Category: Universals Archive

Universal 437: verb-initial & free order ⇔ head-marking;verb-medial v. verb-final ⇔ dependent-marking Original Verb-initial order and lack of any determinate or stated order favour head-marking;…

Universal 453: free, less intimate possessor form ⇒ bound, more intimate possessor form Original A free, less intimate possessor form may imply a bound, more…

Universal 469: Original If a language has long consonants, it has long consonants in intervocalic position. Standardized IF long consonants occur in non-intervocalic position, THEN…

Universal 485: variable order SVO: IndO marking is optional & IndO is contiguous with the verb ⇒ IndO is unmarked; DO is contiguous with the…

Universal 501: VSO ⇒ Aux V;SOV ⇒ V Aux Original In languages with dominant order VSO, an inflected auxiliary always precedes the main verb. In…

Universal 517: gender (1 person ) ⇒ gender (2 &, V. 3 person) Original If a language has gender distinctions in the 1st person, it…

Universal 533: numeral classifier ⇒ ¬ obligatory plural marking (noun) Original If a language includes numeral classifiers as its dominant mode of forming quantification expressions,…

Universal 549: Original Where there is rule-governed variation between the use of the singular and plural with numerals, the use of the singular is favoured…

Universal 565: Du (3 person) ⇔ Du (2 person) Original If 3rd Person differentiates a Dual, so does 2nd, and vice versa. Standardized IF 3rd…

Universal 581: (¬gender (Sg) & gender (1 non-Sg)) ⇒ gender (2 non-Sg) ⇒ gender (3 non-Sg) Original In languages without Gender distinctions in the Singular,…