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Study of 1,700 languages reveals surprising hidden patterns

Languages may seem wildly different, but new research shows they follow surprisingly consistent—and deeply human—rules.

Date:

April 5, 2026

Source:

Max Planck Society

Summary:

A massive new analysis of over 1,700 languages shows that some long-debated “universal” grammar rules are actually real. By using cutting-edge evolutionary methods, researchers found that languages tend to evolve in predictable ways rather than randomly. Key patterns—like word order and grammatical structure—keep reappearing across the globe. The results suggest shared human thinking and communication pressures shape how all languages develop.

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The evolution of a word-order universal on the global language tree. In our analysis of the universal1 “With overwhelmingly greater than chance frequency, languages with normal subject–object–verb order are postpositional”, the absence or presence of the two features defines the ‘state’: state 11 (red) is the prediction made by the universal; in state 00 (black), both features are absent; in states 01 (orange) and 10 (light blue), one feature is absent and the other is present. The ancestral state reconstruction shows that in multiple language families and areas, pathways of language change repeatedly lead to the predicted outcome. Credit: © Verkerk et al. (Nature Human Behaviour, 2025)

Despite the enormous variety of languages spoken around the world, certain grammatical patterns keep showing up. A new study finds that about one-third of long-standing "linguistic universals" are backed by strong statistical evidence when tested using modern evolutionary methods.

An international research team led by Annemarie Verkerk (Saarland University) and Russell D. Gray (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) analyzed 191 proposed universals using Grambank, the largest database of grammatical features ever assembled. Their dataset covered more than 1,700 languages.

In earlier research, linguists tried to avoid similarities between related or nearby languages by selecting samples from distant regions. While helpful, that approach does not fully eliminate hidden connections between languages. It can also weaken statistical results and fails to reveal how languages change over time.

To address this, the researchers used Bayesian spatio-phylogenetic analyses, which account for both shared ancestry and geographic influence. This approach offers a much higher level of statistical rigor than most previous studies.

Languages Do Not Evolve at Random

"In the face of huge linguistic diversity, it is intriguing to find that languages don't evolve at random," says Verkerk. "I am delighted that the different types of analyses we did converged on very similar results, suggesting that language change must be a central component in explaining universals."

The findings show strong support for several recurring patterns. These include word order preferences, such as whether verbs come before or after objects, and hierarchical structures, such as how grammatical relationships are marked within sentences.

Importantly, these patterns have appeared repeatedly across unrelated languages in different parts of the world. This repetition suggests that there are deep constraints guiding how humans organize language.

Shared Pressures Shape Language Structure

Senior author Russell Gray reflected, "We discussed whether to write this up as a glass-half-empty paper -- 'look how many proposed universals don't hold' -- or a glass-half-full paper -- 'there's robust statistical support for about a third'. In the end, we chose to highlight the patterns that evolve repeatedly, showing that shared cognitive and communicative pressures push languages towards a limited set of preferred grammatical solutions."

By identifying which universals truly stand up to rigorous testing, the study helps narrow the focus for future research. It points scientists toward the underlying cognitive and communicative forces that shape human language.