--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:
>
> A question arising out of mere curiosity: Recognizing that IE had
but a single fricative, /s/, I wonder whether there are any existing
or former languages that have no fricatives at all. Does anyone know
any such examples?
Auca, Maxakalí, Iate (Yate), Dera, Angaatiha, and Ekari lack
(phonemic) continuant consonants - i.e. no fricatives.
In the UPSID survey of 317 languages, 7% had no fricative *phonemes*
and 12% had only one.
Richard.