Universal #719

Legacy number: 719

 Number  716
 Original  Systems in which high tones are marked are more frequent than systems in which low tones are marked.
 Standardized  More frequently, when tone is privative, high tone is marked relative to low tone, rather than the other way round.
 Formula 
 Keywords  tone, level tone, high, low, markedness
 Domain  phonology
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  languages in Maddieson 1978
 Source  Maddieson 1978: 342

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Hausa (Chadic, Afro-Asiatic), Korku (Munda, Austroasiatic), Mandekan (Mande, Niger-Congo), Ciluba (Bantu, Niger-Congo) (Maddieson 1978)
Notes
Cf. #712.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Cf. <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=712"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">