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Linguistics

Notes beds /__ dz/
bets /__ ts/
nest /__ st/
bathes /__ ð z/
Note that /pm/ wouldn’t be possible, nor /kn/, /tl/ (/bi:tl/ beetle is considered to be split into two
syllables.
Examples of three-consonant clusters in termination:
bumps /__ mps/
bonds /__ ndz/
banks /__ ŋks/
helped /__ lpt/
belts /__ lts/
twelfth /__ lf θ /

fifths /__ f θ s/
next /__ kst/
lapsed /__ pst/
Examples of four-consonant clusters in termination:

twelfths /__ lf θ s/
sixths /__ ks θ s/
texts /__ ksts/
9.1.1 H-cluster Reductions

The h-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English
involving consonant clusters beginning with /h/ that have lost the /h/ in certain varieties of English.
Wh-cluster reductions

• The hole-whole merger is the replacement of/hw/ with /h/ before the vowels /o:/ and /u:/
which occurred in Old English. This is due to the effect that rounded back vowels have on /h,
giving it velar and labial characteristics making /hw/ an allophone of /h/ before these vowels;
the true phonetic /hw/ then eventually became perceived as this allophone of/h/ and no longer
a phonologically distinct speech sound.
• The wine-whine merger is the merger of/hw/ (spelled wh) with /w/. It occurs in the speech of
the great majority of English speakers. Notable dialects that retain the distinction include lrish
English, Scottish English, and Southern American English. This occurred after the hole-whole
merger meaning that wh- is usually /w/ before orthographic a, e, i and y, but /h/ before
orthographic o. (Orthographic a is usually phonologically / Z / or / ] :/ after /w/ in some
varieties of English.)

Yew-hew merger
The yew-hew merger is a process that occurs in some dialects of English that causes the cluster /hj/
to be reduced to /j/. It leads to pronunciations like /ju:d ¥ / for huge and /ju:m n/ for human; hew
and yew become homophonous. It is sometimes considered a type of glide-cluster reduction, but is
e
much less widespread than wh-reduction, and is generally stigmatized where it is found. Aside from
accents with h-dropping, this reduction is in the United States found mainly in accents of Philadelphia
and New York City; also in Cork accents of Hiberno-English. In some dialects of English, the cluster

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