Universal #812

Legacy number: 812

 Number  809
 Original  In child language, these two consonantal oppositions (nasal vs. oral stop, labials vs. dentals) are followed by the first vocalic opposition: a more narrow vowel is opposed to the wide vowel.
 Standardized  IF there is vocalic opposition of wide vs. narrow, THEN there are two consonantal oppositions: nasal vs. oral stops and labials vs. dentals.
 Formula  wide & narrow vowels ⇒ (nasal & oral stops) & (labials & dentals)
 Keywords  narrow, wide, vowel, nasal, oral, stop, labial, dental
 Domain  phonology
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic but presumably diachronically motivated
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  languages mentioned in Jakobson 1941
 Source  Jakobson 1941: 49

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Counterexamples
Notes
1. Explicitly stated as a universal acquisitional sequence, but can be assumed to be intended also as a universal implication. 2. See discussion in Hawkins (1987).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
1. Explicitly stated as a universal acquisitional sequence, but can be assumed to be intended also as a universal implication.

2. See discussion in Hawkins 1987.