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Universal 1182: terms for individual toes ⇒ terms for individual fingers

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 1182: terms for individual toes ⇒ terms for individual fingers

Original
In all languages known so far there appear to be labels for ‘toe’ and ‘finger’. But if there are terms for individual toes, then there are also terms for individual fingers, though not vice versa.
Standardized
IF there are terms for individual toes, THEN there are terms for individual fingers.
Keywords
body parts
Domain
lexicon
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
41 languages in Brown 1976 (12 American Indian languages, 10 European, 5 sub-Saharan African, 4 Mideastern and Western Asian, 5 Southeast Asian, 2 Chinese, 2 Micronesian)
Source
Brown 1976, also mentioned in Andersen 1978: 352
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    Thus, there are languages which label (1) no individual digits, (2) some individual fingers but no individual toes, and (3) a subset of both fingers and toes. However, there are no languages that label some individual toes but no individual fingers. (Andersen 1978: 352)

    1. May 2020

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