Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1429: (agglutinative morphology ⇒)¬ gender ⇒ categorial markers with hydronyms Original If a language lacks the category of gender, then hydronyms always contain categorial…

Universal 1445: Original In an overwhelming majority of languages, there is a special form to denote the metaperson ‘hearer’ in the singular. Standardized In an…

Universal 1461: Original If some form denotes the metaperson ‘speaker + hearer(s)’, then(a) in some languages this form can also denote the metaperson ‘speaker +…

Universal 1477: Original In all languages, if the metaperson ‘speaker + hearer(s) + non-participant(s)’ is not the only meaning of a certain form, then this…

Universal 1493: Original Incorporated nouns attach to the left of the verb stem in not-verb-initial languages. Standardized IF basic word order is not-verb-initial (i.e. verb-medial…

Universal 1509: motion > position (location) > shape > formless qualities Original Hierarchy of agency and discreteness for one place-predicates, which is manifested in voice…

Universal 1525: OS ⇒ Art N Original [In subject-final languages] With much greater than chance frequency articles precede the nouns. Standardized IF subject full noun…

Universal 1541: verb-initial ⇒ little or no nominal case-marking Original In verb-initial languages, all major NPs may be case marked, but it is very common…

Universal 1557: verb-initial ⇒ Main verb-Subordinate Original In verb-initial languages, verbal forms subordinate to the to the “main” verb (e.g. complements of verbs like ‘want’,…

Universal 1573: Original If there are any antipassive reflexive verbs, they are most likely to possess the reciprocal sense as well. Standardized IF a reflexive…