Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1488: Original In ditransitive constructions, the theme/direct object may incorporate, but the goal/indirect object may not. Standardized In ditransitive constructions, the theme/direct object may…

Universal 1504: Original The endpoint configuration prediction:Any language which has a lexeme denoting motion out of or motion through some configuration will also have a…

Universal 1520: OS ⇒ N Gen Original In possessive constructions subject-final languages always present full noun phrase possessors after the head (the possessed) noun phrase.…

Universal 1536: Original In verb-initial languages, there is a tendency for many types of subordinate clauses to be finite. Standardized IF word order is verb-initial,…

Universal 1552: Original In verb-initial and verb-final languages, but not in verb-medial ones, relative pronouns which code the case of the position relativized are rare.…

Universal 1568: Original If a language has both (a) reflexive construction with the true passive meaning and (b) special (e.g., analytical participial) forms for the…

Universal 1584: kin terms and/or body parts > part-whole and/or spatial relations > culturally basic possessed items Original Semantic scale of inalienable possession: kin terms…

Universal 1600: Original If a language has DPs at all, it has DPs of type e. If it has no DPs distinct from NPs, it…

Universal 1616: subject pro-drop ⇔ inflectional paradigms of verbs are morphologically uniform Original The Null Subject Parameter:Null subjects are permitted in all and only languages…

Universal 1632: polysynthesis ⇒ Wh-movement Original In polysynthetic languages, interrogative phrases are constrained to appear in clause-initial position. Standardized IF there is polysynthesis, THEN interrogative…