Month: May 2020

Universal 1415: Original If heads of possessive constructions agree with their possessors in a given language then verbs agree with subjects in that language. Standardized…

Universal 1414: Original No language has constructions whose function is to place new topics at the end of the sentence. Standardized New topics are never…

Universal 1413: Original All languages have constructions whose function is to place focus at the beginning of the sentence and old, already established topics at…

Universal 1412: Original All languages have constructions whose primary function is to place new or contrastive topics at the beginning of the sentence. Standardized All…

Universal 1411: Original If in a language only one member of a customary phoneme opposition exists, the existing member of the opposition can take over…

Universal 1410: Original In all languages possessing the vowel ä, the a is articulated more backward (velar) than in languages which have no ä. Standardized…

Universal 1409: Original In interjections one or more marginal phonemes occur with a percentage which is characteristic only for principle phonemes. Standardized In interjections one…

Universal 1408: Original The higher the number of principle phonemes, the higher the probability of redundancy. Standardized The higher the number of principle phonemes, the…

Universal 1407: Original General irregularities in the constituency of the numerals immediately precede and follow the base. Standardized IF there are irregularities in the constituency…

Universal 1406: Du Incl & ¬Du Excl ⇒ Pl Incl & Pl Excl Original When the sole dual pronoun is a first person inclusive, there…