Do languages generally tend to avoid palindromic syllables?

Question

E.g. /knank stjajts smoms/ even they do follow the Sonority Sequencing Principle

At least some palindrome syllables are relatively common. For instance, “stats” — J-mster, Apr 12, 2018 at 16:08

Sir Cornflakes · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-14 18:09:36Z

7

There are several reasons conspiring to make palindromic syllables rare in natural languages

Most languages have certain restrictions on the beginning and ending consonant clusters of syllables, and those restrictions are typically not symmetrical, i.e., in general a reversed syllable needn't be legal
a diphthong at the syllable core cannot occur in a palindromic syllable
there are also some consonants (e.g. affricates like /ts/ or /pf/) that cannot be reversed
diachronic processes like dissimilation tend to get rid of double occurrences of the consonants /l, n, r/ in one syllable

Nevertheless, simple palindromic syllables occur and some frequent words (like English a, did) are examples of them.

answered Apr 12, 2018 at 16:57

Sir Cornflakes

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Isn't assimilation also at work?
– amI
Apr 12, 2018 at 21:30
Assimilation usually affects neighbouring consonants, while dissimilation works over the syllable core. I don't think that assimilation does much to the probability of palindromes.
– Sir Cornflakes
Apr 13, 2018 at 9:22
1

Perhaps also mention asymmetry with affricates; it is not unusual for e.g. /ts/ to be an affricate but /st/ to not be one.
– tripleee
Apr 14, 2018 at 12:21
I don't mean they can't be reversed; but the sound in aufpassen doesn't sound like the reverse of Pfad; and the one in zucchini doesn't sound and often isn't perceived as the reverse of the one in bistro, as even the Italian orthography indicates.
– tripleee
Apr 14, 2018 at 18:26
@tripleee Your comments made me curious to ask a new question on that: linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/27738/…
– Sir Cornflakes
Apr 17, 2018 at 10:23

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user6726 · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-12 16:02:03Z

3

No language has a significant tendency to exclude palindromic syllables: if plarg and gralp are possible syllables, plalp and grarg are as well.

answered Apr 12, 2018 at 16:02

user6726

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Hmm... at least dissimilation is an anti-palindromic process working against plalp and grarg
– Sir Cornflakes
Apr 12, 2018 at 16:44
I think not, that is, dissimilation does not care about palindromicity, it cares about broader similarity. Place dissimilation for example may ban multiple velars in a syllable, which is distinct from an actual anti-palindrome principle. Place dissimilation more broadly targets *klaks", which is not a palindrome
– user6726
Apr 12, 2018 at 17:14
3

Yes, it affects non-palindromes as well as palindromes. But the net effect is a deprecation of palindromes.
– Sir Cornflakes
Apr 12, 2018 at 17:21
I would agree to a different question: are there any languages that deprecate syllables with similar consonants? That possibility is not "general" in languages, it is rare but not non-existent.
– user6726
Apr 12, 2018 at 17:34

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