Category: Universals Archive

Universal 653: large phoneme inventory ⇒ short morphemes;small phoneme inventory ⇒ long morphemes Original There is an inverse relationship between the number of phonemes in…

Universal 669: Original Question particles may co-occur with inversion in yes-no questions. Standardized IF yes-no questions are marked by question particles, THEN they may in…

Universal 685: Original All languages have the place distinctions of high and low and of front and back in their vowel systems; hence vowel systems…

Universal 701: Original In most languages the base number is put before the unit, and in general a higher number before a lower, when they…

Universal 717: Original Phonetically Central tones are unmarked, Extreme tones are highly marked. Standardized Among CENTRAL and EXTREME tones, CENTRAL are usually unmarked and EXTREME…

Universal 733: Original The Zero Universal:If a language employs zero/nonverbal copula encoding for other sentence types than identity statements, it will at least employ this…

Universal 749: Original The Universal of Locational Merging:A language may have locational merging only if it allows locational encoding of predicative adjectives. Standardized IF locational…

Universal 765: Original When … the injective in the dental or alveolar position has become retracted and/or retroflexed, there is a tendency for its glottalic…

Universal 781: Original In a given language the number of voiceless primary oral stops is nearly always greater than the number of voiced ones. Standardized…

Universal 797: