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Universal 1888:
- Original
- Languages possessing the pairs voice–voiceless, aspirate–non-aspirate, have also a phoneme /h/.
- Standardized
- IF there is an opposition of voice vs. voiceless and aspirate vs. non-aspirate, THEN there is a phoneme /h/.
- Keywords
- aspirate, voice, /h/
- Domain
- phonology
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- absolute
- Basis
- unspecified
- Source
- Jakobson 1957 [1971: 528]
- Counterexamples
- Mandarin Chinese is almost an exception, in that the nearest thing to an /h/ is normally a dorso-velar spirant (Hockett 1963: 25).
Cf. Hagège’s claim (#124): IF there are aspirated stops (especially voiceless labial and alveolar), THEN there is /h/.