Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1644: SOV ⇒ ¬ verb phrase serialization Original There is a strong tendency for SOV languages to display verb concatenation rather than verb phrase…

Universal 1660: Original In no language, the most common word for ‘first generation descendant’ is not the same as the most common word for ‘person…

Universal 1676: Original Standardized IF there is a phoneme all of whose allophones are variants of /f/, THEN there is a phoneme whose characteristic variant…

Universal 1692: absolute posterior consecutive deranking ⇒ VSO Original Languages with absolute posterior consecutive deranking typically have VSO word order. Standardized IF there is absolute…

Universal 1708: Original The Strength Assimilation Law:If Consonantal Strength is assimilated in a syllable contact, the Consonantal Strength of the stronger speech sound decreases. Standardized…

Universal 1724: Original Nominally used demonstratives never occur with the non-bound definite article. Standardized When a demonstrative is used nominally (forming an NP of its…

Universal 1740: Original There is no language with endoclitics, i.e., clitics inside words do not exist. Standardized There are no endoclitics, i.e., clitics inside words…

Universal 1756: Original For all languages, if tense is marked on non-finite forms, then it is also marked on finite forms. Standardized IF tense is…

Universal 1772: Original Nasalization is more likely to occur before consonants than vowels. Standardized IF nasalization occurs before a vowel, THEN it will occur before…

Universal 1788: ^VN ⇒ ‘VN Original N-deletion occurs first in unstressed/atonic syllables before spreading to stressed/tonic syllables. Standardized IF N-deletion occurs first in stressed/tonic syllables,…