Category: Universals Archive

Universal 372: agglutinative ⇒ simple syllabic structure;flexive ⇒ complex syllabic structure Original There is a positive correlation between agglutinative morphology and simple syllable structure (or…

Universal 388: agglutinative ⇔ ¬ gender inflection Original Languages without inflectional gender are agglutinating, and vice versa. Standardized IF there is no inflectional gender, THEN…

Universal 404: C [+obst, +cont]h ⇒ C [+obst, -cont]h; oraspirated continuous obstruents ⇒ aspirated non-continuous obstruents Original Aspirated non-continuous obstruents occur more frequently than aspirated…

Universal 420: verb agreement (inanimate constituent) ⇒ verb agreement (animate constituent) Original There is no language where, given a constituent class including both animate and…

Universal 436: ergative alignment ⇔ dependent-marking;stative-active alignment ⇔ head-marking; hierarchical alignment ⇔ head-marking Original Ergative alignment is associated with dependent marking , stative-active and hierarchical…

Universal 452: pre-aspirated consonant ⇒ post-aspirated consonant; Original Postaspirated consonants occur more frequently than pre-aspirated ones. Standardized IF there are pre-aspirated consonants, THEN there are…

Universal 468: number marker (noun) = number marker (1&2 person verb)) ⇒ number marker (noun) = number marker (3 person verb)) Original If marking of…

Universal 484: Original In two-thirds of the languages sampled, the indirect object is marked either extra- or intra-verbally when it is contiguous with the verb…

Universal 500: In expressions of volition and purpose: OV ⇒ Subordinate-Main verb; VO ⇒ Main verb-Subordinate Original In expressions of volition and purpose, a subordinate…

Universal 516: gender (noun) ⇒ gender (pronoun) Original If a language has gender categories in the noun, it has gender categories in the pronoun. Standardized…