Category: Universals Archive

Universal 28: Präfixaufnahme ⇒ ¬ligative Original In no language is there Präfixaufnahme involving a ligative. Standardized IF Aufnahme is Präfixaufnahme rather than Suffixaufnahme, THEN there…

Universal 44: Original Standardized Assuming that grammatical relations are ordered from left to right according to their decreasing semantic concreteness and correspondingly increasing grammaticalization as…

Universal 60: Adj Adv ⇒ N Adj & VO Original If some or all adverbs follow the adjective they modify, then the language is one…

Universal 76: Original Only languages in which promotion to subject via passivization results in verb coding the semantic case of the promoted non-agent exhibit the…

Universal 92: Prep ⇒ ((N Dem v N Num ⇒ N A) & (N A ⇒ N G) & (N G ⇒ N Rel)) Original…

Universal 108: OV ⇒ Verb Interr Original In consistent OV languages, interrogative markers follow verbs, occupying final position in the sentence. Standardized IF basic order…

Universal 124: Original IF there are aspirated stops (especially voiceless labial and alveolar), THEN there is /h/. Standardized IF there are aspirated stops (especially voiceless…

Universal 140: Original If in a language a property is expressed alternatively by a noun and an adjective and there is also an associated difference…

Universal 156: Original Overt object marking in the bitransitive clause other than marking identical to instrumental implies overt dative marking. Standardized IF overt marking of…

Universal 172: Verb agreement: Erg ⇒ Abs Original In languages with ergative/absolutive distinction, the frequency prediction holds: if the verb agrees with the ergative, then…