Vreleksá

eldin raigmore · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:55 pm Post subject: Some "Universals" of Phonology

Stops and Fricatives:
Velars are likelier unvoiced than voiced; labials are likelier voiced than unvoiced.
Voiced obstruents are likelier labial than dental, and likelier dental than velar.
Unvoiced obstruents are likelier velar than dental, and likelier dental than labial.
If a velar is missing it's probably a voiced one.
If a labial is missing it's probably a voiceless one.
If a voiced obstruent is missing it's probably a velar.
If a voiceless obstruent is missing it's probably a labial.
If there's a voiced velar there's an unvoiced velar.
If there's a voiceless labial there's a voiced labial.
If there's a voiced velar there's probably a voiced dental/alveolar.
If there's a voiced dental/alveolar there's probably a voiced labiodental/bilabial.
If there's a voiceless labial there's probably a voiceless dental;
If there's a voiceless dental there's probably a voiceless velar.
If there's no voiced labial stop there's a voiced labial fricative; if there's no voiced labial fricative there's a voiced labial stop.
If there's no voiceless labial stop there's a voiceless labial fricative; if there's no voiceless labial fricative there's a voiceless labial stop.
If there's no voiced dental/alveolar stop there's a voiced dental/alveolar fricative; if there's no voiced dental/alveolar fricative there's a voiced dental/alveolar stop.
If there's no voiceless dental/alveolar stop there's a voiceless dental/alveolar fricative; if there's no voiceless dental/alveolar fricative there's a voiceless dental/alveolar stop.
If there's no voiced velar stop there's a voiced velar fricative; if there's no voiced velar fricative there's a voiced velar stop.
If there's no voiceless velar stop there's a voiceless velar fricative; if there's no voiceless velar fricative there's a voiceless velar stop.

Vowel Systems:
All languages have /i a u/
Any language with four or more vowels has /1/ or /E/.
Any language with five or more vowels has /E/, and usually also has /O/.
Any language with six or more vowels has /O/, and also has either /1/ or /e/; most of them have /1/.
Any language with seven or more vowels has either /e/ and /o/, or /1/ and /@/.
Any language with eight or more vowels has /e/.
Any language with nine or more vowels has /o/.
Five or six vowels is typical.
There are usually at least as many height distinctions as backness distinctions.
If a language has more than one interior vowel, one of them is high.
The number of vowels in a column of interior vowels is never more than the number of front vowels nor more than the number of back vowels.
There are never fewer heights of front vowels than there are heights of back vowels.
High and low short vowels tend to be more central than the corresponding long vowels (so a high front short vowel or a low front short vowel, is probably going to be near-front instead of front, while the high front long vowel or low front long vowel is really front; and a high back short vowel or a low back short vowel is probably near-back instead of back, but a high back long vowel or a low back long vowel is really back.) Also, high and low front and back short vowels are likelier to be a bit mid of the corresponding long vowels.
The number of nasal vowels is never more than the number of oral vowels.
If there are fewer nasal vowels than oral vowels, because some oral vowel doesn't have a nasal counterpart, that's probably a mid vowel. Alternatively, two different oral vowels of the same backness and rounding and similar height may have one and the same corresponding nasal vowel.

Syllabic Consonants:
Syllabic consonants are likelier in non-root morphemes than in roots. If a syllabic consonant occurs in a root it also occurs in a non-root.
Syllabic consonants are likelier in unstressed syllables than in stressed syllables. If a syllabic consonant occurs in a stressed syllable it also occurs in an unstressed syllable. If unstressed syllabic consonants disappear then stressed ones have already disappeared.
The onset of a syllable with a consonantal nucleus can't be a longer cluster than the onset of some syllable with a vocalic nucleus; same for codas.
The more sonorous a consonant is, the likelier it is to occur as a nucleus.
Consonantal nuclei are usually their entire syllable. If they have an onset or a coda they usually don't have both. If they have an onset it usually isn't a cluster. If they have a coda it usually isn't a cluster.
(and more...)

Nasal Vowels
Can't have nasal vowels without nasal consonants.
Never more nasal vowels than oral vowels.
Each nasal vowel is less frequent than its corresponding oral vowel.
Next to a nasal consonant it may be impossible to tell the difference between a nasal vowel and its corresponding oral vowel; away from nasal consonants it usually is possible to tell the difference.
High and mid nasal vowels are usually lower than their corresponding oral vowels; low nasal vowels are usually higher than their corresponding oral vowels.
In a column of vowels, a nasal mid vowel may correspond to both an oral close-mid vowel and an oral open-mid vowel; or, there may be no nasal vowel corresponding to an oral mid vowel. Thus there may be fewer height distinctions in the nasal vowels than in the oral vowels.

