Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1218: Original If there are no local cases but non-local (grammatical, abstract) cases, then localization will preferably be expressed by adpositions plus non-local cases…

Universal 1234: Original If a language provides intransitive verbs that take patients as their theme (as in English ‘These wine glasses break easily, so be…

Universal 1250: Original Sonants tend to participate in consonant gradation much more than other phonemes. Standardized Sonants tend to participate in consonant gradation much more…

Universal 1266: assimilation of unrounded vowels ⇒ assimilation of rounded vowels Original Assimilation of unrounded vowels implies assimilation of rounded vowels. Standardized IF there is…

Universal 1282: Original The total number of retroflexed consonants is never greater than that of the non-retroflexed apical consonants. Standardized IF there are n retroflexed…

Universal 1298: postposition ⇒ Indefiniteness affixes on N are suffixed Original If a language is postpositional, indefiniteness affixes on noun (if any) are suffixed. Standardized…

Universal 1314: Original The various classes of adverbs (AdvPs) enter a rigidly ordered sequence, which is the same across languages. And if one sets aside…

Universal 1330: Original Every phonological system contrasts phonemes that are typically stops with phonemes that are never stops. Standardized Every phonological system contrasts phonemes that…

Universal 1346: PP-V ⇔ Adv V;V-PP ⇔ V Adv Original Adverbs of manner overwhelmingly precede verbs in languages where adpositional phrases (PP = prepositional or…

Universal 1362: Original If 1 is expressed as a multiplier with a particular base, it is expressed with all higher bases. Standardized In numeral systems,…