Category: Universals Archive

Universal 102: Postp ⇒ (Poss N ⇒ G N) Original If a language has Postp word order, then if the possessive adjective precedes the noun,…

Universal 118: Original If in a language, in a sentence the verb agrees with the noun in an oblique case and there is a noun…

Universal 134: Original Ergative languages favour SENT and SENT-POSS ANCs and disfavour POSS-ACC and NOMN ones. Standardized IF there is ergative alignment, THEN action nominalizations…

Universal 150: Original If head nouns have adjective-like inflection, so do adnominal nouns. Standardized IF head nouns have adjective-like inflection, THEN so do adnominal nouns.…

Universal 166: Original If a verb agrees in prefix with the direct object, then at least some of the verbs agree with the subject. Standardized…

Universal 182: Original If adnominal genitival complements are neither marked by case nor by coreference on the head-NP, there is a tendency for SVO. Standardized…

Universal 198: Original No set of case marking elements both precede the head noun and are inseparable from it. Standardized IF a relational marker (case,…

Universal 214: fixed-case (comparative) ⇒ deranking Original If a language has a fixed-case comparative, then that language is deranking. Standardized IF there is a fixed-case…

Universal 230: rigid order ⇔ ¬case; ¬case ⇔ prepositions; rigid order ⇔ preposition; flexible order ⇔ cases; cases ⇔ sparse use of preposition; flexible order…

Universal 246: free order ⇒ longer words Original Words tend to be longer if constituent order is free than if it is rigid. Standardized IF…