characteristics and also tries to identify the possible rules for the deletion. In addition, the historical review is counted to confirm the influence of the language
change to the spelling reform and representation.
B. Limitation of the Study
In studying deletion, it is believed that there will be various topics and issues related to this discussion, arguing that deletion is relatively important in
order to comprehend English, especially in the connection between the spoken form and the written form. Nevertheless, it is impossible for the writer to discuss
them all in this point. Hence, to make this thesis to be more specialized and identifiable, some limitations will be made as followss.
Firstly, deletion that will be observed for this study is the case of stop deletion that is presented in the pronunciation of the Longman Pronunciation
Dictionary. That is, deletion which takes place in stops p, t, k, b, d, g,
m, and n. In this sense, the letter is assumed as the representation of the sound muting or the letter silencing. Thus, it can be stated that one letter represents one
sound in the deletion. Additionally, the
ŋ will not be included in this study since the discussion for that will not representative enough for the stop deletion. Also, even though
ŋ is considered as one sound in terms of sound classification but in the extent of the
spelling, it can be argued that there is no such deletion representated in English orthography. It is because the
ŋ itself already has restricted condition in. That is, it can only occur at the end of the syllable after a vowel and it never happens in
the beginning of English words Giegerich, 1992: 33. In this extent, it can be
argued that ŋ is a marked phoneme in English especially when dealing with the
spelling representation of the phoneme. Secondly, deletion that will be observed here is deletion which occurs in the
consonant clusters. In other words, it is the stop which is deleted in the consonant cluster whether it is in the initial, intermediate, or final position of a word. For
instance, the p is deleted in the consonant clusters of the word psychology, the b is deleted in the clusters of the word subtle, and the g is deleted in the sound
clusters of the word assign. In addition, if there is more than one consonant in the
clusters which are deleted, they will not be observed for this study. The examples
are the words Blanc bl , debutant ˈdebjut , and denouement de ˈnuːm
where the cluster nc and nt are completely silent will not be included in this study.
Likewise, the third limitation is for the discussion for variant-dependent
deletion, like in the words often, grandma, and Wednesday. That is, they are only
made in terms of explanation and focused on the matter of the sound, not in the further discussion of the dialects or regions of the language. Since it focuses more
on the phonology in the matter of the deletion, this discussion is limited to the argument of the types of deletion that include the variety-dependence as a part of
the deletion. The fourth limitation is constructed for answering the research question
number three that is the non phonological factors might affect the occurrence of stop deletion in English. Since this study focuses more on the phonological study,
hence, the answer to this research question is limited on the discussion of revealing the non-phonological factors themselves as a point of discussion. It is
like the outline of the major factors besides the phonological factors as a whole, not as a part of the analysis. Nonetheless, the examples are still provided to clarify
the explanation for the factors that has been reviewed.
C. Formulation of the Problems
