Consonant Clusters

Distribution of Consonant Clusters

1. ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY CONSONANT CLUSTERS DEAR MELODY SYEREN CHRISTIN

2. CONSONANT CLUSTERS Consonant clusters are groups of two or more consonants. A consonant cluster can appear at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word.

3. Initial Clusters Initial two-consonant clusters are of two sorts in English One sort is composed of /s/ followed by one of a small set of consonants; examples of such clusters are found in words such as 'sting' / stɪŋ /, 'sway‘ / sweɪ / , 'smoke‘ / sməʊk /. The /s/ in these clusters is called the pre-initial consonant and the other consonant (/t/, /w/, m/ in the above examples) the initial consonant .

4. The other sort begins with one of a set of about fifteen consonants, followed by one of the set /l/, /r/, /w/, /j/ as in, for example, 'play’ / pleɪ /, 'try’ / trʌɪ /, 'quick’ / kwɪk /, 'few’ / fju ː/. We call the first consonant of these clusters the initial consonant and the second the post-initial.

5. three-consonant initial clusters Post-Initial l r w J s plus initial p / sple I / / spre I / - / spju :/ t - / strɪŋ / - / stju :/ k / sklɪəˈrəʊsɪs / / skriːn / / skwiːk / / skju :/

6. Consonant Clusters at beginning of Words /p/ /t/ /k/ /b/ /d/ /g/ +/l/ Play \ˈ plā ɪ \ - Class \ˈ klas \ Black \ˈ blak \ - Glass \ˈ glas , ˈ gläs \ +/r/ Pray \ˈ prā ɪ \ Trip \ˈtrip\ Crime \ˈ krīm \ Brown \ˈ brau̇n \ Drop \ˈ dräp \ Grow \ˈ grō \ +/w/ - Twin Queen \ˈ kwēn \ - Dwell \ˈ dwel \ - +/j/ Pure \ˈ pyu̇r \ Tube \ˈ tüb , ˈ tyüb \ Queue \ˈ kyü \ Beauty \ˈ byü-tē \ Due \ˈ dü , ˈ dyü \ -

7. /m/ /n/ /f/ /v/ /Ɵ/ /ʃ/ /h/ +/l/ - - Fly \ˈ flī \ - - - - +/r/ - - Fry \ˈ frī \ - Three \ Ɵri :\ Shrink \ ʃriȠk / - +/w/ - - - - - - - +/j/ Music \ˈ myü-zik \ News \ˈ nüz , ˈ nyüz \ Few \ˈ fyü \ View \ˈ vyü \ - - Huge \ˈ hyüj , ˈ yüj \

8. Medial Clusters The cluster of consonants in the middle position of the word is called word middle consonant cluster . Types of word medial consonant clusters. a) Intra-syllabic consonant cluster: The sequence of consonants in the word medial position which belong to the same syllable is called intra-syllabic cluster. As for example; -camping ; /ˈ kampɪŋ / -extra; /ˈ ɛkstrə /, etc. -reply ; / rɪˈplʌɪ / -windy ; /ˈ wɪndi /

9. b) Inter-syllabic cluster: If the consonant belonging to different syllables occurs together, the cluster formed is called inter-syllabic cluster. As for example; -movement ; /ˈ muː vm (ə) nt / -description ; / dɪˈ skr ɪpʃ (ə)n/ -import ; /ˈ ɪ mp ɔːt / -blackboard; /ˈ bla kb ɔːd /

10. Final Clusters Any consonant may be a final consonant except h, w, j. There are two sorts of two-consonant final cluster 1. One being a final consonant preceded by a pre-final consonant and the other a final consonant followed by a post-final consonant . The pre-final consonants form a small set: m, n, ŋ , l, s. The post-final consonants also form a small set: s, z, t, d, θ ; example words are: 'bets' betz , 'beds’ bedz .

11. There are two types of final three-consonant cluster ; the first is pre-final plus final plus post-final , as set out in the following table: Pre-final Final Post-final / hɛlpt / hɛ l p t / baŋks / ba ŋ k s / bɒndz / bɒ n d z / twɛlf θ/ twɛ l f θ

12. The second type shows how more than one post-final consonant can occur in a final cluster: final plus post-final l plus post-final. Post-final is again one of s, z, t, d, θ . Pre-final Final Post-final 1 Post-final 2 / fɪf θ s / fɪ - f θ s / nɛkst / nɛ - k s t / lapst / la - p s t

13. Most four-consonant clusters can be analysed as consisting of a final consonant preceded by a pre-final and followed by post-final and post-final, as shown below : Pre-final Final Post-final 1 Post-final 2 / twɛlf θ s / twɛ l f θ s / prɒm (p)t/ prɒ m p t s

14. A small number of cases seem to require a different analysis, as consisting of a final consonant with no pre-final but three post-final consonants: Pre-final Final Post-final 1 Post-final 2 Post-final 3 / sɪks θ s / sɪ - k s θ s / tɛksts / tɛ - k s t s

15. THE PRODUCTION OF CONSONANT CLUSTERS Some more examples of consonant clusters: a) Nasal + stop – / ka mp /, /sta mp /, etc. b) Nasal + fricative – / wɔːm θ / , / təː ms /, etc. c) Stop + stop – / kɛ pt /, / tra kt /, etc. d) Stop + nasal – /ˈ rɪ tn /, /ˈ bɪ tn /, etc. e) Stop + lateral – /ˈ mɪ dl /, /ˈ hʌ dl /, etc. f) Nasal + affricate – / bɛn (t)ʃ /, / lʌn (t)ʃ /, etc. g) Fricative + stop – / bɛ st /, / drɑː ft /, etc.

16. Another Examples of Consonant Clusters TWO & THREE CLUSTERS The Distribution Initial Medial Final Bl Blame / bleɪm / Ablutions / əˈbluːʃnz / Capable/ˈ keɪpəbl / Gr Green / ɡriːn / Progress /ˈ prəʊɡres / - Kj Curious /ˈ kjʊəriəs / Execution /ˌ eksɪˈkjuːʃn / - Kl Clown / klaʊn / Eclipse / ɪˈklɪps / Chemical /ˈ kemɪkl / Pr Pride / praɪd / Approach / əˈprəʊtʃ / - Tr Trip / trɪp / Introvert /ˈ ɪntrəvɜːt / - St Stop / stɒp / Instant /ˈ ɪnstənt / Pianist /ˈ pɪənɪst / Str Stray / streɪ / Extra /ˈ ekstrə / -

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