Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1014: Original If there are analogical changes in their inflectional paradigms, the forms (stems and affixes) of inferior numerals replace more likely the forms…

Universal 1030: Original Only the intense pole – loud stress, high pitch and length – ever has the accentual property. There is no language in…

Universal 1046: Original The number of tones on a long vowel seems never to be fewer than on a short vowel. Standardized The number of…

Universal 1062: Original In case of polite plural subject, … more verb-like predicates tend to agree with features of the surface subject, while more noun-like…

Universal 1078: Original In languages with distinctive aspiration, when aspiration is phonemic, it is often more marked than when it is merely allophonic. Standardized In…

Universal 1094: Original Nasal consonants tend to share place of articulation properties with stop systems, and glottal features, syllabicity, and accent bearing with liquids. Standardized…

Universal 1110: preverbs (perfective aspect) ⇒ preverbs (future tense) Original If in a language perfective aspect is expressed by help of preverbs then it is…

Universal 1126: incorporation (noun) ⇒ incorporation (pronoun) Original If nouns can be incorporated, then pronouns can also be incorporated. Standardized IF nouns can be incorporated,…

Universal 1142: passive ⇒ SOV Original Passivization is prominent in SVO languages, but not at all in OV languages. Standardized IF there is a passive,…

Universal 1158: Original If the indefinite article is derived from the cardinal ‘one’, non-numerable nouns cannot take indefinite article. Standardized IF the indefinite article is…