Universal 176: N G ⇒ N Rel; equivalently: Rel N ⇒ G N Original If the genitive follows the noun, then the relative clause follows…
Category: Universals Archive
Universals Archive
Universal 192:
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Universal 192: Original A relation that is higher on the hierarchy of centrality (subject-object > local relations; locative > ablative; …) than another one will…
Universal 208: OV ⇒ pitch accent;VO ⇒ stress accent Original OV languages are characterized by pitch accent.VO languages tend to have stress accent accompanied by…
Universal 224: labial/dental stops ⇒ nasal /oral stops Original The first consonantal opposition is that of nasal and oral stop, which is followed by the…
Universal 240: Erg ⇒ G N & N Adj Original If a language has ergative case marking, it will with far more than chance frequency…
Universal 256: gender (noun) ⇒ the same gender (pronoun) Original If there exists a regular gender (nominal class) distinction in a language, this distinction is…
Universal 272: person V number (non-indicative mood) ⇒ person V number (indicative mood)
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Universal 272: person V number (non-indicative mood) ⇒ person V number (indicative mood) Original If there is a certain person or number distinction in the…
Universal 288: causative morpheme expresses permissiveness ⇒ causative morpheme expresses factitivity
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Universal 288: causative morpheme expresses permissiveness ⇒ causative morpheme expresses factitivity Original If a causative morpheme in any language can express permissiveness, it can usually…
Universal 304: three-member passive ⇒ two-member passive Original If there is a three-member passive construction, then there will be a two-member passive construction, derived from…
Universal 320: nominative/accusative (pronouns) ⇒ nominative/accusative (nouns)
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Universal 320: nominative/accusative (pronouns) ⇒ nominative/accusative (nouns) Original If personal pronouns have an opposition of the syntactic forms of nominative and accusative, then this opposition…