Category: Universals Archive

Universal 170: Original If a language has case affixes on nouns, they are almost always suffixed. Standardized IF there are case affixes on nouns, THEN…

Universal 186: declension classes ⇒ cumulation (case & number);separation (case & number) ⇒ ¬ declension classes Original If there are declension classes (with different classes…

Universal 202: Original No set of case marking elements are both independent morphemes and express subject-object relations. Standardized IF a relational marker (case, adposition) is…

Universal 218: mellow fricative ⇒ strident fricative Original Standardized IF there are mellow fricatives, THEN there are corresponding strident fricatives. Keywords mellow, strident, fricative Domain…

Universal 234: inflectional expansion: number inflection ⇒ case inflection ⇒ gender inflectioninflectional reduction: gender inflection ⇒ case inflection ⇒ number inflection Original In times of…

Universal 250: flexible language ⇒ predicative use (all classes of predicates) Original All truly flexible languages allow all classes of predicate, up to and including…

Universal 266: Original If a language has Person and Number inflection, then it also has Tense, Aspect and Mood inflection. Standardized IF there is Person…

Universal 282: ¬Gen (noun) ⇒ ¬DO(noun) & ¬OBL(noun) Original If a noun does not have genitive, then it does not have forms of direct and…

Universal 298: Original In all languages: if there is no category definiteness/indefiniteness, then the change of the word order is used as a way of…

Universal 314: Original In the majority of languages the forms that function as direct objects may also function as adverbial modifiers, especially adverbial modifiers of…