Category: Universals Archive

Universal 269: Original If in a language there is a special distinction of animate and inanimate (personal and non-personal) nouns connected with a regular syncretism…

Universal 285: Original In all languages: if there are tri-valent causatives derived from bi-valent non-causative verbs, there must also be bi-valent causatives derived from one-place…

Universal 301: Original In all languages (?) it is possible to form general questions without inversion. Standardized General questions can be formed without inversion. Keywords…

Universal 317: nominative/accusative (inanimate noun) ⇒ nominative/accusative (animate noun) Original If inanimate nominals have the opposition of the syntactic form of the nominative and the…

Universal 333: Original If verbal suffixes or enclitics which point out the subject and/or object, under some conditions, move from the postverbal position to the…

Universal 349: Original If VSO order is one of the alternative orders, then VOS is also one of the alternative orders. Standardized IF VSO is…

Universal 365: Original If the verb agrees with the subject and object and there is at least one o-V form, then the dominant order is…

Universal 381: Original All languages have constructions whose function is to place topic, both old and new, before comment. Standardized All languages have constructions whose…

Universal 397: Original An affix may condition inwards if in some other context an affix of the same type conditions outwards in the same language.…

Universal 413: SOV ⇒ Gender affixes on N are suffixed;prefixed Gender affixes ⇒ VO ; (or: prefixed Gender affixes ⇒ ¬SOV) Original If a language…