Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1631: polysynthesis ⇒ ¬ true quantifiers Original Polysynthetic languages should not have non-referential quantified NPs – that is, NPs comparable to ‘everyone’, ‘everything’, ‘nobody’,…

Universal 1647: Original Clause-affecting relativization inherently favours dependent-marking and disfavours head-marking. Standardized IF clause-affecting relativization occurs, THEN it will be of dependent-marking type. Keywords head-marking,…

Universal 1663: Original If a language uses the same expression both as intensifier and reflexive anaphor, this expression is not used as a marker of…

Universal 1679: Original Anteriors (or perfects, which develop from stative auxiliaries plus a past participle, or from dynamic verbs such as ‘finish’ or ‘come from’)…

Universal 1695: Original Universal Hierarchy of Consonantal Strength:voiceless plosives > voiced stops > voiceless fricatives > voiced fricatives > nasals > lateral liquids (l-sounds) >…

Universal 1711: Original Lutz’s Law:Heterosyllabication of an internuclear cluster is the more preferred, the more attractive the rhyme of that syllable is which would remain…

Universal 1727: Original In most languages the demonstrative pronoun and demonstrative adjective are identical. Standardized In most languages the demonstrative pronoun and demonstrative adjective are…

Universal 1743: Original Only in languages that have no overt articles do non-specific direct objects fail to be accusative-marked (or, in general, fail to be…

Universal 1759: Original Vowels are shorter before voiceless obstruents than before voiced obstruents or sonorants. Standardized Vowels are shorter before voiceless obstruents than before voiced…

Universal 1775: Original See IPA. Standardized IF nasalized /i/ lowers to nasalized /e/, THEN nasalized /e/ also lowers to nasalized /a/. Keywords nasal, lowering, vowel…