1. What is the language universals? Kinds of universals. Absolute and statistical

Contents
1. What is the language universals?
2. Kinds of universals. Absolute and statistical
3. Implicational universals
4. Explanations for universals
5. Lexical universals
References

1. What is the language universals?

Language universals are a set of principles which describe systematic patterns in languages -- in other words they describe what the world's languages have in common.
In 1966, in the book Universals of Language, the pioneering American linguist Joseph H. Greenburg published a list of 45 language universals regarding syntax and inflection. He provided a more detailed investigation of the topic in his four volume Universals of Human Language in 1978.
Language universals are statements that are true of all languages, for example: "all languages have stop consonants". But beneath this simple definition lurks deep ambiguity, and this triggers misunderstanding in both interdisciplinary discourse and within linguistics itself. A core dimension of the ambiguity is captured by the opposition "absolute vs. statistical universal", although the literature uses these terms in varied ways. Many textbooks draw the boundary between absolute and statistical according to whether a sample of languages contains exceptions to a universal. But the notion of an exception-free sample is not very revealing even if the sample contained all known languages: there is always a chance that an as yet undescribed language, or an unknown language from the past or future, will provide an exception.
2. Kinds of universals
First, we must make a basic distinction between absolute universals and statistical universals. Absolute universals refer to properties found in all language while statistical universals reflect important trends that are found in a predominant part of the languages of the world, but not necessarily in all. It is often difficult to ascertain what constitutes absolute universals, since we do not have access to reliable information about all languages in the world.