Category: Universals Archive

Universal 674: Original With few exceptions, postnominal relative clauses in VSO languages contain either (a) an initial relative particle or pronoun or (b) a special…

Universal 690: Original The occurrence of consonant-combinations in initial and final position of words implies their possibility in medial position, between vowels, but not vice…

Universal 706: nasal vowels ⇒ as many or more oral vowels Original The number of vowels in a nasal vowel system is equal to or…

Universal 722: complex contour tones ⇒ simple contour tones Original A language with complex contours also has simplex contours. Standardized IF there are complex tonal…

Universal 738: Original The Adjective Hierarchy:Human Propensity / Physical / Dimension, Colour / Value, Age, Form / Material, Gender The first aim of this hierarchy…

Universal 754: Original For injectives, …, the bilabial is clearly the favoured point of articulation. Standardized IF an obstruent is injective, THEN it will most…

Universal 770: voiced primary fricative ⇒ unvoiced primary fricative Original The presence of a voiced primary fricative in a language is highly likely to imply…

Universal 786: Original The number of secondary oral stops in a given language is not likely to be greater than that of primary oral stops.…

Universal 802: back consonant ⇒ front consonant Original No language has back consonants without containing front consonants. Standardized IF there are back consonants, THEN there…

Universal 818: Original Standardized Normal hierarchy of increasing markedness in vowels: /E / ⇒ /a/ ⇒ /e/ ⇒ /i/ ⇒ /ü/ ⇒ /ö/ ⇒ /œ…