Universal 1915: polysynthesis ⇒ ¬ semantically significant determiners Original The lack of semantically significant determiners seems to be a property of the polysynthetic languages as…
Category: Universals Archive
Universals Archive
Universal 1931: local indefinite is borrowed ⇒ temporal indefinite is borrowed
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 1931: local indefinite is borrowed ⇒ temporal indefinite is borrowed Original If there is a word-form loan of a local indefinite in a language,…
Universal 1947:
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 1947: Original If a language has Class IV predicates requiring non-canonicaly marked A/S, then it also has Class Ia-b, Class IIa-c, Class IIIa-b and…
Universal 1963:
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 1963: Original Stem: CV C Keywords phonotactics, sonority, stem, consonant cluster Domain phonology Type implicational hierarchy Status achronic Quality absolute? Basis impressions Source Butskhrikidze…
Universal 1979:
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 1979: Original rigid type III (verb-final) …Compound verbs. In addition to simple verbs there are compound verbs including such types as (a) noun-like or…
Universal 1995:
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 1995: Original And some [semantic] criteria appear never to define a gender completely. … I have not found a language of any family in…
Universal 2011:
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 2011: Original … if a system does show functional markedness it is generally the case that (i) when the number of choices in the…
Universal 2027:
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 2027: Original Measure the (sonorant) rime duration, and you’ll get the right contour tones in the right places: (a) by syllable type: CVV >>…
Universal 13:
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 13: Original If direct objects may control agreement (or take case marking) without doing so obligatorily, it will be the more definite and/or the…
Universal 28: Präfixaufnahme ⇒ ¬ligative Original In no language is there Präfixaufnahme involving a ligative. Standardized IF Aufnahme is Präfixaufnahme rather than Suffixaufnahme, THEN there…