Category: Universals Archive

Universal 413: SOV ⇒ Gender affixes on N are suffixed;prefixed Gender affixes ⇒ VO ; (or: prefixed Gender affixes ⇒ ¬SOV) Original If a language…

Universal 429: gender ⇒ gender (3 person) Original If in a particular language gender distinctions appear, it will be the 3rd person. Standardized IF gender…

Universal 445: complement-balancing ⇒ assimilation of ANC to non-derived NP;complement-deranking ⇒ retention of sentential marking of ANC Original Complement-balancing languages favour assimilation of ANCs to…

Universal 461: Original For verbs with the general meaning to “destroy” or to “create” (see ):If there is no voice opposition, the NP which has…

Universal 477: Original If the same progressive constructions are used for present and for non-present tenses, the progressive aspect verb phrase will either be unmarked…

Universal 493: QSent ⇒ prepositions;SentQ ⇒ postpositions Original With well more than chance frequency, when question particles or affixes are specified in position by reference…

Universal 509: verb agreement in gender (subject V object) ⇒ > verb agreement in number (subject V object) Original Whenever the verb agrees with a…

Universal 525: Original Every language has a numeral system of finite scope. Standardized Every language has a numeral system of finite scope. Keywords numeral Domain…

Universal 541: Original If a link for addition occurs medially, it always goes with the following numeral in a prepositional language and with the preceding…

Universal 557: Original When languages with and without articles are in contact, it is more common for languages without an article to pick one up…