Page 111 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Unit 9: Clusters and Syllables

Both onset and termination can consist of one or more consonant phonemes. Two or more consonants Notes
in the onset or in the termination form consonant clusters. Here again there are restrictions as to how
the consonants can combine in the onset and termination respectively (onset clusters do not have the
same restrictions as termination clusters and vice-versa)

⎧
⎪
⎪ ⎧ l = spteI splay
⎪
⎪ p + r = spreI spray
⎨
⎪ ⎪
⎪ ⎩ j = spju: sprew
⎪ ⎧ r = str : straw]
⎪
⎨
s + t + ⎨
⎪ ⎩ j = stju: stew stew
⎪ ⎧ 1 = skle ] )r :zIs sclerosis
(
⎪ ⎪
⎪ ⎪ r = skru screw
⎪ k + ⎨
⎪ ⎪ w = skwi:z squeez
⎪ ⎪ j = skju: skew
⎩ ⎩
Any consonant can be the sole element of the onset except /ŋ/ as mentioned before. Note that / 3 /
is rare and is found in initial position only in words directly imported from French, such as / 3 Ig l • /
gigolo or / 3 i:g/ gigue (examples from Gimson 1980:189). The largest onset consonant cluster can
e
e
consist of three elements. In this case the first one is necessarily /s/:/s C C nucleus/(where C stands
for “consonant”).

1. Examples for these clusters could be found; however they are all foreign or onomatopeic:
psoriasis - pterodactyl - pshaw - tsetse - gwen - Sri-Lanka - Schweppes.
2. A decision has to be made here as to whether / t ∫ / and /d 3 / are single phonemes or
clusters.
3. It is a matter of pronunciation: some dialects pronounce [ e (r)] for where (the sound
/ / is a voiceless velar approximant.
e
Notice that among two-consonant clusters /s/ seems to combine most easily when in initial position.
Whereas it was possible to list the combinations of onset clusters fairly faithfully, it is practically
impossible to present termination clusters in a chart that would allow immediate reading. Trnka
(cited in Troubetzkoy 1967: 269) trying to enumerate and explain possible clusters in English and yet
doesn’t succeed in producing simple rules!
Hence we will restrict ourselves to showing some of the most frequent termination clusters. Any
consonant may be a final consonant i.e. be the only element of a termination except for /h/, /w/, /
j/ and to a certain extent /r/, as we have seen.
Examples of two-consonant clusters in termination:
bump /__ mp/
rent /__ nt/
bank /__ ŋk/
belt /__ 1t/

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