Universal 1249:
- Original
- Hierarchy of consonants that have the greatest tone-raising or tone-lowering effect:
implosive > voiceless aspirated > voiceless unaspirated > sonant > voiced obstruent > breathy
- Standardized
- The more to the left on the hierarchy a consonant is, the greater is its tone-raising effect.
The more to the right a consonant is, the greater is its tone-lowering effect:implosive > voiceless aspirated > voiceless unaspirated > sonant > voiced obstruent > breathy
- Keywords
- consonant, tone, raising, lowering, hierarchy
- Domain
- prosodic phonology
- Type
- implicational hierarchy
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical
- Basis
- West African languages: Bolanci, Ga?anda, Hausa, Kanakuru (=Dera), Ngizim (all Chadic); Etsako (Edoid); Ewe, Twi (both Kwa); Gwari, Igbirra, Nupe (all Nupoid); Igbo (Igboid); Yoruba (Defoid); Fe?fe?, Kikuyu, Kinga, Mbui, Safwa, Sukuma, Tigong, Xhosa, Zulu (all Bantu); Kpelle, Mende (both Mande).
- Source
- Hyman & Schuh 1972: 42 (Hyman & Schuh 1972[1974]: 110)
- Counterexamples
1. Hyman & Schuh (1972: 110) admit this hierarchy is not fully satisfactory for several reasons: (i) several consonant types are missing (e.g. ejectives, glottal stop, creaky voice), (ii) the sonorants are undifferentiated (e.g. liquid, glide), and (iii) the place of articulation is undifferentiated (e.g. velar, labial).2. Cf. ##766, 1677.