Category: Universals Archive

Universal 1507: Original Reciprocal constructions, which are morphologically related to the reflexive constructions, are never (or, at least, far less often) “lighter” then the latter;…

Universal 1523: OS ⇒ articles;OS ⇒ definite articles (≠ demonstrative adjectives) Original All subject-final languages possess articles. With more than chance frequency subject-final languages have…

Universal 1539: verb-initial ⇒ [S and S];verb-initial ⇒ ¬ [S, S and] Original In verb-initial languages, coordinate sentences are commonly expressed as [S and S].…

Universal 1555: Original In verb-initial languages, sentential objects always follow the subject and are very commonly finite as opposed to the more usual non-finite/nominalized treatment…

Universal 1571: Original If a language has homonymous (a) decausative reflexive verb and (b) reflexive verb with the passive sense, it is type (b) that…

Universal 1587: bound nouns ⇒ head-marked possession Original Bound nouns appear to exist only where there is head-marked possession. Standardized IF there is a set…

Universal 1603: Original Low vowels are more likely to be regressively nasalized than high vowels. Standardized IF high vowels are regressively nasalized, THEN low vowels…

Universal 1619: Animate: Posture;Inanimate: Shape/Orientation > Individuation, Rigidity Original The implicational hierarchy of semantic distinctions for predicate classifier systems: The primary distinction in predicate classifier…

Universal 1635: productive noun-incorporation ⇒ head-marking Original Languages with productive noun incorporation must be of the head-marking type. Standardized IF there is productive noun incorporation,…

Universal 1651: Original If in a language finite and non-finite (attributive and/or argument) functions of a form appear to be equally marked or equally unmarked,…