Category: Universals Archive

Universal 452: pre-aspirated consonant ⇒ post-aspirated consonant; Original Postaspirated consonants occur more frequently than pre-aspirated ones. Standardized IF there are pre-aspirated consonants, THEN there are…

Universal 468: number marker (noun) = number marker (1&2 person verb)) ⇒ number marker (noun) = number marker (3 person verb)) Original If marking of…

Universal 484: Original In two-thirds of the languages sampled, the indirect object is marked either extra- or intra-verbally when it is contiguous with the verb…

Universal 500: In expressions of volition and purpose: OV ⇒ Subordinate-Main verb; VO ⇒ Main verb-Subordinate Original In expressions of volition and purpose, a subordinate…

Universal 516: gender (noun) ⇒ gender (pronoun) Original If a language has gender categories in the noun, it has gender categories in the pronoun. Standardized…

Universal 532: Original It seems probable that in all languages expressions of time and place may appear in the initial positions in the sentence. Standardized…

Universal 548: Original If numeral expressions for the smallest addends take the plural of the noun when they designate numbers >1, then complex numerals with…

Universal 564: Du (noun) ⇒ Du (pronoun) Original If the Dual extends to nouns, it also extends to pronouns. Standardized IF the dual extends to…

Universal 580: (gender (Sg) & gender (1non-Sg &,V 2 non-Sg)) ⇒ gender (1Sg &,V 2 Sg ) V gender (3Sg) Original In languages with Gender…

Universal 596: Original The possessive adjective is not separated from the head noun by any constituent except another genuine determiner, i. e. the determiner. Standardized…