Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1062: Original In case of polite plural subject, … more verb-like predicates tend to agree with features of the surface subject, while more noun-like…

Universal 1078: Original In languages with distinctive aspiration, when aspiration is phonemic, it is often more marked than when it is merely allophonic. Standardized In…

Universal 1094: Original Nasal consonants tend to share place of articulation properties with stop systems, and glottal features, syllabicity, and accent bearing with liquids. Standardized…

Universal 1110: preverbs (perfective aspect) ⇒ preverbs (future tense) Original If in a language perfective aspect is expressed by help of preverbs then it is…

Universal 1126: incorporation (noun) ⇒ incorporation (pronoun) Original If nouns can be incorporated, then pronouns can also be incorporated. Standardized IF nouns can be incorporated,…

Universal 1142: passive ⇒ SOV Original Passivization is prominent in SVO languages, but not at all in OV languages. Standardized IF there is a passive,…

Universal 1158: Original If the indefinite article is derived from the cardinal ‘one’, non-numerable nouns cannot take indefinite article. Standardized IF the indefinite article is…

Universal 1174: Original If in a given language a term for a cardinal direction is introduced, then the sun provides the most likely model to…

Universal 1190: non-subjects control reflexives/reciprocals ⇒ subjects control reflexives/reciprocals Original If non-subject can control reflexives/reciprocals, then subjects can, too. Standardized IF non-subject can control reflexives/reciprocals,…

Universal 1206: Original Constraint on negating self-dual and monotone decreasing quantifiers:If a language has a syntactic construction whose semantic function is to negate a quantifier,…