Category: Universals Archive

Universal 314: Original In the majority of languages the forms that function as direct objects may also function as adverbial modifiers, especially adverbial modifiers of…

Universal 330: Original If intransitive verbs have prefix agreement with subjects in person, then transitive verbs also agree with subject in this position. Standardized IF…

Universal 346: Original If the order OV is not recessive, the order SV is not recessive as well. Standardized IF the order OV is not…

Universal 362: Original (a)The utterance of the consonants with strong pressure of breath from the chest (as in aspirates, affricates, or in guttural consonants) corresponds…

Universal 378: Original Every language has syntactic topic constructions in which an expression which refers to the topic of the sentence is adjoined to the…

Universal 394: Original If a language has cross-referential inflection, it also has some self-referencing expression of the same categories. Standardized IF there is cross-referential inflection,…

Universal 410: ((person marker (possessee) = person marker (INTR)) (non-subordinate)) ⇒((person marker (possessee) = person marker (INTR)) (subordinate)) Original If person marking is phonologically identical…

Universal 426: agreement in gender & number (any constituent) ⇒ agreement in gender & number (anaphoric pronoun) Original It holds both for gender and number…

Universal 442: Original Hierarchy of proneness to lose sentential head-marking: A > S > P, where sentential head-marking is impossible for A, and possible for…

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