Universal 790:

Original: In a given language, the number of Primary Nasal Consonants is never greater than the number of obstruents.
Standardized: IF there are n obstruents, THEN there will not be more than n Primary Nasal Consonants.
Keywords: nasal, consonant, obstruent
Domain: phonology
Type: implication
Status: achronic
Quality: absolute
Basis: languages mentioned in Ferguson 1963; 317 language sample from Nartey 1979
Source: Ferguson 1963: 57 (IV), also Ferguson 1974: 6, cited in Jakobson 1963: 266, Uspensky 1965: 192, Nartey 1979: 32

One Comment

FP

1. A Primary Nasal Consonant (PNC) is a phoneme of which the most characteristic allophone is a voiced nasal stop, that is, a sound produced by a complete oral stoppage (e.g., apical, labial), velic opening, and vibration of the vocal cords. (Ferguson 1963: 56).2. For a similar statement about nasal vowels, see #941.

1. May 2020

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