Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1573: Original If there are any antipassive reflexive verbs, they are most likely to possess the reciprocal sense as well. Standardized IF a reflexive…

Universal 1589: V-final ⇒ postposing ⇒ suffixes Original Verb-final languages exhibit a very strong postposing tendency which leads to their preponderance of suffixes. Standardized IF…

Universal 1605: N# > N[+continuant] > N[-continuant] > N[+syllabic] Original Hierarchy of regressive nasalization:N# > N[+continuant] > N[-continuant] > N[+syllabic]. If vowels are nasalized before…

Universal 1621: Original If a language has adjectives, then the numeral tends to modify the noun directly (that is, in most languages that have adjectives…

Universal 1637: head-final ⇒ serial verb constructions Original For serial verb constructions, the languages where heads precede complements are far more prone to verb serialization…

Universal 1653: Original If a language is non-tensed, the nominal predicate does not require a copula. Standardized IF there is non-tensedness, THEN the nominal predicate…

Universal 1669: Original If a language has palatalized a consonant before [e], then it must necessarily have previously palatalized this consonant before [i]. Standardized IF…

Universal 1685: Original If an SOV language deranks its consecutive chains, it will derank anterior predicates. Standardized IF basic order is SOV and there is…

Universal 1701: Original The Coda Law:A syllable coda is the more preferred: (a) the smaller the number of speech sounds in the coda, (b) the…

Universal 1717: adnominally possessors co-occur with demonstratives ⇒ nominally used possessives possessives co-occur with definite articles Original If possessive determiners co-occur with demonstratives, then nominal…