Frequent violation of the sonority sequencing principle in hundreds of languages: how often and by which sequences?

Abstract The Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) is a fundamental governing principle of syllable structure; however, its details remain contested. This study aims to clarify the empirical status SSP in cross-linguistic 496 languages. We adopt phonetically-grounded definition sonority – acoustic intensity and examine how many languages contain SSP-violating clusters word-initially word-finally. consider treatment complex segments both as units clusters. find significant proportion violate SSP: almost one half language sample. which cause violations, wide range: not only notorious case with sibilants, but also nasals, approximants other obstruents. Violations onsets codas are symmetrical, especially when treated units. discuss where existing theoretical accounts require further development account for our crosslinguistic results.