Second Year LMD ___Phonetics Teacher : Mr.Aounali

Lecture 4   : Consonant cluster: Initial and final

1.Structural properties of the syllable   : If we have a look at the structural properties of the syllables we can observe that each syllable

consists of a nucleus (central peak of sonority), usually a vowel, and  the consonants that

cluster around this nucleus, which are known as the onset and the coda respectively.

The syllable parts Description Optionality

– Onset Initial segment of a syllable Optional

– Nucleus Central segment of a syllable (core) Obligatory

– Coda Closing segment of a syllable Optional

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The preceding consonants or consonant cluster before the nucleus, are called the “onset”.

- The consonants or consonant cluster which are following the nucleus, are called the “coda”.

English syllable requires a nucleus which is  a vowel in most cases, although the consonants

[n̩], [ l ̩ ], [m̩], [r̩̩] can be also the nucleus of a syllable,and optionally has an onset or a coda.

Zero onset : if the syllable does not contain any consonant before the vowel. E.g : Ill,On,Ask

Zero coda : when the syllable has no consonant after the vowel. E.g : May ,Fee ,Strow , Troy

English consonant clusters are not arbitrarily formed, but their representation is governed with

phonological rules or a set of phonotactic rules as basic generalizations for syllable structure.

2.Consonant Cluster   : Definition : a consonant cluster (also called a consonant blend) is a group, combination or

sequence of consonants that appear together in a syllable without a vowel between them. 

2.1-Initial   cluster : -» Two consonant clusters : English has 25 consonants, there are, in theory, 600 possible two-

consonant clusters which may occur in the beginning or at the end of the syllable.

1. The consonants [ h , tʃ ,ʤ ,z ] cannot appear as part of an onset cluster, while [ ʒ , ŋ ] can

never be found in the onset , but [ l, r,w ,j ] can’t occur in an onset cluster as pre-initials .

2. Clusters with the liquids [l , r] and glides [w, j] as the second consonant are very common.

E.g: Crash, quiet, clear, few, huge, mule, nude, please, prize, piano, treat, twice, tune, twin.But, there are no clusters with the liquids [l , r],glides[w, j] as the first consonant of a syllable.3. All of the plosives can form a cluster with / r / as the second consonant of the syllable. E.g : Prey, tray, crash, brain, break, draw, dream , grade, graphics.

4.If the first consonant in a cluster is a plosive or a voiceless fricative other than [ s ], thus the second consonant is a liquid or a glide. E.g., Blank, bravo, drink, fly, free, fuel, grew, globe, plough, prime, puny, truce, twice,Tuesday, clean, cry, quite, cute, thrill, thwart, shrink, schwa. 5. There are no clusters beginning with a voiced fricative [ v, ð, ʒ ] with the exception of [ v ] as in view [ vju: ] but there are no clusters with a voiced fricative as the second consonant.6. With the exception of [ m , n ] , in some dialects, like in music [ mju:zIk ] and as in news [ nju:z ] , there are no clusters beginning with a nasal consonant.7. The nasals [ n ] and [ m ] can appear as the second consonant of a cluster only if the firstconsonant is [ s ] – E.g. sneeze [ sni:z ], sneak [ sniːk ], smack [ smæk ], smile [ smaɪl ]. 8. [ s ] is by far the most common segment for a cluster to begin with /p,t,k,f,m,n,l,j,r/ E.g : [ spi:d] speed, [ sti:m ] steam, [ skɪn ] skin, [ sfɪə] sphere, [ sməʊk ] smoke, [ snəʊ ] snow , sue [ sjuː] , Sri Lanka [ srɪ læŋkə ] , Srinagar [ srɪnʌgə ] , Srebrenica [ srebrəni:sə ].8.1- S (pre-initial)+ /p, t, k, f, m, n, l, r, w, j/ (initial) = C1 + C2+ V + CCCCE.g: Spy, stay, skill, sphinx /sfɪŋks/, sphere, smile, swear, slay, Sri Lanka; Sue; Suit /sju:t/.

If an onset cluster has three consonants, then it should always begin with [ s ] as pre-initial.

