Universality of the simple consonant-vowel (CV) syllable probably
reflects its status as a prototype syllable facilitative of oral communication. Although CV is ubiquitous, it makes up only a minority
of the syllabic corpus of some languages, whereas it is dominant in
others. In an attempt to account for the differential frequency of CV
across languages, a cross-cultural study was conducted (N = 53) to
test the general hypothesis that CV would occur most often under
conditions in which oral communicability was a desideratum. One
prediction was based on the assumptions that (a) people in warm
to moderate climates, as inhabitants of "outdoor" cultures, would
on average engage in more distal communication than people in
cold climates; and (b) such distal communication would create a
need for optimal transmittal of messages, that is, high CV usage.
The prediction was supported. A second prediction was based on the
assumptions that (a) writing systems, which do not depend on
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