Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1481: Original If a language lacks a form with the meaning ‘hearer’ and/or ‘hearers’ and/or ‘hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’, then it has a special form…

Universal 1497: Original All languages name ‘(finger)nail’ and ‘(toe)nail’. Standardized All languages name ‘(finger)nail’ and ‘(toe)nail’. Keywords body part Domain lexicon Type unconditional Status achronic…

Universal 1513: VOS (basic) ⇒ SVO (alternative) Original SVO is a grammatical (although marked) word order in all VOS languages. Standardized If basic word order…

Universal 1529: OS ⇒ passive is marked in verbal morphology Original ‘Passive’ is generally marked in the verbal morphology in subject-final languages. Standardized IF subject…

Universal 1545: Original In verb-initial languages, the demonstrative, numeral, and qualifying adjective follow the common noun in that order or its mirror image (Adj +…

Universal 1561: verb-initial ⇒ ¬ overt copula Original Verb-initial languages normally have no overt copula. Standardized IF word order is verb-initial, THEN there is no…

Universal 1577: Original If there is a reflexive verb meaning ‘to laugh’ it is usually not derived from the transitive base meaning ‘to make somebody…

Universal 1593: internal relative clause ⇒ null anaphora Original Internally headed relative clauses occur only in languages manifesting null anaphora (that is, the use of…

Universal 1609: Original Cross-linguistically, languages would not be expected to exhibit phonological constrasts such as [-nasal] laryngeal segments and [+nasal] laryngeal segments. Standardized Languages would…

Universal 1625: Original In languages with double numeral systems, the set of numerals labelled as A tends to be associated with singular(s) as the unmarked…