Category: Universals Archive

Universal 161: Original No language suspends overt marking of dative or spatial functions because the referent is non-specific or indefinite. Standardized Overt marking of dative…

Universal 177: Postp ⇒ (Dem N ⇒ G N) Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the demonstrative precedes the noun, the…

Universal 193: case assign (verb) ⇒ case assign (adposition);case assign (adposition) ⇒ case assign (verb) Original If in a language verbs assign morphological case, so…

Universal 209: Original An opposition of two vowels of the same degree of aperture is not present as long as a corresponding vocalic opposition of…

Universal 225: Original Difference of case inventories in the different systems:the strong active system is characterized by an absence of case inflection; the opposition of…

Universal 241: inflection ⇔ free order; ¬inflection ⇔ rigid order Original If there is segmental relation marking, word order is free, and vice versa.OR equivalently:If…

Universal 257: Original Among the most important morphological implications of the active languages are the following: diathesis of the active verb differentiates between centrifugal and…

Universal 273: aspect (Indic.) ⇒ aspect (Imper.) Original If in a language there is imperative mood and there are aspect distinctions in the indicative mood,…

Universal 289: postconsonantal aspiration ⇒ prevocalic aspiration; Original Prevocalic aspiration is typologically more frequent than postconsonantal aspiration. Standardized IF there is postconsonantal aspiration, THEN there…

Universal 305: passives of INTR ⇒ passives of TR Original If a language has passive voice forms derived from intransitive verbs, it has passive voice…