Universal 774:
- Original
- The number of secondary fricatives in a given language is never greater than that of primary fricatives.
- Standardized
- The number of secondary fricatives is never greater than that of primary fricatives.
- Keywords
- fricative
- Domain
- phonology
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- absolute
- Basis
- 317 language sample from Nartey 1979
- Source
- Nartey 1979: 14, cited also in Lass 1984: 154
- Counterexamples
1. A secondary fricative is a fricative produced with extra contributions from articulators other than those involved in the production of a primary fricative, or by similar modification of the primary fricative. This may be the simultaneous coupling of the nasal cavity to produce nasalized sounds, the rounding of the lips to produce labialized sounds, or the raising of the back of the tongue to produce velarized sounds. Modifications may also be affected in the phonation types, such as the vibration of the vocal cords at only one end to produce laryngealized sounds (Nartey 1979: 13). 2. 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).