Category: Universals Archive

Universal 111: V Adv ⇒ N Adj Original For most languages, if V Adv, then N Adj. Standardized IF verbs precede adverbs, THEN nouns precede…

Universal 127: Original No language has syntactic means (dependent marking, head marking, word order) which are exclusively used in ANCs. Standardized IF any kinds of…

Universal 143: Adj(Def) ⇒ G N Original If the adjective agrees in definiteness, then the genitive will precede the noun. Standardized IF the adjective agrees…

Universal 159: Original If object and transitive-clause allative are marked identically, even non-adpositionally, then dative is also identically marked. Standardized IF object and transitive-clause allative…

Universal 175: Prep ⇒ (N G ⇒ N Rel) Original If a language has Prep word order, then if the genitive follows the noun, the…

Universal 191: Original The most common syncretisms of case relations in a single form include: ablative=prolative; locative=allative; ablative=partitive. Standardized IF there are syncretisms involving local…

Universal 207: VO ⇒ complex syllable structure Original VO languages tend to have complex syllable structure. Standardized IF basic order is VO, THEN syllable structure…

Universal 223: Original In all languages: if there is a phonemic alternation in root morphemes, then there is a phonemic alternation in non-root morphemes as…

Universal 239: free word order ⇒ declension for case, number, gender Original If constituent order is free, all potentially declinable kinds of nominal words in…

Universal 255: number (noun) ⇒ the same number (pronoun) Original If there exists a regular number distinction in a language, this distinction is necessarily present…