Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1205: Original Persistent determiner constraint:Every persistent determiner of human language is monotone ¡ncreasing and weak. Standardized Persistent determiner constraint:Every persistent determiner of human language…

Universal 1221: locative ⇔ allative ⇔ ablative Original Systems of local cases prototypically include a locative (‘where’ case), an allative (‘where to’ case), and an…

Universal 1237: Original Languages with uniform syllable division do not have VC.V division. Standardized IF there is uniform syllable division, THEN there is no VC.V…

Universal 1253: Original Anterior consonants are less likely to participate in consonant gradation than posterior consonants. Standardized Anterior consonants are less likely to participate in…

Universal 1269: Original Hierarchy of grammatical functions for purposes of quantifier scope: topic > deep and surface subject > deep or surface subject > indirect…

Universal 1285: Original Subtraction is never expressed by mere sequence of the subtrahend and minuend. Standardized IF a numeral system has subtraction, THEN it is…

Universal 1301: SOV ⇒ nominalizing affixes on N are suffixed; Original If a language has SOV, nominalizing affixes on N (if any) are suffixed with…

Universal 1317: Original Long scrambling is limited to extraction from AP and PP. Standardized IF long scrambling is possible, THEN it occurs out of (extended)…

Universal 1333: Original If we define a ‘vowel system’ to include all the segmental phonemes that occur as syllable peaks, then every language has a…

Universal 1349: plural weakly developed ⇒ numeral classifiers Original Numeral classifiers occur in the languages where plural is weakly developed. Standardized IF plural is weakly…