Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1650: Original If L is a rigid verb-final language in its basic word order, the rhematic focus of a sentence of L is most…

Universal 1666: Original In languages with an initial marker of subordination, sentential NPs cannot occur in clause-internal position, but such is the case in languages…

Universal 1682: Original In languages that make an extensive use of conjunctions converbs play a minor role or are completely absent. Conversely, in languages that…

Universal 1698: Original The Rhyme Law (conjectured):There must be degrees of preference for combinations of nuclei with codas. For instance, offgliding nuclear speech sounds often…

Universal 1714: Original General Syllabication Law:A syllabication is the more preferred: (a) the better the resulting syllable contact is and (b) the better that syllable…

Universal 1730: Original The phonological body of any noun phrase constituent is never more substantial in adnominal use than in pronominal use. Standardized The phonological…

Universal 1746: Original Ordinal numerals are likelier to be borrowed than corresponding cardinal numerals. Standardized IF a cardinal numeral is a borrowing, THEN the corresponding…

Universal 1762: Original Back consonants (velars) are more likely to undergo deletion than front consonants (labials and dentals). Standardized IF front consonants are deleted, THEN…

Universal 1778: Original If assibilation occurs before a , then it must occur before e.If assibilation occurs before e, then it must occur before i.…

Universal 1794: Original Nasalization before intervocalic nasals was found to occur only if nasalization phenomena were already evident in tautosyllabic (VN$) sequences. Standardized IF there…