Human Universals

1. a.
2. abstraction in speech and thought
3. actions under self-control distinguished from those not under control
4. aesthetics
5. affection expressed and felt
6. age grades
7. age terms
8. ambivalence
9. anthropomorphization
10. antonyms


11. b.
12. baby talk
13. belief in supernatural/religion
14. beliefs, false
15. beliefs about death
16. beliefs about disease
17. beliefs about fortune and misfortune
18. binary cognitive distinctions
19. biological mother and social mother normally the same person
20. black (color term)
21. body adornment


22. c.
23. childbirth customs
24. childcare
25. childhood fears
26. childhood fear of loud noises
27. childhood fear of strangers
28. choice making (choosing alternatives)
29. classification
30. classification of age
31. classification of behavioral propensities
32. classification of body parts
33. classification of colors
34. classification of fauna
35. classification of flora
36. classification of inner states
37. classification of kin
38. classification of sex
39. classification of space
40. classification of tools
41. classification of weather conditions
42. coalitions
43. collective identities
44. conflict
45. conflict, consultation to deal with
46. conflict, means of dealing with
47. conflict, meditation of
48. conjectural reasoning
49. containers
50. continua (ordering as cognitive pattern)
51. contrasting marked and nonmarked sememes (meaningful elements in language)
52. cooking
53. cooperation
54. cooperative labor
55. copulation normally conducted in privacy
56. corporate (perpetual) statuses
57. coyness display
58. crying
59. cultural variability
60. culture
61. culture/nature distinction
62. customary greetings


63. d.
64. daily routines
65. dance
66. death rituals
67. decision making
68. decision making, collective
69. directions, giving of
70. discrepancies between speech, thoughts, and action
71. dispersed groups
72. distinguishing right and wrong
73. diurnality
74. divination
75. division of labor
76. division of labor by age
77. division of labor by sex
78. dreams
79. dream interpretation


80. e.
81. economic inequalities
82. economic inequalities, consciousness of
83. emotions
84. empathy
85. entification (treating patterns and relations as things)
86. environment, adjustments to
87. envy
88. envy, symbolic means of coping with
89. ethnocentrism
90. etiquett
91. explanation


92. f.
93. face (word for)
94. facioal communication
95. facial expression of anger
96. facial expression of contempt
97. facial expression of disgust
98. facial expression of fear
99. facial expression of happiness
100. facial expression of sadness
101. facial expression of surprise
102. facial expressions, masking/modifying of
103. family (or household)
104. father and mother, separate kin terms for
105. fears
106. fears, ability to overcome some
107. feasting
108. females do more direct childcare
109. figurative speech
110. fire
111. folklore
112. food preferences
113. food sharing
114. future, attempts to predict


115. g.
116. generosity admired
117. gestures
118. gift giving
119. good and bad distinguished
120. gossip
121. government
122. grammar
123. group living
124. groups that are not based on family


125. h.
126. hairstyles
127. hand (word for)
128. healing the sick (or attempting to)
129. hospitality
130. hygienic care


131. i.
132. identity, collective
133. incest between mother and son unthinkable or tabooed
134. incest, prevention or avoidance
135. in-group distinguished from out-group(s)
136. in-group, biases in favor of
137. inheritance rules
138. insulting
139. intention
140. interest in bioforms (living things or things that resemble them)
141. interpreting behavior
142. intertwining (e.g., weaving)


143. j.
144. jokes


145. k.
146. kin, close distinguished from distant
147. kin groups
148. kin terms translatable by basic relations of procreation
149. kinship statuses


150. l.
151. language
152. language employed to manipulate others
153. language emplyed to misinform or mislead
154. language is translatable
155. language not a simple reflection of reality
156. language, prestige from proficient use of
157. law (rights and obligations)
158. law (rules of membership)
159. leaders
160. lever
161. linguistic redundancy
162. logical notions
163. logical notion of "and"
164. logical notion of"equivalent"
165. logical notion of "general/particular"
166. logical notion of "not"
167. logical notion of "opposite"
168. logical notion of "part/whole"
169. logical notion of "same"


