Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1179: Original For the concept ‘testicle’, by far the most widespread source is provided by terms for ‘egg’, alternative options being ‘stone’, ‘pebble’, ‘seed’,…

Universal 1195: ¬ inflection (aspect v tense) ⇒ anterior &/v completive gram Original With a few exceptions, if a language has no inflectional tense or…

Universal 1211: Original If there are predominantly prepositions rather than postpositions, then there will not be an extensive system of local cases. Standardized IF there…

Universal 1227: exterior local case ⇒ interior local case Original If there are exterior local cases, then there will also be interior local cases. Standardized…

Universal 1243: Original The loss of all a language’s initial vowels (or prothesis of a consonant before them) is significantly less likely than a language…

Universal 1259: Original When an otherwise harmonizing unstressed vowel becomes stressed due to intonational factors, then it can no longer harmonize. Standardized IF an otherwise…

Universal 1275: Original If the dominant unitransitive order is SVO, the dominant bitransitive order will be either SVDO or SVOD. Standardized IF the dominant unitransitive…

Universal 1291: definite article (possessed NPs with a preposed possessor) ⇒ definite article (possessed NPs with a postposed possessor) Original If possessed NPs with a…

Universal 1307: postposition ⇒ tense affixes on V are suffixed Original If a language is postpositional, tense affixes on verb (if any) are suffixed with…

Universal 1323: Original A major form-class distinction reminiscent of “noun” vs. “verb” is universal, though not always at the same size-level. Standardized A major form-class…