Consonant clusters

Consonant Clusters in English and Lebanese Arabic

A contrastive study

By Fadi Sukkari

Syllables, Vowels & Consonants

Words are comprised of syllables, composed in turn of consonants and vowels (nucleus), to which, short vowels called diacritics are added in some languages like Arabic.

By definition, vowels are characterized by a flow of air, whereas, in contrast, consonants are produced by obstructing this air flow.

Phonology and Phonemes

In phonology, the science dealing with pronunciation and speech study, a phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit (a unit capable of showing a distinction in meaning between two words) in the sound system of any language, each language having its own inventory of phonemes.

Phonotactics

There exist phonetic restrictions that vary greatly from one language to another and that take the form of limitations in the manner phonemes are arranged in sequence.

How phonemes are arranged in a given language is called phoneme distribution or phonotactics.

Consonant Clusters

Among these restrictions, are consonant clusters (C.C.) rules, defining the maximum number of contiguous, consonants that occur, not separated by a vowel, and that keep their individual pronunciation when blended.

C.C. vs Diagraphs

Diagraphs are sometimes mistaken for consonant clusters. Actually, diagraphs can be defined as a sequence of more than one consonant pronounced as one phoneme such as (ch; /k/) in chronology, (ph; /f/) in phrase, (sh; /ʃ/) in shrink, etc.

Phoneme Combinations

A (C-V) combination, called open syllable because it is not closed by a consonant, is a frequent pattern in all languages without exception.

The (C-C) pattern, on the other hand, is much rarer and more restrictive.

Consonant Clusters: Definition

There is no consensus, among English linguists over whether consonant clusters should be limited within syllables: some think that CCs can only occur within the same syllable, while others contend that the concept can apply when a CC spreads across syllable boundaries.

Consonant Clusters in English

In English the number of consonants in sequence could be 3 maximum in initial position and up to 4 in the final one and can of course occur in the median position.

English Sylalble Structure

Linguists usually give the following representation to the structure of English syllables: CCC-V-CCCC

(C)+(C)+ (C) - V - (C)+(C)+(C)+(C),

where the initial cluster is called “Onset”, the vowel “Nucleus”, and the final cluster “Coda”.

Structure of C.C. in English

Initial three-consonant clusters always have the consonant voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ in the first position of the onset, one of the voiceless stops /p, t, k/ in the second, and one of the following liquids in third position /w, y, r, l/.


/s/ + /k/ + / l / : sclerosis

/s/ + /k/ + / r / : scream

/s/ + /k/ + / j / : skew

/s/ + /k/ + / w / : squash

/s/ + /p/ + / l / : splash

/s/ + /p/ + / r / : spring

/s/ + /p/ + / j / : spew

/s/ + /t/ + / r / : street

/s/ + /t/ + / j / : student


Concerning the second and third consonants of the cluster, the louder consonant will always be put closer to the nucleus, or vowel of the syllable.

Thus we have “splash” and “spread”, yet, no words start with /slp-/ or /srp-/.


However, there are four exceptions to this rule. The sequence of consonants /s + m + j/ occurs only once as an initial consonant in English in the word “smew”;/smju:/ (a diving duck). On the other hand, /spw/, /stw/, and /stl/, never occur.

C.C. as source of difficulty

Given that initial CCs are forbidden by the Arabic phonetic system, they can be a source of difficulty for Arabs who are learning English as their L2.

While a native English speaker reduces a CC like in “sixths”:/sɪkfs/, an Arab would insert an “extra” schwa to be able to pronounce the word as in “spread”:/səbˈrɪd/.

Consonant Clusters in Arabic

Altaha (1999) gives the following possible phonetic distribution patterns of Modern Standard Arabic syllables:


1) C-V as in /bi/ “with”

2) C-VC as in /lam/ “not”

3) C-VCC as in /qalb/ “heart”

4) C-VV as in /laa/ “no”

5) C-VVC as in /qaal/ “say”

6) C-VVCC as in /ħaadd/ “sharp”


Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is one of the languages that do not allow initial consonant clusters at all.

However, Colloquial or dialectal Arabic, like Moroccan under Berber influence or Lebanese under Syriac influence, in contrast does allow consonant clusters that can be very long – up to seven in the case of Lebanese Arabic.

C. C. in Lebanese Arabic


3- /trtəbek/ = CCC –VCVC

4- /stħmalt/ = CCCC –VCC

5- /tXtsru/ = CCCCC –V

6- /btʃtrku:/ = CCCCCC –VV

7- /mħtrmtkon/ = CCCCCCC – VC


As a rule, in dialectal Lebanese Arabic, the initial hamza whether in the past or imperative mode in five-partite verbs built on the ʔifʕalla meter ( :is left out (إفعّل�thus, “ʔɪstaʕadda” with the second singular pronoun (you) becomes (b)tstʕedd which is “you (are) get(ting) ready” follows the CCCCC-VCC pattern with a four-consonant initial cluster and a gemination (or shadda in Arabic) for a final CC.

Conslusion

The phonotactic patterns of a language have a compulsory effect upon its native speakers, who learn these rules very early and then find it hard to infringe upon them later on - when learning a new language for instance.A case worth close scrutiny is that of loan-words: people tend to pronounce them with the phonotactic patterns of their mother tongue. In Turkish, the synonym of “elevator” is /asansør/ borrowed from French “ascenceur”.

Conslusion

English allows initial clusters of three consonants, Modern Standard Arabic none, and dialectal Lebanese Arabic up to seven. This pattern in Lebanese Arabic widely varies, however, from a Lebanese region to another, yet for the purpose of this study we tried to make an inventory of the extreme cases where we could find an initial cluster of seven consonants.

Documents

Consonant clusters