Universal #816

Legacy number: 816

 Number  813
 Original  In regard to sibilants there is a strong tendency for different types of sibilants not to combine. If it occurs, then it is with morpheme boundary.
 Standardized  Sibilants of different types tend not to cluster, or only across morpheme boundaries.
 Keywords  consonant cluster, final, sibilant, morpheme boundary
 Domain  phonology, morphology
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  sample of 104 languages in Greenberg 1964
 Source  Greenberg 1964 [Greenberg 1965: 17-18, Greenberg 1978e: 257]

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Counterexamples
1. Shilha (Berber) (Greenberg 1965: 18, 1978e: 257). 2. Dialectal Hungarian does have the proscribed sequence of two sibilants in forms like olvaszc [olvass] (you (are) reading), where -sz is a 2nd person suffix. It is true on the other hand, that most dialects and the standard language use a suppletive suffix -Vl after sibilants, here olvasol. (Hetzron 1980: 263)
Notes
Cf. #861.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Cf. <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=861"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">