Nonsense syllables (NS) appear to be widespread in the languages of the world. Through the analysis of data from childlore, folksongs and scat-singing, this paper evaluates three hypotheses (H) regarding the types of syllable structure and phonemes found in NS: H1 states that the most common syllable structure is CV and that clusters with 3 or more consecutive consonants are rare; H2 states that the most common vowels are /i a u/; H3 states that stops are the most common category of consonants. The data supports H1 and H3, while evidence for H2 is less conclusive. An unexpected finding involves the relatively high frequency of liquid (i.e., lateral and rhotic) consonants.
展开▼
机译：废话音节（NS）似乎在世界上的语言中很普遍。通过分析来自儿童文学，民歌和散打的数据，本文评估了关于在NS中发现的音节结构和音素类型的三个假设（H）：H1指出最常见的音节结构是CV，并且聚类为3或连续的辅音很少见； H2指出最常见的元音是/ i a u /; H3指出，停止是辅音的最常见类别。数据支持H1和H3，而H2的证据尚无定论。一个出乎意料的发现涉及液体辅音的相对较高的频率。
展开▼
