Universal #1893

Legacy number: 1893

 Number  1888
 Original  Languages possessing the pairs voice–voiceless, aspirate–non-aspirate, have also a phoneme /h/.
 Standardized  IF there is an opposition of voice vs. voiceless and aspirate vs. non-aspirate, THEN there is a phoneme /h/.
 Keywords  aspirate, voice, /h/
 Domain  phonology
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  unspecified
 Source  Jakobson 1957 [1971: 528]

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Mandarin Chinese is almost an exception, in that the nearest thing to an /h/ is normally a dorso-velar spirant (Hockett 1963: 25).
Notes
Cf. Hagège’s claim (#124): IF there are aspirated stops (especially voiceless labial and alveolar), THEN there is /h/.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Cf. Hagège's claim (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=124"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">): IF there are aspirated stops (especially voiceless labial and alveolar), THEN there is /h/.