Universal #1250

Legacy number: 1250

 Number  1246
 Original  ... if syllables containing sequences of n consonants in a language are to be found as syllabic types, then sequences of n-1 consonants are also to be found in the corresponding position (prevocalic or post vocalic) except that CV → V ... [and VC → V] ... do not hold [V(C) → CVC].
 Standardized  IF syllables containing sequences of n consonants are to be found as syllabic types, THEN sequences of n-1 consonants are also to be found in the corresponding position (prevocalic or post vocalic) except that CV → V ... [and VC → V] ... do not hold [V(C) → CVC].
 Keywords  syllable structure, consonant, vowel
 Domain  phonology
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  sample of 144 languages in Bell 1971
 Source  Jakobson 1958 [1971]: 526; Greenberg, Osgood, & Jenkins 1966: xxv, cited in Bell 1971: 96, Eckman 1984: 87, Uspensky 1965: 195, also in Holenstein 1985: 129

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Notes
1. Bell’s additions to the original statement are in brackets.2. Jakobson’s original formulation: There are languages lacking syllables with initial vowels and/or syllables with final consonants, but there are no languages devoid of syllables with initial consonants or of syllables with final vowels.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Bell's additions to the original statement are in brackets.

2. Jakobson's original formulation: There are languages lacking syllables with initial vowels and/or syllables with final consonants, but there are no languages devoid of syllables with initial consonants or of syllables with final vowels.