9. S+/p,t,k,f,m,n,l,r,w,j/ + /l,r,w,j/ = pre-initial + initial + post-initial or (C1 +C2+C3 +V)

E.g : Splendid ; sphragistics ; street; square ; squad ; steward ; spew ; skew ; sleuth/slju:/.

2.2-Final   cluster : 1) Any consonant except for /h,r,w,j/ may be final consonant.

There may be two kinds of  Final Cluster :

Pre-final+final+post-final1+Post-final2. Pre-finals /m,n,ŋ,p,b,k,g,f,v,d,s,z,,ð,l,r,ʒ tʃ ,ʤ /

Post-finals1 / s, z, t, d, / : bets,beds. Post-finals is always /s/ .

Syllables of English can be “open” or “closed”, if a syllable ends with a vowel

(i.e.CV, CCV,CCCV) this is open syllable but if it ends with a consonant or a consonant

cluster (i.e. CVC, VCC, CVCCC,CCVCCCC) this would be closed syllable.

So, the structural formula for the English syllable can be respresented as follows :

Pre-initial+Initial+ Post-initial + Vowel + Pre-final + Final+ Post-final1+Post-final2 Or

(C1) (C2) (C3)     V     (C1) (C2) (C3) (C4)

Onset + Rhyme (the rest of the syllable after the onset which is the nucleus plus the coda).

Rhyme can be devided into nucleus+coda.On tree diagram exemplifying this phenomenon as

Syllable

Rhyme (rime)

Onset

Pre-initial Post-initial

Nucleus Coda

Glimpseded

Sprain

Vowel Pre-final Final

Strands

Syllable structre o

Initial Post-Final1 Post-Final2

/g / / l /

/ I /

/ m/

/ p / / s / / t /

/ s / / p / / r / / eI / / n // s / / t / / r / /

æ // n /

/ d /

/ z /

Second Year LMD ___Phonetics Teacher : Mr.Aounali

The nucleus, as the term suggests, is the core or essential part of a syllable.

A nucleus must be present in order for a syllable to be present. Syllable nuclei are most

often highly 'sonorant' or resonant sounds, which can be relatively loud and carry a clear pitch

level. In English and most other languages, most syllable nuclei are vowels or syllabic

consonants serves as the ryhme of the syllable.

http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/clustersindex.html TO BE CONTINUED

beginning with voiced bilabial nasal---- / m / -

beginning with voiceless bilabial plosive---- / p / -

beginning with voiced bilabial plosive---- / b / 

beginning with voiceless labiodental fricative---- / f / -

beginning with voiced labiodental fricative---- / v / 

beginning with voiceless dental fricative---- / θ / -

beginning with voiced dental fricative---- / ð / -

beginning with voiced alveolar nasal---- / n / 

beginning with voiced alveolar plosive---- / d / 

beginning with voiceless alveolar fricative---- / s /

beginning with voiced alveolar fricative---- / z / 

beginning with voiced alveolar lateral approximant---- / l / 

beginning with voiced alveolar approximant ------ / r / -

beginning with voiceless post-alveolar affricate---- / ʧ / -

beginning with voiceless post-alveolar affricate---- / ʤ / -

beginning with voiceless post-alveolar fricative---- / ʒ / --

beginning with voiced palatal semi-vocalic---- / j / -

beginning with voiced velar nasal---- / ŋ / 

beginning with voiceless velar plosive---- / k /

beginning with voiced velar plosive---- / g / 

Liquids and nasals as syllable nuclei :

The English liquids [r , l ] and the nasals [ m, n ] can be the nuclei of syllables under certain conditions. [ r ] can be a nucleus as easily as a vowel, in any position: the words 'bird', 'word', 'her', 'fur', the first syllable of 'perceive' and 'surname' and the final syllables of 'mother', 'actor' (in casual pronunciation) all have [ r ] as the nucleus; in other words, there is no vowel in the pronunciation of these syllables, even though they have one in the spelling. [ l ] and the nasals [ m , n ] become syllable nuclei when they follow an alveolar consonant in the last syllable of a word. This happens in the relaxed or casual rather than very formal articulation of the word. Compare casual vs. formal pronunciations of 'button', 'bottle', 'bottom', and history, different. . When one of these sounds is a syllable nucleus, this is shown in transcription by putting a very short vertical line under the IPA symbol [ r̩   l̩ m̩  n̩ ].