Universal #690

Legacy number: 690

 Number  687
 Original  CV (Consonant + Vowel) is the only universal model of the syllable. 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 syllables with final vowels.
 Standardized  CV (Consonant + Vowel) is the only universal model of the syllable. 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 syllables with final vowels.
 Keywords  syllable, initial, final, consonant, vowel
 Domain  phonology
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  ?
 Source  Jakobson & Halle 1956, Jakobson 1958 [1971]: 526, cited in Holenstein 1985: 129

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Notes
That seems to be the essence of the claim:All languages have syllables that begin with a consonant and/or end in a vowel.Thus, no language has only VC or CVC syllables.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
That seems to be the essence of the claim:
All languages have syllables that begin with a consonant and/or end in a vowel.
Thus, no language has only VC or CVC syllables.