A universal concerning the origin of syllabic consonants is proposed by Bell, 1978: 165. This says that ‘the syllabicity of syllabic consonants never arises spontaneously from a marginal consonant, as far as I can ascertain. The source of syllabicity is always a vowel’. Certain apparently contradictory data in English ([elm] < elm) are adduced, but following Dobson, 1968, Bell (167) assumes an intermediate stage with shwa (eləm). There is evidence in Dobson that spellings with a vowel letter are indeed earlier than (for instance) Bullokar's capitalized consonant letters representing syllabic consonants. It seems to me, though, that we need to make a reservation about the assumption of the priority of svarabhakti over syllabization.