Category: Universals Archive

Universal 363: flexive V introflexive ⇒ 2-3 syllable long words; agglutinative V incorporating ⇒ longer than 2-3-syllable words; isolating ⇒ shorter than 2-3 syllable words.…

Universal 379: Original Every language has cleft constructions, either wh-clefts or it-clefts or both. Standardized Every language has cleft constructions, either wh-clefts or it-clefts or…

Universal 395: participles ⇒ nominalized verb forms Original If a language has a morphological means to indicate verbal modification (i.e., if a language has participles),…

Universal 411: C [ +v, !+son ]h ⇒ C [ -v, !+obst ]h or aspirated voiced consonant (esp. sonorant) ⇒ aspirated voiceless consonant (esp. obstruent)…

Universal 427: agreement in gender (within the NP) ⇒ agreement in gender (outside the NP) Original If there is any set of agreeing constituent types…

Universal 443: verb-initial ⇒ Neg V Original If a language is verb-initial, then the negative will precede the verb. Standardized IF basic order is verb-initial,…

Universal 459: HAVE-construction: possessor is marked for subject ⇒ possessee is comitative marked Original The subject-marked possessor of a HAVE-construction implies a comitative-marked possessee. Standardized…

Universal 475: large case system ⇒ insensitive separatist morphology Original As far as Case is concerned, cumulative exponents (and sensitive separatist exponents) appear to limit…

Universal 491: Original If in a language with dominant SOV order there is no alternative basic order, or only OSV as the alternative, then all…

Universal 507: person-number (verb) V gender (verb) ⇒ tense-mood (verb) Original If the verb has categories of person-number or if it has categories of gender,…