Month: May 2020

Universal 815: mora ⇒ ¬ monosyllabic tonal L Original Mora occurs only in non-monosyllabic tonal languages. Standardized IF moras matter [for what?], THEN the language…

Universal 814: Original Long vowels (also diphthongs) and tone occur as a rule only in stressed syllables. Standardized IF a vowel (or diphthong) is long…

Universal 813: Original In regard to sibilants there is a strong tendency for different types of sibilants not to combine. If it occurs, then it…

Universal 812: distributive stress ⇒ ¬ reduced vowel Original Languages with distributive stress have no reduced vowels. Standardized IF there is distributive stress, THEN there…

Universal 811: cumulative stress ⇒ reduced vowel Original Languages with cumulative stress have reduced vowels. Standardized IF there is cumulative stress, THEN there are reduced…

Universal 810: stress for semantic contrast ⇒ non-monosyllabic Original Stress can be used for semantic contrasts only in non-monosyllabic languages. Standardized IF stress is used…

Universal 809: wide & narrow vowels ⇒ (nasal & oral stops) & (labials & dentals) Original In child language, these two consonantal oppositions (nasal vs.…

Universal 808: fricative ⇒ stop Original In the linguistic systems of the world, fricatives cannot exist unless stops exist as well. Standardized IF there are…

Universal 807: Original The more complex a phonemic category is, the weaker is its capacity to split. Standardized IF a phonemic category is complex, THEN…

Universal 806: vowel harmony ⇒ ä Original In all languages which have vowel harmony, the vowel ä exists. Standardized IF there is vowel harmony, THEN…