Category: Universals Archive

Universal 480: (word-level progressive form) & (phrase -level progressive constructions) ⇒ word-level (present tense) Original If there is a word-level progressive form for some tenses…

Universal 496: initial question word ⇒ inversion Verb-Subject;inversion Verb-Subject (interrogative question) ⇒ inversion Verb-Subject (yes-no question) Original Inversion of statement order so that verb precedes…

Universal 512: Original There is no language in which the plural does not have some non-zero allomorphs, whereas there are languages in which the singular…

Universal 528: Original In every numerical system some numbers receive simple lexical representation. Standardized In every numerical system some numbers are expressed by basic terms.…

Universal 544: Original If a numeral expression contains a complex constituent, then the numerical value of the complex constituent itself in isolation receives either simple…

Universal 560: Original If an atomic numeral expression is borrowed from one language into another, all higher atomic expressions are borrowed. Standardized IF an atomic…

Universal 576: semantic agreement for personal pronouns ⇒ semantic agreement for relative pronouns ⇒ ⇒ semantic agreement for predicates ⇒ semantic agreement for attributes Original…

Universal 592: Original In all languages, some instances of adjacency relations among syntactic constituents symbolize semantic relatedness between the corresponding meanings; but in all languages…

Universal 608: reflexive (1 &, v 2 ) ⇒ reflexive (3 ) Original If there are reflexive pronouns distinct from non-reflexive ones with 1st and/or…

Universal 624: SA ⇒ verb-initial V verb-final Original If a language has Suffixaufnahme, then it has verb-initial or verb-final constituent order. Standardized IF there is…