Skip to content

Universal 209:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 209:

Original
An opposition of two vowels of the same degree of aperture is not present as long as a corresponding vocalic opposition of a narrower degree of aperture is lacking.
Standardized
IF there is an opposition of two vowels of the same aperture, THEN there is a corresponding vocalic opposition of a narrower degree of aperture.
Keywords
vowel, degree of aperture, narrow
Domain
phonology
Type
implication
Status
achronic but presumably diachronically motivated
Quality
statistical
Basis
languages mentioned in Jakobson 1941
Source
Jakobson 1941: 56
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    1. Explicitly stated as a universal acquisitional sequence, but can be assumed to be intended also as a universal implication.2. See discussion in Hawkins (1987).

    1. May 2020

Comments are closed.