Universal #793

Legacy number: 793

 Number  790
 Original  In a given language, the number of Primary Nasal Consonants is never greater than the number of obstruents.
 Standardized  IF there are n obstruents, THEN there will not be more than n Primary Nasal Consonants.
 Keywords  nasal, consonant, obstruent
 Domain  phonology
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  languages mentioned in Ferguson 1963; 317 language sample from Nartey 1979
 Source  Ferguson 1963: 57 (IV), also Ferguson 1974: 6, cited in Jakobson 1963: 266, Uspensky 1965: 192, Nartey 1979: 32

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Discussion
Counterexamples
Notes
1. A Primary Nasal Consonant (PNC) is a phoneme of which the most characteristic allophone is a voiced nasal stop, that is, a sound produced by a complete oral stoppage (e.g., apical, labial), velic opening, and vibration of the vocal cords. (Ferguson 1963: 56).2. For a similar statement about nasal vowels, see #941.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. A Primary Nasal Consonant (PNC) is a phoneme of which the most characteristic allophone is a voiced nasal stop, that is, a sound produced by a complete oral stoppage (e.g., apical, labial), velic opening, and vibration of the vocal cords. (Ferguson 1963: 56).

2. For a similar statement about nasal vowels, see <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=941"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">.