Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1974: Original Existential verbs of indefinite subjects tend toward clause-initial position. Standardized Existential verbs of indefinite subjects tend toward clause-initial position. Keywords verb, existence,…

Universal 1990: Original In terms of the above tree model, we may say that gender systems have their genesis in the left branching of the…

Universal 2006: Original If vowel length is contrastive, pitch is the most important cue, intensity the second-most important cue, and duration the least important cue…

Universal 2022: Original In all languages, there are alternative grammatical constructions for describing (and interpreting) cognitively based feelings, conceptualizing “emotions” as “involuntary” or as “uncontrollable”,…

Universal 7: Original Where morphemes of both number and case are present and both follow or both precede the noun base, the expression of number…

Universal 23: Original In all languages, the range of cases that can be marked on the head of a Suffixaufnahme construction may never be narrower…

Universal 39: Original If a language has Suffixaufnahme with both preposed and postposed attributives at one time and at some earlier time it had it…

Universal 55: VSO ⇒ prepositions Original Languages with dominant VSO order are always prepositional. Standardized IF basic order is VSO, THEN adpositions precede their NPs…

Universal 71: Postp ⇒ (A N ⇒ G N) Original If a language has Postp word order, and if the adjective precedes the noun, then…

Universal 87: Prep ⇒ (N Dem ⇒ N Rel) Original IF a language has Prep word order, then if the demonstrative follows the noun, the…