Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1275: Original If the dominant unitransitive order is SVO, the dominant bitransitive order will be either SVDO or SVOD. Standardized IF the dominant unitransitive…

Universal 1291: definite article (possessed NPs with a preposed possessor) ⇒ definite article (possessed NPs with a postposed possessor) Original If possessed NPs with a…

Universal 1307: postposition ⇒ tense affixes on V are suffixed Original If a language is postpositional, tense affixes on verb (if any) are suffixed with…

Universal 1323: Original A major form-class distinction reminiscent of “noun” vs. “verb” is universal, though not always at the same size-level. Standardized A major form-class…

Universal 1339: Original An element which serves as a semantic link between two other elements is likely to occur in linear order between them. Standardized…

Universal 1355: Original All adverbially or partitively expressed multiplicands are serialized multiplicands. Standardized In numeral systems, all adverbially or partitively expressed multiplicands are serialized multiplicands.…

Universal 1371: Original In classifier languages without inflectional plurals neither counters nor measures ever take plural markers and, unlike typical noun class systems, the classifiers…

Universal 1387: periphrastic past ⇒ periphrastic future Original Future tense markers may be less bound than present or past but never more so. Standardized IF…

Universal 1403: Original In languages where transitive verbs have suffixes agreeing in definiteness or in person-gender-number with their direct objects, prepositions also have suffixes that…

Universal 1419: OV ⇒ Predicate Copula;VO ⇒ Copula Predicate Original The predicate precedes copula in OV languages and follows it in VO languages. Standardized IF…