Category: Universals Archive

Universal 458: geminates after long vowels ⇒ geminates after short vowels Original The presence of long consonants after long vowels implies the presence of long…

Universal 474: Original Correlation between Types of Exponence and the Number of Terms of inflexional categories (TENT):Cumulative and sensitive separatist exponents limit the number of…

Universal 490: Original All languages with dominant VSO order have SVO as an alternative or as the only alternative order. Standardized IF dominant order is…

Universal 506: inflection ⇒ word formation Original If a language has inflection, it always has derivation. Standardized IF there is inflection, THEN there is derivation.…

Universal 522: Original In more than one language, but not in all, the demonstrative and the definite article co-occur. Standardized In more than one language,…

Universal 538: Multiplicand Multiplier ⇒ Noun Numeral Original If there are numerals in which the expression of the multiplier follows that of the multiplicand, the…

Universal 554: Original The construction with the interrogative “how many?” is usually the same as that with the highest block of numerals. Standardized The construction…

Universal 570: definite article is grammaticalized in subject NPs ⇒ definite article is grammaticalized in direct object NPs ⇒ definite article is grammaticalized in prepositionally…

Universal 586: agglutinative ⇒ ¬ gender inflection Original If a language is of the agglutinative type, then it cannot have grammatical gender. Standardized IF morphology…

Universal 602: Original No accusative language has only ergative-type verb agreement in person or number or gender. Standardized IF alignment is accusative for some/many purposes,…