Category: Universals Archive

Universal 804: Vh ⇒ hV; orpostvocalic aspiration ⇒ prevocalic aspiration Original The sequence hV occurs more often than Vh. Standardized IF there is postvocalic aspiration…

Universal 820: Rel N ⇒ ¬ relative pronoun;N Rel ⇒ personal pronoun/relative pronoun Original Prenominal relative clauses never use relative pronouns and only sporadically present…

Universal 836: Voiceless l ⇒ Voiced l Original If there is a voiceless l, there will be a voiced l as well. Standardized IF there…

Universal 852: Original In final clusters, the existence of at least one nasal + liquid cluster implies the existence of at least one obstruent +…

Universal 868: Original In final clusters, the existing of at least one sequence consisting of two voiced obstruents implies the existence of at least one…

Universal 884: front rounded vowel ⇒ front unrounded vowel Original A front rounded vowel implies a front unrounded vowel at the same tongue height. Standardized…

Universal 900: antipassive ⇔ imperfective aspect & low-level object individuation Original The antipassive is correlative with the imperfective aspect and low-level object individuation. Whenever antipassive…

Universal 916: Original As the number of contrastive segments in a language increases, the average length of a word will decrease. Standardized The more numerous…

Universal 932: Original If a language possesses voiceless syllabic stops, then it possesses voiced syllabic stops. Standardized IF there are voiceless syllabic stops, THEN there…

Universal 948: Original In languages with phonemic stress, the number of phonemic contrasts in stressed syllables will be greater than or equal to the number…