Category: Universals Archive

Universal 2002: Original The Agreement Hierarchy:attributive < predicate < relative pronoun < personal pronoun(i) Possible agreement pattern are constrained as follows: As we move rightwards…

Universal 2018: Original All languages have “emotive” interjections (i.e. interjections expressing cognitively based feelings). Standardized There are “emotive” interjections (i.e. interjections expressing cognitively based feelings).…

Universal 1: Adp NP ⇒ N G Original In languages with prepositions the genitive almost always follows the governing noun. Standardized IF adpositions precede their…

Universal 19: SA nominal possessor ⇒ SA pronominal possessor Original In all languages, if Suffixaufnahme occurs with nominal possessors, it also occurs with pronominal ones.…

Universal 35: SA ⇒ adjectives agree with their heads in the same category Original If a language has Suffixaufnahme, then adjectives agree with their heads…

Universal 51: Original In agreement of governors (verbs, adpositions, possessum noun phrases) with dependent NPs (NP external agreement), except those NPs bearing a concrete semantic…

Universal 67: VSO ⇒ (N A ⇒ N G) Original If a language has VSO word order, then if the adjective follows the noun, the…

Universal 83: Original There is no language where the accusative is a marked case and non-accusative objects gain that marking in dative-shifting. Standardized When direct…

Universal 99: Rel ≥ Gen ≥ Adj ≥ (Dem/Num) Original Heaviness Serialization Principle:Rel ≥ Gen ≥ Adj ≥ (Dem/Num). Relative heaviness is a composite notion…

Universal 115: Original It is common for certain case distinctions to be neutralized for a given number, while the opposite phenomenon perhaps never occurs. Standardized…