Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1180: ‘leg’ ⇒ ‘arm’ Original If in a given language there is a separate term for ‘leg’ (as opposed to ‘foot’), then there is…

Universal 1196: Adj ⇒ Adj(color) & Adj(dimension) & Adj(age) & Adj(value) Original If a language has a category of adjectives, this class is likely to…

Universal 1212: Original Local cases are preferably expressed by suffixes, and never by infixes. Standardized IF an affix expresses a local case, THEN it will…

Universal 1228: superior &/v inferior local case ⇒ exterior local case Original If there are superior and/or inferior local cases, then there will also be…

Universal 1244: Original The loss of intervocalic consonants is a more frequently occurring process than loss of initial consonants; hiatus producing more intervocalic loss is…

Universal 1260: Original The less the phonetic distance between opposing members of potential vowel grades, the more prone they will be to harmonize. Standardized The…

Universal 1276: Original If a language of the unitransitive SVO type has different relative orders depending upon whether the direct object is marked or unmarked,…

Universal 1292: definite article (possessed NPs with a kinship term as head noun) ⇒ definite article (possessed NPs with a non-kinship term as head noun)…

Universal 1308: SOV ⇒ tense affixes on V are suffixed Original If a language has SOV, tense affixes on verb (if any) are suffixed with…

Universal 1324: Original Every human language has a common clause type with bipartite structure in which the constituents can reasonably be termed “topic” and “comment”.…