likely:a. portmanteau realization of Neg;b. prosodic unity of Neg and verb (viz. if they ‘share’…

Universal 698: Original Standardized IF there are more than six vowels, THEN /e, o/ or /i, E/ will be among them. (The types /i, E/…

Universal 714: Original A language may contrast up to five levels of tone, but no more. Standardized There will be no more than five phonological…

Universal 730: Original The Agreement Universal:If a language has person agreement in intransitive main clauses, this agreement will at least be used in sentences with…

Universal 746: Tense ⇒ Past/Non-Past Original The Universal of Tense-Aspect Organization:If a language encodes a tense opposition in its verbal system, this opposition will hold…