Universal #1256

Legacy number: 1256

 Number  1252
 Original  Front consonants are less prone to develop in accordance with consonant gradation than back consonants.
 Standardized  Front consonants are less prone to develop in accordance with consonant gradation than back consonants.
 Keywords  consonant gradation
 Domain  phonology
 Type  implication
 Status  diachronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  sample of 48 languages in Ultan 1970
 Source  Ultan 1970: C20

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Discussion
Notes
1. Consonant gradation refers to the systematic occurrence of consonant alternation which has no grammatical function (consonant change) or which does (consonant mutation). (Ultan 1970: C1).2. Good examples: Dinka (W. Nilotic, Nilo-Saharan), Loko (Mande, Niger-Congo), Nzema (Kwa, Niger-Congo), Welsh (Celtic, Indo-European), Finnish (Finnic, Uralic).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Consonant gradation refers to the systematic occurrence of consonant alternation which has no grammatical function (consonant change) or which does (consonant mutation). (Ultan 1970: C1).

2. Good examples: Dinka (W. Nilotic, Nilo-Saharan), Loko (Mande, Niger-Congo), Nzema (Kwa, Niger-Congo), Welsh (Celtic, Indo-European), Finnish (Finnic, Uralic).