Category: Universals Archive

Universal 220: Original If a language has a converb with the fundamental meaning of succession, then it has also a converb with the fundamental meaning…

Universal 236: inflectional expansion: cases marking SUBJ, OBJ, ATTR ⇒ local cases;inflectional reduction: local cases ⇒ cases marking SUBJ, OBJ, ATTR Original During inflectional expansion,…

Universal 252: rigid &¬adjectives ⇒ predicative use (nominalpredicate & possessive predicate);rigid & small class of adjectives ⇒ predicative use (adjective &nominal & possessive predicate) Original…

Universal 268: ¬suppletive Pl (pronoun) ⇒ (marker Pl(pronoun) = marker Pl(noun)) Original If there is non-suppletive formation of the plural by pronouns, then plural markers…

Universal 284: gender(Adj) &,V number(adj) &,V case(adj) ⇒ gender(noun) &,V number(noun) &,V case(noun) Original If an adjective has the categories of gender and/or number and/or…

Universal 300: Original In all languages there is parataxis. Standardized Parataxis is used as a way of clause conjoining. Keywords parataxis, juxtaposition, clause conjoining Domain…

Universal 316: Original If the indefinite direct object is provided with a syntactic form of accusative*, then the definite direct object is provided with the…

Universal 332: Original If the suffix position is the only possible one for an object-affix, then the subject-affix also occupies this position at least in…

Universal 348: Original If SOV is a dominant order, then OVS is one of the alternative orders. Standardized IF SOV is a dominant order, THEN…

Universal 364: agglutinative ⇒ long inflectional affixes;flexive ⇒ short inflectional affixes Original Inflectional affixes tend to be longer in agglutinative languages than in flective languages.…