Page 114 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes
cn e o, pronounced /kn eo :/, and the cognate word in Modern German is Knie, pronounced /kni:/.
Most dialects of English reduced the initial cluster /kn/ to /n/ relatively recently; the change seems
to have taken place in educated English during the seventeenth century, meaning that Shakespeare
did not have the reduction.
Nome-gnome merger

The nome-gnome merger is the reduction of the initial cluster / g n/ to /n/. In Middle English,
words spelt with gn like gnat, gnostic, gnome, etc. had the cluster / g n/. The humorous song The Gnu
jokes about this, even though the g in gnu may actually have always been silent in English, since this
loanword did not enter the language until the late 18th century. The trumpeter Kenny Wheeler wrote
a composition titled “Gnu High”, a pun on “New High”.
S-cluster reduction

S-cluster reduction is the dropping of /s/ from the initial consonant clusters with voiceless plosives
(environments /sp/, /st/, and /sk( )/) occurring in Caribbean English. After the initial /s/ is
w
removed, the plosive is aspirated in the new word-initial environment, resulting in pronunciations
such as:
h
spit Æ ’pit ([‘spit] Æ [‘p I t])
stomach Æ ‘tomach ([‘st m k]) Æ [‘t h a m k])
e
e
a
spend Æ ‘pen ([‘sp ε nd] Æ [‘p ε n]) (also affected by final consonant-cluster reduction)
h
squeeze Æ ‘queeze ([‘skwi:z] Æ [‘k wi:z])
h
9.1.4 Final-cluster Reductions
Final-consonant-cluster reduction

Reduction of final consonant clusters occurs in African American Vernacular English and Caribbean
English. The new final consonant may be slightly lengthened as an effect.
Examples are:
h
h
test Æ tes’ ([ t ε st ] Æ [ t ε ])
s
desk Æ des’ ([‘d ε sk] Æ [‘ dsε ])
hand Æ han’ ([ hænd ] Æ [‘ hæn ])

send Æ sen’ ([s ε nd] Æ [‘s ε n])
left Æ lef’ ([‘l ε ft] Æ [‘ lfε ])
wasp Æ was’ ([‘wa:sp] Æ [‘wa:s])

The plurals of test and desk may become tesses and desses by the same English rule that gives us plural
messes from singular mess.
Plum-plumb merger

The plum-plumb merger is the reduction of the final cluster /mb/ to y m y that occurs in all dialects
of present English. In early Middle English, words spelled with mb like plumb, lamb etc had the
cluster /mb/.

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