Universal 784:
- Original
- The preferred number of primary oral stops in a given language is between four and eight.
- Standardized
- The preferred number of primary oral stops in a given language is between four and eight.
- Keywords
- consonant, oral, stop
- Domain
- phonology
- Type
- unconditional
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical
- Basis
- 317 language sample from Nartey 1979
- Source
- Nartey 1979: 23
- Counterexamples
Primary oral stops are those speech sounds made with a pulmonic air stream and a complete closure of two articulators (as in the single articulations /p,t/) or four articulators (as in the double articulations /kp, gb/). The release of such sounds may be sudden (as in the stops /p,t/) or delayed (as in the affricates /pf, ts/) (Nartey 1979: 17).