Category: Universals Archive

Universal 41: Original If a nominal has two or more affixes at one time and at an earlier time one of those was not present,…

Universal 57: Adj N ⇒ Dem N & Num N Original When the descriptive adjective precedes the noun, the demonstrative and the numeral, with overwhelmingly…

Universal 73: N Dem ⇒ N A; equivalently: A N ⇒ Dem N Original If the demonstrative determiner follows the noun, then the adjective follows…

Universal 89: Original Markers of agreement with direct objects are always formally distinct from markers of agreement with subjects, indirect objects, and adverbial objects. If…

Universal 105: Original Adjectives tend to lose class agreement before number agreement. Standardized IF adjectives are losing number agreement, THEN they do not, or no…

Universal 121: Prep ⇒ (N Num ⇒ N Rel) Original If a language is prepositional, then if the numeral follows the noun, the relative clause…

Universal 137: Original In no language will the morphological bulk of a direct case affix exceed that of the oblique case affixes, as a general…

Universal 153: Original If, as a rule, nouns share inflectional properties with adjectives, they also share them with determiners. Standardized IF nouns share inflectional properties…

Universal 169: Original If an adposition and a case affix are involved in a government relation, it is always the adposition that governs the affix…

Universal 185: Original If there are analogical changes in the inflectional paradigms of place names, non-local cases (including the nominative) are generally reformed after local…