Category: Universals Archive

Universal 111: V Adv ⇒ N Adj Original For most languages, if V Adv, then N Adj. Standardized IF verbs precede adverbs, THEN nouns precede…

Universal 127: Original No language has syntactic means (dependent marking, head marking, word order) which are exclusively used in ANCs. Standardized IF any kinds of…

Universal 143: Adj(Def) ⇒ G N Original If the adjective agrees in definiteness, then the genitive will precede the noun. Standardized IF the adjective agrees…

Universal 159: Original If object and transitive-clause allative are marked identically, even non-adpositionally, then dative is also identically marked. Standardized IF object and transitive-clause allative…

Universal 175: Prep ⇒ (N G ⇒ N Rel) Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the genitive follows the noun, the…

Universal 192: Original A relation that is higher on the hierarchy of centrality (subject-object > local relations; locative > ablative; …) than another one will…

Universal 208: OV ⇒ pitch accent;VO ⇒ stress accent Original OV languages are characterized by pitch accent.VO languages tend to have stress accent accompanied by…

Universal 224: labial/dental stops ⇒ nasal /oral stops Original The first consonantal opposition is that of nasal and oral stop, which is followed by the…

Universal 240: Erg ⇒ G N & N Adj Original If a language has ergative case marking, it will with far more than chance frequency…

Universal 256: gender (noun) ⇒ the same gender (pronoun) Original If there exists a regular gender (nominal class) distinction in a language, this distinction is…