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Universal 1246:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1246:

Original
… if syllables containing sequences of n consonants in a language are to be found as syllabic types, then sequences of n-1 consonants are also to be found in the corresponding position (prevocalic or post vocalic) except that CV → V … [and VC → V] … do not hold [V(C) → CVC].
Standardized
IF syllables containing sequences of n consonants are to be found as syllabic types, THEN sequences of n-1 consonants are also to be found in the corresponding position (prevocalic or post vocalic) except that CV → V … [and VC → V] … do not hold [V(C) → CVC].
Keywords
syllable structure, consonant, vowel
Domain
phonology
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
sample of 144 languages in Bell 1971
Source
Jakobson 1958 [1971]: 526; Greenberg, Osgood, & Jenkins 1966: xxv, cited in Bell 1971: 96, Eckman 1984: 87, Uspensky 1965: 195, also in Holenstein 1985: 129
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. Bell’s additions to the original statement are in brackets.2. Jakobson’s original formulation: There are languages lacking syllables with initial vowels and/or syllables with final consonants, but there are no languages devoid of syllables with initial consonants or of syllables with final vowels.

    1. May 2020

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