Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1240: Original If a language’s only final margins are stops, then they are glottal stops. Standardized IF stops are the only final word margin,…

Universal 1256: Original High vowels tend to assimilate more readily and earlier than low vowels. Standardized High vowels tend to assimilate more readily and earlier…

Universal 1272: Original Categories which are used like the English pluperfect will tend to be nondistinct from remote past. Standardized IF categories are used like…

Universal 1288: subtraction &/v division ⇒ addition & multiplication Original Of the four fundamental arithmetical operations –addition and its inverse, subtraction, and multiplication and its…

Universal 1304: SOV ⇒ Plural affixes on N are suffixed Original If a language has SOV, plural affixes on noun (if any) are suffixed with…

Universal 1320: Original Among the deictic elements of every human language is one that denotes the speaker and one that denotes the addressee. Standardized Among…

Universal 1336: Original Universal Hierarchy of Markedness of basic word orders:SOV < SVO < OVS < VOS < VSO < OSV Standardized Universal Hierarchy of…

Universal 1352: Original A serialized augend is always larger than its addends. Standardized In numeral systems, a serialized augend is always larger than its addends.…

Universal 1368: Original No language contrasts a ’round’ classifier with a ‘polyhedral’ classifier, unless the latter is the classifier for buildings, or some similar material…

Universal 1384: Original No language with a traditional auxiliary verb will exist in which the auxiliary does not take what is usually verbal inflection. Standardized…