Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1981: Original rigid type III (verb-final) …Optional plural. Expression of plural in the noun is optional and is normally absent in nouns when they…

Universal 1997: Original There is no purely morphological system [of gender assignment]. First, they always have a semantic core. … the morphological rules assign the…

Universal 2013: Original It is probably the case that a classifier set always includes a contrast human/nonhuman or animate/inanimate … A gender/noun class system almost…

Universal 2029: Original If there is only one liquid, there are no onset clusters. Standardized IF there is only one liquid, THEN there are no…

Universal 14: verb agreement with case-less objects ⇒ verb agreement with case-marked objects Original If verbs agree with objects, they are likelier to do so…

Universal 30: Original If a language has Suffixaufnahme, it also has NP-internal attributive constituents outside this construction. Standardized IF there is Suffixaufnahme, THEN there will…

Universal 46: Original When objects are marked differently depending on whether or not they are definite, or on whether or not they are animate/human, it…

Universal 62: Rel N ⇒ Postposition &/v Adj N Original If the relative expression precedes the noun either as the only construction or as an…

Universal 78: Original Only languages in which (a) passivization involves complete loss of the semantic case-coding properties of the object and an assumption by it…

Universal 94: Object word (noun) > Property word (adjective) > Action word (verb) Original The (non)use of a copula conforms to a hierarchy of predication:…