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Universal 772:
Original
In a given language the number of primary fricatives is very unlikely to be greater than the number of stops and affricates together.
Standardized
The number of primary fricatives is very unlikely to be greater than the number of stops and affricates together.
Keywords
fricative, stop, affricate
Domain
phonology
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
317 language sample from Nartey 1979
Source
Nartey 1979 : 12
Counterexamples
Aleut, Greenlandic (both Eskimo-Aleut);Sokotri=Modern S. Arabic, Egyptian Arabic (both Semitic, Afro-Asiatic) ;Guarani (Equatorial), Maidu (Maiduan);E. Armenian (Armenian, Indo-European), Kurdish (Indo-Iranian, Indo-European);Azerbaijani (Turkic, Altaic), Cheremis (Finnic, Uralic), Kabardian (N. Caucasian), Zulu (Bantu, Niger-Congo) (Nartey 1979: 12)
Primary fricatives are those speech sounds produced by the narrowing of two articulators so as to produce a turbulent air stream. (This excludes [h]). (Nartey 1979: 3).