Universal 781:

Original: In a given language the number of voiceless primary oral stops is nearly always greater than the number of voiced ones.
Standardized: The number of voiceless primary oral stops is nearly always greater than the number of voiced ones.
Keywords: consonant, oral, stop, voice
Domain: phonology
Type: implication
Status: achronic
Quality: almost absolute
Basis: 317 language sample from Nartey 1979
Source: Nartey 1979: 21, cited also in Lass 1984: 15

Counterexamples: Wapishana (Arawakan), Kiari, Chuave (both Trans-New Guinea, Papuan), Irish (Celtic, Indo-European), Shilha (Berber, Afro-Asiatic), Sokotri [=Modern S. Arabic] (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Songhai (Nilo-Saharan), Adzera (Markham, Austroasiatic), Tama (E. Sudanic, Nilo-Saharan) (Nartey 1979: 22);
Papago (Uto-Aztecan), Lealo Chinantec (Oto-Manguean), Bocotá (Chibchan)(Yasugi 1995: 66).

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One Comment

FP

Primary oral stops are those speech sounds made with a pulmonic air stream and a complete closure of two articulators (as in the single articulations /p,t/) or four articulators (as in the double articulations /kp, gb/). The release of such sounds may be sudden (as in the stops /p,t/) or delayed (as in the affricates /pf, ts/) (Nartey 1979: 17).

1. May 2020

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