It can also connect with the observation of the combinations of letters in its relation to sequence of sounds in a particular language Wolfram Johnson,
1982: 1-2.
7. Licit Consonant Clusters in English
As this study deals with stop deletion in the consonant clusters of English, the review on consonant clusters in English is presented in this part. It is provided
in this section to give the recognition on the consonant clusters that are discussed in general as well as in particular discussion of this study.
a. Definition
According to Dardjowidjojo 2009: 29, 140-147, a cluster can be defined as two or more consonants that are placed one after the other. The two or more
consonants must belong to the same syllable. For example, the word help lp, split
spl, sixths ksθs. Likewise, a consonant cluster can be divided into two
groups. They are in the beginning i.e. initial consonant cluster or at the end i.e. final consonant cluster of a syllable or a word.
More specifically, Collins and Mees 2003: 72 define a consonant cluster as a sequence of consonants at the same syllable boundary. In this sense, they
emphasize that in the English syllable, the consonant cluster may consist of up to
three consonants in initial position as in strong str
ɔːŋ and four in final position as in glimpsed
ɡl mpst. Here, the clusters are counted by identifying the sound
in the syllable boundary. Moreover, Radford et al. 2009: 41 define a consonant cluster as a string or
a set of more than one consonant in a syllable. The cluster can be preceded by a
vowel e.g. ends endz or followed by a vowel e.g. spray spre ɪ but it is rarely
the cluster alone e.g. [mpts]. It is because in a syllable, there must be the so- called a nucleus or peak which is characteristically represented by a vowel.
However, in the case of syllabification, certain sounds such as approximants e.g. [l] in table
[ˈte bḷ] and nasals e.g. [m] in bottom [ˈb tṃ] can be the peak of a
syllable. Therefore, consonants like [l] and [m] can be noted also as a syllabic consonant.
b. Licit Consonant Clusters Contain a Stop
As stated before, that English has two types of consonant clusters. They are initial consonant clusters and final consonant clusters. English has these two types
of consonant clusters that contain stops. That is, consonant clusters in the word which has stops on it. The first group is the initial consonant cluster combined
with stop. This cluster can be made of at least two consonants and the maximum number for it is three consonants. The example of initial cluster contains a stop
can be represented in Table 1 below.
Table 1.
English Initial Consonant Sound Clusters Contain a Stop Adapted
from McMahon, 2002 Dardjowidjojo, 2009 Two Consonant Cluster
initial [s] [sp] spy
[st] stop [sk] sky
[sm] small [sn] snow initial [p]
[pl] play [pr] pray
[pj] pure initial [b]
[bl] blue [br] brand
[bj] beauty initial [t]
[tr] try [tw] twist
[tj] tune initial [d]
[dr] draw [dw] dwell
[dj] duke initial [k]
[kl] clue [kr] cry
[kj] cute initial [g]
[gr] grow [gl] glam
initial[m] [mj] mute
initial [n] [nj] new
Three Consonant Cluster
initial [sp] [spl] splash [spr] sprite
[spj] spew initial [st]
[str] strike [stj] stew
initial [sk] [skl] sclerosis [skr] screw
[
skw] square [skj] skewer For the two-consonant cluster, English has twenty four clusters combination
that contain stop. They are five clusters with initial [s] [sp], [st], [sk], [sm], [sn], three clusters with initial [p] [pl], [pr], [pj], three clusters with initial [b] [bl],
[br], [bj], three clusters with initial [t] [tr], [tw], [tj], three clusters with initial [d] [dr], [dw], [dj], three clusters with initial [k] [kl], [kr], [kj], two clusters
with initial [g] [gl], [gr], one cluster with initial [m] [mj], and one cluster with initial [n] [nj].
For the three-consonant cluster, it has a strict rule. That is, it must be initiated by [s] voiceless fricative, followed by voiceless stops [p], [t], or [k] and
ended with [l], [r], [w], or [j] approximant. The examples are in splash [spl], spring
[spr], spew [spj], straw [str], stew [stj], sclaff [skl], scribe [skr], skew [skj], and squat [skw].
The second group is the final consonant cluster. For this type of cluster, the combination is much more varied. There are at least 151 final consonant-cluster
combinations in English. Besides, the cluster can be consisted of two, three, or four consonants. The five-consonant cluster is commonly rare but it can be found
as in the plural form of the word angsts
ŋksts Dardjowidjojo, 2009: 145-147.
In this case, the examples of final consonant cluster combined with a stop can be seen in the following Table 2.
Table 2.
English Final Consonant Sound Clusters Contain Stops Adapted from Dardjowidjojo, 2009: 145-147
Final Consonant Cluster with Two Consonants
FCC starting
with stops
[pt] apt [pθ] depth [ps] apse
[ts] Ritz [tθ] eighth
[kt] fact [ks] fax
[dz] adze FCC
starting with
nasals [mp] lamp [mf] triumph
[nd] sand [ns]
sense
[nθ] tenth [n+tʃ] bench [n+dʒ] range [ŋk] ink
FCC starting
with liquids
[lp] help [lt] belt
[lk] silk [lm] film
[lb] bulb [ld] bold
[lθ] health [ln] kiln [rp] harp
[rt] smart [rk] fork
[rm] arm [rb] herb
[rd] cord [rθ] earth
[rn] burn FCC starting with
fricatives [sp] wasp
[st] list [sk] ask
[ft] left
Final Consonant Cluster with Three Consonants
[kst] text [mpt] attempt
[nst] against [rld] world
[ksθ] sixth [mps] glimpse
[sps] corpse [rst] burst
Note : FCC Final Consonant Cluster
In OE Period the initial clusters such as hn, hl, hr, wl, gn, wr, and kn was permitted. However, in ME period, the first four consonant clusters hn,
hl, hr, wl became a single phoneme n, l, r, l respectively while the clusters gn, wr, and kn still remained. Nevertheless, in EModE the clusters
gn, wr, and kn were reduced to become n, r, and n respectively as in Middle English, gnawen, wrong, and knight were pronounced as gnau
ən, wr
ɔːŋg, and kn xt but in EModE they are pronounced as nɔ, r ŋ, and nʌ t respectively Peters, 1968: 99.
8. Sound Muting
