Universal #780

Legacy number: 780

 Number  777
 Original  Languages usually have at least three primary oral stops.
 Standardized  There are at least three primary oral stops.
 Keywords  consonant, oral, stop
 Domain  phonology
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  317 language sample from Nartey 1979
 Source  Nartey 1979: 17, cited also in Lass 1984: 153

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Hawaiian (Remote Oceanic, Austronesian), Maidu (Maiduan) (Nartey 1979: 16)
Notes
1. Cf. Hockett’s claim (#1335): No phonological system has fewer than two contrasting positions of articulation for stops.2. Primary oral stops are those speech sounds made with a pulmonic air stream and a complete closure of two articulators (as in the single articulations /p,t/) or four articulators (as in the double articulations /kp, gb/). The release of such sounds may be sudden (as in the stops /p,t/) or delayed (as in the affricates /pf, ts/) (Nartey 1979: 17).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Cf. Hockett's claim (<a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1335"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">): No phonological system has fewer than two contrasting positions of articulation for stops.

2. Primary oral stops are those speech sounds made with a pulmonic air stream and a complete closure of two articulators (as in the single articulations /p,t/) or four articulators (as in the double articulations /kp, gb/). The release of such sounds may be sudden (as in the stops /p,t/) or delayed (as in the affricates /pf, ts/) (Nartey 1979: 17).