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Unit 9: Clusters and Syllables

9.1.5 Consonant-cluster Additions Notes
Prince-prints merger

The prince-prints merger is a merger of /ns/ and /nts/ occurring for many speakers of English. For
them, “prince” and “prints” are homonyms as [prints]. A [t] is inserted between the [n] and the [s].
Likewise the fricative [j] often becomes t ⎡⎤ ∫ after [n], so that “pinscher” and “pincher” are
⎣⎦
homophones.
These similar clusters may also merge:
• /nz/ and /ndz/ as in “bans”, “pens” and “Hans” sounding the same as “bands”, “pends” and
“hands”. The merged form being [nz]
• /mt/ and /mpt/ as in “dreamt” and “attempt”. The merged form being [mpt].
• /ms/ and /mps/ as in “camps” and “hamster”. The merged form being [mps].
9.1.6 Consonant-cluster Alterations

Yod-rhotacization
Yod-rhotacization is a process that occurs for some Southern AAVE speakers where /j/ is rhotacized
to /r/ in consonant clusters causing pronunciations like:
beautiful → /’bru:t 4 f l/
e
cute → /’kru:t/
music → /’mru:z 4 k/
S-cluster metathesis

S-cluster metathesis is the metathesis of final consonant clusters starting with /s/ occurring in African
American Vernacular English as well as many other varieties of English.
For AAVE speakers with S-cluster metathesis the following words can undergo the following changes:
ask → /’ aeks /
grasp → /’ graeps /
wasp → /’wa:ps/
gasp → /’ gaeps /
S-cluster metathesis is lexically determined.
The above pronunciations in fact have a long history, and all the metathesised forms have existed in
English for around as long as the words themselves, with varying degrees of acceptance.
For example, the Old English verb ascian also appeared as asian , and both forms continued into
′
Middle English. The two forms co-existed and evolved separately in various regions of England, and
later America. The variant ascian gives us the modern standard English ask, but the form “axe”,
probably derived from Old English acsian, appears in Chaucer: “I axe, why the fyfte man Was nought
housband to the Samaritan?” (Wife of Bath’s Prologue, 1386.) It was considered acceptable in literary
English until about 1600 and can still be found in some dialects of English including African American
Vernacular English. It is, however, one of the most stigmatized features of AAVE, often commented
on by teachers. It also persists in Ulster Scots as /’aks/ and Jamaican English as /’a:ks/, from where
it has entered the London dialect of British English as /’a:ks/.
Conclusion

In summarizing her research on the cluster, Dandy (1991) notes that the form is found in Gullah and
in the speech of some young African Americans born in the Southern United States. She explains that

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