Category: Universals Archive

Universal 265: Original Active languages are characterized by dividing nouns into active (“animate”) and inactive (“inanimate”) classes and by the corresponding principle of dividing verbs…

Universal 281: plural (noun) ⇒ singular designates indefinite number of objects (noun) Original If nouns have Plural, then they have Singular which can designate an…

Universal 297: Original In all languages, inversion of the word order can be used as a logical or emotional emphasis. Standardized Inversion of word order…

Universal 313: Original In an overwhelming majority of languages all or almost all markers of the syntactic form of the indefinitive* are zero markers. Standardized…

Universal 329: Original If transitive verbs have suffix agreement in person with subjects, then at least some of intransitive verbs also agree with their subjects…

Universal 345: Nominal_predicate Subject ⇒ Verbal_predicate Subject Original If a subject usually follows the nominal predicate, then it also follows the verbal predicate. Standardized IF…

Universal 361: Original The extent of “material“ articulation, pertaining in particular to (a) the elaboration of sound systems, (b) the complexity of syllable structures, (c)…

Universal 377: topic marker ⇒ high topic prominence Original If a language has topic markers, then it will be highly topic prominent (in the sense…

Universal 393: person-number (adposition) ⇒ person-number (noun) ⇒ person-number (verb) Original If a language shows person-number marking on adpositions, it also shows the same on…

Universal 409: ((person marker (possessee) = person marker (verb(non-indicative))) ⇒((person marker (possessee) = person marker (verb (indicative))) Original If person marking is phonologically identical for…