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Universal 583:

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 583:

Original
Semantically simple morphemes are never systematically more complex in phonetic form than semantically more complex ones.
Standardized
IF morphemes are semantically less complex than others, THEN they will not systematically be more complex in phonetic form than these.
Keywords
morpheme, complexity, semantics, iconicity
Domain
phonology, morphology
Type
no genuine implication; rather: provided that
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
unspecified
Source
C. Lehmann 1974, cited in Moravcsik 1980: 26, Moravcsik 1994a: 41
Counterexamples

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    implicationally:IF a morpheme is of semantic complexity n, THEN it will not be more complex in phonetic form than morphemes of semantic complexity n+1.

    1. May 2020

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