Category: Universals Archive

Universal 403: Original If a construction involves a free and a bound constituent which convey the same meaning and one of them is optional, it…

Universal 419: verb agreement (indefinite constituent) ⇒ verb agreement (definite constituent) Original There is no language where, given a constituent class including both definite and…

Universal 435: head-marking ⇒ low complexity;dependent-marking ⇒ high complexity Original Head-marking is associated with low complexity, dependent marking with high complexity, where complexity is the…

Universal 452: pre-aspirated consonant ⇒ post-aspirated consonant; Original Postaspirated consonants occur more frequently than pre-aspirated ones. Standardized IF there are pre-aspirated consonants, THEN there are…

Universal 468: number marker (noun) = number marker (1&2 person verb)) ⇒ number marker (noun) = number marker (3 person verb)) Original If marking of…

Universal 484: Original In two-thirds of the languages sampled, the indirect object is marked either extra- or intra-verbally when it is contiguous with the verb…

Universal 500: In expressions of volition and purpose: OV ⇒ Subordinate-Main verb; VO ⇒ Main verb-Subordinate Original In expressions of volition and purpose, a subordinate…

Universal 516: gender (noun) ⇒ gender (pronoun) Original If a language has gender categories in the noun, it has gender categories in the pronoun. Standardized…

Universal 532: Original It seems probable that in all languages expressions of time and place may appear in the initial positions in the sentence. Standardized…

Universal 548: Original If numeral expressions for the smallest addends take the plural of the noun when they designate numbers >1, then complex numerals with…