Universal 1615: ambiguous O agreement ⇒ ambiguous A agreement Original If a language has ambiguous O agreement [see Comments for terminology], it has ambiguous A…
Month: May 2020
Universal 1614:
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 1614: Original If a language has grammatical agreement [see Comments for terminology], it is with just the A. Standardized IF person agreement of the…
Universal 1613: VO & ModifierN ⇒ Modifier-N agreement Original Concord is common among VO languages, particularly when the order of constituents is modifier-Noun and thus…
Universal 1612: SOV & NModifier ⇒ Modifier-N agreement Original In SOV languages, when the expected order of Modifier-Noun does not occur, agreement [between noun and…
Universal 1611: verb-patient agreement ⇒ verb-agent agreement Original All languages with verb-patient agreement, regardless of type, also have verb agreement with the agent as well.…
Universal 1610:
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 1610: Original In languages with verb agreement, patient verb agreement appears more frequently in verb-peripheral languages [i.e. verb-initial and verb-final languages] than in verb-medial…
Universal 1609:
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Universal 1609: Original Cross-linguistically, languages would not be expected to exhibit phonological constrasts such as [-nasal] laryngeal segments and [+nasal] laryngeal segments. Standardized Languages would…
Universal 1608:
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Universal 1608: Original Permeability of classes of consonants to nasalization: vowels > {[h], glottal stop (=laryngeal segments)} > w, y (=oral glides) > r,l (=liquids)…
Universal 1607: modals/auxiliaries do not inflect for person ⇒ ¬ infinitive
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 1607: modals/auxiliaries do not inflect for person ⇒ ¬ infinitive Original If the modals/auxiliaries of a language do not inflect for person, then it…
Universal 1606:
Posted in Universals Archive
Universal 1606: Original Hierarchy of nasalization spread: vowels, h, glottal stop > oral glides > liquids. Standardized IF nasalization spreads from a contextually nasalized vowel…