English consonant clusters

According to their position in an utterance clusters can be divided into: 1) prevocalic (postjunctural), 2) postvocalic (pre-junctural) and 3) intervocalic.

Prevocalic clusters

The largest number of consonants is three:

[spl] — splash [str] — straw [spr] — spray [skr] — scream

[spy] — spew [sty] — stupid [sky] — skewer

[skw] — squirt

The clusters [spl], [spr], [str], [skr], [skw] are used most fre­quently, the others less so.

One can easily notice that the first position in these clusters is occupied by [s], the second — by [p], [t], [k], and the third — by [r], [l], [w], [y]; in other words each cluster consists of 1) a frica­tive, 2) a stop or a nasal, and 3) a lingual or a semivowel. This classification can be taken as a basis for our further classifications of phoneme clusters.

If we take into account the previous positional groups, the two-consonant clusters may be described as:

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1. derived

1—2 clusters (with one position vacant) [sp] — spoon [si] — stone [sk] — school

[pl] — play [pr] — pray [py] — pew

[kw]

2—3 clusters [tr] — true queen

1—3 clusters [sl] — sleep 1—3 clusters [sw] — sweep [r] — shrink

[kl] — clay [kr] — crew [ky] — cue

2. non-derived

shriek [9r] — three [br] [dr]

1—3 clusters [fl] — flew

[fr] — free [fr]

[fy] — few

[9y] — thew [by] [9w] thwack

2—3 clusters [bl] — blew [gl] — glue brain drew

[gr] — grain

— bubo [dy] — dew

[gy] — Gue

[tw] — twin

Clusters ending in [l] and [r] have frequencies in the hun­dreds, but the frequency of those in [j] and [w] is very low.

Postvocalic clusters

Postvocalic (prejunctural) clusters fall into two large classes:

1. Forward clusters (1-2) [ft] — raft, [vd] — bereaved, [9t] — toothed, [6d] — wreathed, [st] — list, [sk] — risk, [sp] — lisp, [zd] — raised, [ft] — cashed, [3d] — rouged (1-2-1) [sps] — lisps, [spt] — lisped, [fts] — rafts, [vdz] — bereaveds, (1-2-1) or (1-2-2) [sps] — lisps, [spt] — lisped, [fts] — rafts, [vdz] — bereaveds, [sts] — lists, [sks] — risks, [skt] — risked.

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2. Reversed clusters (3-1) [lz] — meals, [nz] — means, [m9] — warmth, [mz] — palms, [ns] — prince

(3-2) [lt] — bolt, [ld] — bold, [nt] — aunt, [nd] — and (2-1) [bz] — herbs, [dz] — words, [gz] — bergs

(2-2) [pt] — usurped, [kt] — worked, [tft] — arched, [ded] — di­verged, [bd] — orbed

(3-2-1) [1st] — pulsed, [mst] — glimpsed, [nst] — fenced, [nst] — junxed, [nzd] — cleansed, [mft] — humphed, [lvd] — shelved, [l9t] — healthed, [m9t] — warmthed, [n9t] — plinthed, [n9t] — strengthed (2-1-2) [pft[ — zipfed, [p9t] — depthed, [pst] — lapsed, [d9t] — widthed, [dzd] — adzed, [tst] — blitzed (3-2-2) [mpt] — exempt, [ltjt] — belched, [ntjt] — bunched, [nkt] — linked, [lbd] — bulbed, [ld3d] — bulged, [nd3d] — arranged (3-2-1-2) [mpst] — glimpsed, [rjkst] — jinxed, [ntst] — chintzed

The fact that postvocalic clusters in [t], [d], and [s], [z] possess high frequency can be explained by their morphonemic charac­teristics.