Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1251: Original When consonant gradation plays a role in the grammar, it serves the function to identify nouns. Standardized IF consonant gradation plays a…

Universal 1267: SVO ⇒ ¬ ergative; ergative ⇒ ¬ SVO Original Ergative systems are found only in SOV and VSO languages. SVO languages are never…

Universal 1283: Original Standardized 1. TARGETS OF PALATALIZATIONa. in terms of place of articulation:IF a less back consonant is palatalized, THEN all more back consonants…

Universal 1299: SOV ⇒ Indefiniteness affixes on N are suffixed; Original If a language has SOV, indefiniteness affixes on N (if any) are suffixed. Standardized…

Universal 1315: scrambling ⇒ head-final order Original Scrambling is limited to head-final contexts. Standardized IF there is scrambling, THEN the order is head-final. Keywords scrambling,…

Universal 1331: Original No phonological system has fewer than two contrasting positions of articulation for stops. Standardized No phonological system has fewer than two contrasting…

Universal 1347: (ObjPred & AdjN & GenN) ⇒ left-recursive Original If in a language the object precedes the predicate, and the adjective and genitive precede…

Universal 1363: Original The only numeral expressions deleted are those for 1 and for bases of the system. Standardized In numeral systems, IF any numeral…

Universal 1379: Original Question-word Movement Universal:All languages that move WH-question word to clause-peripheral position move it to the left, not the right. Standardized Question-word Movement…

Universal 1395: argument-reduced adverbials ⇒ predicate-reduced adverbials Original If a language has argument-reduced adverbials, it will also have predicate-reduced adverbials. Standardized IF there are argument-reduced…