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Universal 207: VO ⇒ complex syllable structure
- Original
- VO languages tend to have complex syllable structure.
- Standardized
- IF basic order is VO, THEN syllable structure is complex (permitting initial and final consonant clusters).
- Keywords
- order, VO, syllable, complexity
- Domain
- phonology, syntax
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical
- Basis
- languages in Lehmann 1973, Lehmann 1974, Lehmann 1978a-d
- Source
- W.P.Lehmann 1973, W.P.Lehmann 1974, W.P.Lehmann 1978 a-d, see Plank 1998 for discussion
- Counterexamples
- Old Egyptian (Afro-Asiatic): VO, only syllable types CV and CVC (F. Kammerzell, p.c.).
