Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1917: Original If a language lacks a definite article, it tends to lack (fully) indirect speech. Standardized IF there is no definite article, THEN…

Universal 1933: impersonal indefinite is borrowed ⇒ temporal indefinite is borrowed Original If there is a word-form loan of an impersonal indefinite, then it is…

Universal 1949: Original If a language has Class IIIa/Ib predicates requiring non-canonicaly marked A/S, then it also has Class Ia predicates requiring non-canonically marked A/S.…

Universal 1965: Original The Compensatory Principle:The co-occurrence patterns of hetero-organic consonants across a vowel are such that if the first consonant is more sonorous than…

Universal 1981: Original rigid type III (verb-final) …Optional plural. Expression of plural in the noun is optional and is normally absent in nouns when they…

Universal 1997: Original There is no purely morphological system [of gender assignment]. First, they always have a semantic core. … the morphological rules assign the…

Universal 2013: Original It is probably the case that a classifier set always includes a contrast human/nonhuman or animate/inanimate … A gender/noun class system almost…

Universal 2029: Original If there is only one liquid, there are no onset clusters. Standardized IF there is only one liquid, THEN there are no…

Universal 12: VO ⇒ flexion Original Consistent VO languages tend to be inflectional in their morphology. Standardized IF basic order is consistently VO, THEN the…

Universal 29: Original In all languages, if Suffixaufnahme occurs without pause between the head and the attributive nominal, it also occurs with it. Standardized IF…