In a companion paper ([14]), I describe UNIVAUTO (UNIVersals AUthoring TOol), a linguistic discovery program that uncovers language universals and can write a report in English on its discoveries. In this contribution, the system is evaluated along a number of parameters that have been suggested in the literature as necessary ingredients of a successful discovery program. These parameters inclu...

Convergence and simplification are two of the so-called universals in translation studies. The first one postulates that translated texts tend to be more similar than nontranslated texts. The second one postulates that translated texts are simpler, easier-tounderstand than non-translated ones. This paper discusses the results of a project which applies NLP techniques over comparable corpora of ...

The way a home is designed can make the difference between living independently at home in familiar surroundings, or needing to move to specialized accommodation or institutional living. In one respect universal design in housing already exists – they are the universals currently adopted by the industry. However, small, cost neutral, but important changes to these universals can make Australian...

This paper explores the mereology of structural universals, using the structural richness of a non-classical mereology without unique fusions. The paper focuses on a problem posed by David Lewis, who using the example of methane, and assuming classical mereology, argues against any purely mereological theory of structural universals. The problem is that being a methane molecule would have to co...

Across languages there are certain characteristics which they share. Linguists, trying to explain language universals, have come up with different theories: They argue for (1) the innatedness of general linguistic principles, (2) the communicative functions reflected in linguisitic structure, (3) the psychological demands placed upon language users, or (4) grammar-internal explanations. This pa...

This article surveys the state of the art in the field of semantic universals. We examine potential semantic universals in three areas: (i) the lexicon, (ii) semantic “glue” (functional morphemes and composition principles), and (iii) pragmatics. At the level of the lexicon, we find remarkably few convincing semantic universals. At the level of functional morphemes and composition principles, w...