Universal #781

Legacy number: 781

 Number  778
 Original  If a language has only three primary oral stops, their primary allophones are most likely to be /p t k/.
 Standardized  IF there are only three primary oral stops, THEN their primary allophones are most likely to be /p t k/.
 Keywords  consonant, oral, stop, allophone
 Domain  phonology
 Type  no genuine implication; rather: provided that
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  317 language sample from Nartey 1979
 Source  Nartey 1979: 17, cited also in Lass 1984: 153

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Counterexamples
Problematic cases: /p/ is absent in some Oto-Manguean and Chibchan languages (Yasugi 1995: 66).
Notes
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
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).