Universal 1006:

Universal 1006:

Original

No matter which direction the process ( d⇔ð, t⇔† ) is going, the stop outcome is favoured by word-initial, post-nasal or post-liquid stressed positions. The spirant outcome is favoured by post-vocalic positions, including intervocalic, pre-consonantal and pre-junctural.

See IPA.

Standardized

No matter which direction the process ( d⇔ð, t⇔† ) is going, the stop outcome is favoured by word-initial, post-nasal or post-liquid stressed positions. The spirant outcome is favoured by post-vocalic positions, including intervocalic, pre-consonantal and pre-junctural.

Keywords

spirantization

Domain

phonology

Type

unconditional

Status

unclear whether diachronic and/or achronic

Quality

statistical

Basis

Greek, Spanish, Danish, English (all Indo-European), Aramaic, Arabic (both Semitic, Afro-Asiatic)

Source

Ferguson 1978b: 435

Counterexamples

Ma’lula Aramaic does exactly the opposite. In this dialect, all stops in initial position have become spirants except b-; modern initial stops other than b- are mostly Arabic loanwords. (Ferguson 1978b: 431, fn 12)