Universal 1608:

Universal 1608:

Original

Permeability of classes of consonants to nasalization:

vowels > {[h], glottal stop (=laryngeal segments)} > w, y (=oral glides) > r,l (=liquids) > obstruents.

(where glides, liquids, and obstruents are referred as supralaryngeal segments).

Standardized

IF the feature [nasal] spreads through supralaryngeal segments (like in the implicational sequence above), THEN it spreads also through vowels.
IF the feature [nasal] spreads through laryngeal segments, THEN it spreads also through vowels.
IF the feature [nasal] spreads through supralaryngeal segments, THEN it does not necessarily spread through laryngeal segments.

IN OTHER WORDS: spreading through supralaryngeal segments is independent of spreading through laryngeal segments.

Keywords

nasalization

Domain

phonology

Type

implicational hierarchy

Status

achronic

Quality

statistical

Basis

37 languages sample (Cohn 1987)

Source

Cohn 1987 as summed up in Cohn 1993a: 336-337

Counterexamples