Skip to content

Universal 957:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 957:

Original
For languages with phonemic stress, the presence of n unstressed syllables flanking a stressed syllable implies the presence of n -1 unstressed syllables.
Standardized
When there is phonemic stress, IF there are n unstressed syllables flanking a stressed syllable, THEN there are n -1 unstressed syllables.
Keywords
stress, syllable
Domain
prosodic phonology
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
unspecified
Source
Saporta 1963: 68
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    Is supposed to illustrate “the general principle of economy whereby the presence of the complex pattern implies the presence of the more simple one”.???

    1. May 2020

Comments are closed.