Month: May 2020

Universal 1145: Original Languages with basic passives commonly have more than one formally distinct passive construction. Standardized IF there is one (basic) passive construction, THEN…

Universal 1144: passive (stative verbs) ⇒ passive (activity verbs) Original If a language has passives of stative verbs (e.g. ‘lack’, ‘have’ etc.) then it has…

Universal 1143: Original A causative can become a passive, but a passive cannot become a causative. Standardized A causative can become a passive, but a…

Universal 1142: passive ⇒ SOV Original Passivization is prominent in SVO languages, but not at all in OV languages. Standardized IF there is a passive,…

Universal 1141: Original The most frequent type of a passive construction is that with a stem affix. Less frequent morphological expression types are auxiliary verbs,…

Universal 1140: Original Passive constructions without morphology on the verb are rare or non-existent. Standardized IF there is a passive construction, THEN the verb is…

Universal 1139: verb morpheme (reflexive & passive use) ⇒ verb morpheme (anticausative use) Original If a verbal morpheme has both the reflexive and the passive…

Universal 1138: Original The passive-to-ergative change is unidirectional. There are no passive constructions which have been shown to have developed from ergative constructions. Standardized The…

Universal 1137: Original If the nominal dual is restricted to nouns other than those denoting natural pairs, dual marking is avoided with these nouns if…

Universal 1136: Original If the dual is conceived of as a paucal limited to two referents, it will extend to all persons of the pronoun…