170. m.
171. magic
172. magic to increase life
173. magic to sustain life
174. magic to win love
175. male and female and adult and child seen as having different natures
176. males dominate public/political realm
177. males more aggressive
178. males more prone to lethal violence
179. males more prone to theft
180. manipulate social relations
181. marking at phonemic, syntactic, and lexical levels
182. marriage
183. materialism
184. meal times
185. meaning, most units of are non-universal
186. measuring
187. medicine
188. melody
189. memory
190. metaphor
191. metonym
192. mood- or consciousness-altering techniques and/or substances
193. morphemes
194. mother normally has consort during childrearing years
195. mourning
196. murder proscribed
197. music
198. music, children's
199. music related in part to dance
200. music related in part to religious activity
201. music seen as art (a creation
202. music, vocal
203. music, vocal, includes speech forms
204. musical redundancy
205. musical repetition
206. musical variation
207. myths


208. n.
209. narrative
210. nomenclature (perhaps the same as classification)
211. nonbodily decorative art
212. normal distinguished from abnormal states
213. nouns
214. numerals (counting)


215. o.
216. Oedipus complex
217. oligarchy (de facto)
218. one (numeral)
219. onomatopoeia
220. overestimating objectivity of thought


221. p.
222. pain
223. past/present/future
224. person, concept of
225. personal names
226. phonemes
227. phonemes defined by sets of minimally contrasting features
228. phonemes, merging of
229. phonemes, range from 10 to 70 in number
230. phonemic change, inevitability of
231. phonemic change, rules of
232. phonemic system
233. planning
234. planning for future
235. play
236. play to perfect skills
237. poetry/rhetoric
238. poetic line, uniform length range
239. poetic lines characterized by repetition and variation
240. poetic lines demarcated by pauses
241. polysemy (one word has several related meanings)
242. possessive, intimate
243. possessive, loose
244. practice to improve skills
245. preference for own children and close kin (nepotism)
246. prestige inequalities
247. private inner life
248. promise
249. pronouns
250. pronouns, minimum two numbers
251. pronouns, minimum three persons
252. proper names
253. property
254. psychological defense mechanisms


255. r.
256. rape
257. rape proscribed
258. reciprocal exchanges (of labor, goods, or services)
259. reciprocity, negative (revenge, retaliation)
260. reciprocity, positive
261. recognition of individuals by face
262. redress of wrongs
263. rhythm
264. right-handedness as population norm
265. rites of passage
266. rituals
267. role and personality seen in dynamic interrelationship (i.e., departures from role canbe explained in terms of individual personality)


268. s.
269. sanctions
270. sanctions for crimes against the collectivity
271. sactions include removal from the social unit
272. self distinguished from other
273. self as neither wholly passive nor wholly autonomous
274. self as subject and object
275. self is responsible
276. semantics
277. semantic category of affecting things and people
278. semantic category of dimension
279. semantic category of giving
280. semantic category of location
281. semantic category of motion
282. semantic category of speed
283. semantic category of other physical properties
284. semantic components
285. semantic components, generation
286. semantic components, sex
287. semantic components, commonly used ones are short, infrequently used ones are longer
288. senses unified
289. sex (gender) terminology is fundamentally binary
290. sex statuses
291. sexual attraction
292. sexual attractiveness
293. sexual jealousy
294. sexual modesty
295. sexual regulation
296. sexual regulation includes incest prevention
297. sexuality as focus of interest
298. shelter
299. sickness and death seen as related
300. snakes, wariness around
301. social structure
302. socialization
303. socialization expected from senior kin
304. socialization includes toilet training
305. spear
306. special speech for special occations
307. statuses and roles
308. statuses, ascribed and achieved
309. statuses distinguished from individuals
310. statuses on other than sex, age, or kinship bases
311. stop/nonstop contrasts (in speech sounds)
312. succession
313. sweets preferred
314. symbolism
315. symbolic speech
316. synonyms


317. t.
318. taboos
319. tabooed foods
320. tabooed utterances
321. taxonomy
322. territoriality
323. time
324. time, cyclicity of
325. tools
326. tool dependency
327. tool making
328. tools for cutting
329. tools to make tools
330. tools patterned culturally
331. tools, permanent
332. tools for pounding
333. trade
334. triangular awareness (assessing relationships among the self and two other people)
335. true and false distinguished
336. turn-taking
337. two (numeral)
338. tying material (i.e., something like string)


339. u.
340. units of time


341. v.
342. verbs
343. violence, some forms of proscribed
344. visiting
345. vocalic/nonvocalic contrasts in phonemes
346. vowel contrasts


347. w.
348. weaning
349. weapons
350. weather control (attempts to)
351. white (color term)
352. world view