Category: Universals Archive

Universal 114: N Dem ⇒ N Adj Original There is a significant tendency for N Dem languages to have N Adj. Standardized IF nouns precede…

Universal 130: Original Head-dependent word order is the same in ANCs and non-derived NPs. Standardized IF heads precede/follow dependents in non-derived noun phrases, THEN they…

Universal 146: Original Tendency: in SOV-languages adjectives can be the head of NPs whereas SVO-languages and VSO-languages tend to require a dummy head noun (‘thing’,…

Universal 162: Original No language uses different dative or spatial markers for partitives. Standardized Overt marking of dative or spatial functions does not alternate depending…

Universal 178: Postp ⇒ (Num N ⇒ G N) Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the numeral precedes the noun, the…

Universal 194: case assign (numeral) ⇒ case-assign (verb &/V adposition) Original … in case in a language numerals are case-assigners, so are verbs and/or adpositions.…

Universal 210: Original A differentiation of rounded vowels according to degree of aperture cannot arise as long as the same opposition is lacking for unrounded…

Universal 226: Original Languages of the class type have no case paradigm. In rare cases when languages of the active type have an elementary noun…

Universal 242: inflectional expansion: Pl ⇒ Duinflectional reduction: Du ⇒ Pl Original During inflectional expansion, if there is a plural, there is also a dual.…

Universal 258: Original In ergative languages the subject is characterized by its autonomous position in the sentence:first of all, subject and predicate are in marginal…