Initial and Final Consonant Clusters:
If m>n and x is the number of m-consonant initial or final clusters and y is the number of n-consonant initial or final clusters and p is the number of consonant phonemes, then x/(p^m) is <= y/(p^n).
If m>n>1, then x<= y.
Any initial or final cluster of m consonants contains at least one sequence of (m-1) consonants which also occurs as an intial or final cluster.
If m>n, the fraction of m-consonant intial or final clusters that have to contain a morpheme boundary, is greater than or equal to the fraction of n-consonant initial or final clusters that have to contain a morpheme boundary.
No initial or final clusters of obsruents contain both voiced and voiceless obstruents next to each other.
In final clusters, nasal-followed-by-obstruent clusters are likelier to be homorganic than heterorganic; if a heterorganic one occurs than so does a homorganic one.
In initial systems, stop+fricative is likelier than stop+stop; if a stop+stop occurs then so does a stop+fricative.
In initial systems, either stop+fricative or fricative+stop is likelier than fricative+fricative; if a fricative+fricative occurs, then either a fricative+stop or a stop+fricative also occurs.
In initial systems you never have homorganic voiced-stop+unvoiced-stop; in final systems you never have homorganic unvoiced-stop+voiced-stop.
In final systems a homorganic voiced-stop+unvoiced-stop sequence always contains a morpheme boundary.
In neither initial nor final systems do an unvoiced consonant and a glottalized consonant that don't otherwise differ occur together, in either order, unless there's a morpheme boundary between them.
In neither initial nor final systems do a voiced obstruent and a glottalized obstruent that don't otherwise differ occur in either order.
In initial and final systems a lateral is never followed by a rhotic.
In intial systems a rhotic is followed by a lateral only if there is a morpheme boundary between them.
In final systems there's never a hushing sibilant immediately followed by a hissing sibilant.
In intial systems obstruent+liquid is likelier than liquid+obstruent. If a liquid+obstruent initial cluster occurs, then so does some obstruent+liquid initial cluster.
In final systems liquid+stop is likelier than stop+liquid. If a stop+liquid final cluster occurs, then so does some liquid+stop final cluster.
Initial clusters never have a voiced semivowel followed by an obstruent; final clusters never have an osbtruent followed by a voiced semivowel.
If there are two voiced sonants in an initial cluster, they must be followed by a vowel; if there are two voiced sonants in a final cluster, they must be preceded by a vowel.
In initial clusters, there's never a sequence of (one or more) voiced consonants immediately followed by a sequence of (one or more) voiceless consonants immediately followed by a vowel; except for homorganic nasal+obstruent combinations.
In initial clusters, homorganic voiced-nasal + voiced-obstruent sequences are likelier than homorganic voiced-nasal + voiceless-obstruent sequences. If one of the homorganic voiced-nasal + voiceless-obstruent initial clusters does occur, then so does some homorganic voiced-nasal + voiced-obstruent initial cluster.
In final clusters, there's never a vowel followed by an unvoiced (sequence of) consonant(s) followed by a (sequence of) voiced consonant(s), except for unvoiced obstruents followed by voiced nasals.
In initial systems, nasal+liquid is likelier than voiced-liquid+nasal. If a voiced-liquid+nasal initial cluster does occur, then some nasal+liquid initial cluster also occurs.
In initial and final clusters a sequence of two unvoiced obstruents is likelier than a sequence of two voiced obstruents. If an initial cluster of two voiced obstruents does occur, then so does some initial cluster of two voiceless obstruents.
In initial clusters a sequence of unvoiced-obstruent + nasal is likelier than a sequence of voiced-obstruent + nasal. If a voiced-obstruent + nasal initial cluster does occur, then so does some voiceless-obstruent + nasal initial cluster.
In final clusters a sequence of unvoiced-obstruent + semivowel is likelier than a sequence of voiced-obstruent + semivowel. If a voiced-obstruent + semivowel final cluster does occur then so does some voiceless-obstruent + semivowel final cluster.
In final custers a sequence of sonant + voiceless-obstruent is likelier than a sequence of sonant + voiced-obstruent. If a sonant + voiced-obstruent final cluster does occur then so does some sonant + voiceless-obstruent final cluster.
In initial and final clusters two unvoiced sonants never occur next to each other.
If a language has at least one cluster of n glottalized consonants then it has at least one cluster of n-1 glottalized consonants.
In initial clusters an obstruent+liquid sequence is likelier than a nasal+liquid sequence. If a nasal+liquid initial cluster does occur, then so does some obstruent+liquid initial cluster.
In final clusters a liquid+obstruent sequence is likelier than a liquid+nasal sequence. If a liquid+nasal final cluster does occur, then so does some liquid+obstruent final cluster.
In final clusters obstruent+liquid is likeler than nasal+liquid. If a nasal+liquid final cluster occurs then so does some obstruent+liquid final cluster.
In final clusters nasal+obstruent is likelier than nasal+nasal. If a nasal+nasal final cluster occurs then so does some nasal+obstruent final cluster.
In initial clusters an obstruent+liquid sequence is likelier than an obstruent+nasal sequence. If an obstruent+nasal initial cluster does occur, then so does some obstruent+liquid initial cluster.
If a language has final clusters at all, it has at least one final cluster ending with a dental/alveolar obstruent.
If a language has initial clusters at all, it has at least one initial cluster beginning with a dental/alveolar consonant.
If a language has affricates at all, it has either at least one dental-alveolar affricate or at least one alveolo-palatal affricate.
Shorter clusters are preferred over longer ones.
Clusters analyzable into subclusters are preferred over those whose subclusters don't occur independently.
Homorganic nasal+obstruent sequences are preferred over heterorganic ones; obstruents that are both voiced or both voiceless are preferred over pairs of obstruents that differ in voicing.
Sequences differing only in glottalization are dispreferred; sequences of different kinds of sibilants are dispreferred; sequences of different kinds of liquids are dispreferred.
Sonants tend to occur closer to the nucleus than obstruents; voiced sounds tend to occur closer to the nucleus than unvoiced sounds.
Unvoiced obstruents are likelier in initial and final clusters than voiced ones; voiced sonants are likelier in them than unvoiced ones; non-glottalized consonants are likelier in them than glottalized ones; liquids are likelier in them than nasals; and the dental/alveolar PoA is likelier in initial and final clusters than other PoAs.
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Tolkien_Freak

Wow.

Don't have the time or concentration to read through the whole thing, but I'll do that soon.

eldin raigmore · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 2:40 am Post subject:

Yes, T_F, you are right.

Also, I should caution readers when reading the above lists, that frequently they sound like they're saying "always" when the truth is actually "almost always". Sometimes this is because the author I was quoting didn't know of counter-examples which have come to light in the past 40 years; more often it was because he had said in parts of the text I didn't quote that he was referring to "very high likelihoods" rather than certainties (or words to that effect). (Other times, though, he did mean "always", but people who disagree (when there are such people) haven't had their evidence universally accepted.)

It's uncommon for a language to have more than 9 vowels in its "primary vowel system", but apparently it does happen. It's uncommon for a language to have more than 3 "interior vowels", but FAIK it does happen. It's uncommon for a language to have 3 or more open (low) vowels, but it does happen. It's uncommon for a language to have both front rounded and back unrounded vowels of the same height, but it does happen. It's uncommon for a language to have five different heights at the same value of backness and roundedness, but it does happen.

Somali's would be a typical 9-vowel system; it satisfies all of the above "universals" (at least, all of them about vowels). But there are others.
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"We're the healthiest horse in the glue factory" - Erskine Bowles, Co-Chairman of the deficit reduction commission

killerken · Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 134 Location: Florida

That's very interesting...very interesting indeed.....I wonder what it means...

To Wikipedia!
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eldin raigmore · Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 4:47 pm Post subject:

killerken · Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 134 Location: Florida

Thanks for the offer, but I just needed to remind myself what 'velars' and 'obstruents' were. Now that I know, I can truly say that it's interesting. Do you think the phonemes were chosen because they are easily distinguishable? It seems to me that certain sounds would accompany each other, as well, such as [s] and [z], and [f] and [v], plus some others that aren't just voiced and unvoiced.

Here is something I would like answered, though:

What on Earth does this mean? "If m>n>1, then x<= y."

I still have one day of Christmas Vacation left. Please don't make me start math class early!
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eldin raigmore · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:44 pm Post subject:

killerken · Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 134 Location: Florida

That makes sense. The trend is for simplicity while still allowing for a lot of possible words. Thanks!
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killerken · Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 134 Location: Florida

That makes sense. The trend is for simplicity while still allowing for a lot of possible words. Thanks!
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Speak: English, Spanish
Invent: Fidhaas
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