Consonant Clusters Index

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(each link is a separate page)-------

/m/ /p/ /b/ /f/ /v/ /Ǉ/ /ð/ /n/ /t/ /d/ /s/ /z/
/l/ /r/ // // // // /j/ /ŋ/ /k/ /g/
BACK-------GLOSSARY-------ASSIMILATION PRACTICE-------ONLINE PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY
[
(jumps to section below)-----------

/m/ /p/ /b/ /f/ /v/ /Ǉ/ /ð/ /n/ /t/ /d/ /s/ /z/
/l/ /r/ // // // // / j/ /ŋ/ /k/ /g/
rKissing Consonantsr

ühen there are three or more consonants together, native speakers do not always produce as many
consonant sounds. For example, the final consonant cluster in the word "fifths" is usually reduced to
the last two consonant phonemes. Good pronunciation materials need to include practice of elision
(missing phonemes out) and assimilation (a change in the quality of the phoneme - perhaps to a
different phoneme altogether!).
"KISSING CONSONANTS" practises

, since lists of

can easily be found in a dictionary, and consonant strings at the beginnings of words
generally cause fewer difficulties.
My practice examples of the consonant clusters are short samples of connected speech, mainly drawn
from the British National Corpus. I have been guided in selecting examples by 'frequency of use', but I
have also tried to make the examples as helpful as possible to learners of English. I do not subscribe
to the mistaken concept of 'authenticity' which negates the role of teachers and discourages them
from vetting what they present to their students. The overwhelming majority of writers and speakers
attempt to take their intended audience into account.
Learners of English as a Second Language, some who will already be 'teachers of English' in their own
country, need to know when a native speaker would simplify a consonant cluster in connected speech.
A second area of difficulty is that the spellings of FINAL CONSONANT CLUSTERS are often O
O - i.e. a very poor guide to how they are pronounced within connected speech.
English pronunciation is a little more complicated than simple differences between individual
phonemes such as the vowel sounds in pairs of words such as "ship" and "sheep". The number of
manoeuvres a learner has to perform is far greater in connected speech, where there are also words
containing strings of at least three consonant phonemes, involving tricky adjustments in place and
manner of articulation.
Managing this juggling act can be a little easier if learners are taught to recognise ways in which
native speakers simplify strings of three consonants through elision (missing out one of them) & / or
assimilation (changing a consonant phoneme so that the manner of articulation is more similar
throughout the consonant cluster).
Success at the above makes connected speech more fluent to listen to. Practice at this will make it
less obvious that English is not your native language.
TOP of Page

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001---------mp (final) -------bump, camp, hemp, limp, lump, ramp
002---------mps (final) ----- amps, camps, lamps, lumps, mumps, trumps
003---------mf (final) -------lymph, nymph
004---------mft (final) ------triumphed
005---------mfs (final) ------nymphs
006---------mt (final) -------camped, dreamt revamped, lumped
007---------mt (medial) ------empty, temptation
008---------mtr (medial) -----temptress
009---------mts (final) -------tempts
010---------md (final) -------aimed, assumed, formed, roamed, shamed
011---------mst (final) ------glimpsed
012---------mz (final) -------comes, terms, times

(
(----[ Back ]
013---------pǇ (final)--------depth
014---------pǇs (final)-------depths
015---------pǇr (medial)------upthrust
016---------pt (final) --------abrupt, Egypt, except, harped, kept, opt
017---------pt (medial)------abruptly, absorption, acceptable

018---------pts (final) -------accepts, adopts
019---------ps (final) --------cups, equips, jumps, perhaps, steps
020---------ps (medial) ------Epsom, Ipswich, lopsided, upside down
021---------pst (final) -------lapsed

(
----[ Back ]
022---------bd (final) --------absorbed, bribed, curbed, lobbed, robed, robbed
023---------bz (final) --------cabs, fibs, jabs, knobs, verbs, yobs

----[ Back ]
024---------fǇ (final) ---------fifth, twelfth
025---------fǇs (final) --------fifths, twelfths
026---------fǇl (medial) ------fifthly
027---------ft (final) ---------craft, drift, gift, left, lift, loft, soft
028---------ft (medial) -------after, daftest, often rafter, softly, swiftly, thrifty
029---------fts (final) --------crofts, drifts, gifts, lifts, lofts
030---------fs (final) ---------beliefs, cliffs, chefs, chiefs, hankerchiefs, laughs

----[ Back ]
031---------vd (final) --------arrived, believed, involved, lived, proved, saved
032---------vz (final) --------additives, captives, loaves, loves, serves, waves

)----[ Back ]
033---------Ǉs (final) --------baths, cloths, maths, oaths, paths, truths

*----[ Back ]
034---------ðd (final) --------bathed, betrothed, clothed, seethed, swathed
035---------ðz (final) --------bathes, breathes, clothes, loathes, seethes, soothes

----[ Back ]
036---------nǇ (final) -------month, tenth
037---------nǇ (medial) -----anthem
038---------nt (final) --------ant, aren´t, aunt, bent, can´t, font, want
039---------nts (final) -------ants, fonts, grunts, hints, hunts, pants
040---------ntst (final) ------chintzed
041---------nd (final) -------behind, concerned, find, found, friend, owned
042---------nd (medial) -----friendship, landlord -----* Note rules for deletion of / d /
043---------ndz (final) ------bends, ends, friends, sounds
044---------ns (final) -------hence, pence, since, tense
045---------ns (medial) -----pensive, tenses
046---------nz (final) -------hens, lens, pens, runs, tens
047---------n (final) -------lunch, pinch
048---------nt (final) ------lunched, pinched
049---------n (final) ------change, hinge
050---------nd (final) -----changed, hinged

(
----[ Back ]
051---------tǇ (final) --------breadth, eighth, hundredth, thousandth, width
052---------tǇs (final) -------breadths, eighths, hundredths, thousandths, widths
053---------ts (final) --------cats, eats, fights, its, meets, parts, puts, waits
054---------tst (final) ------amidst, midst

(
----[ Back ]
055---------dz (final) -------almonds, beds, birds, hands, kinds, weeds, words

----[ Back ]
056---------sp (final) -------clasp, crisp, gasp, lisp, wasp
057---------st (final) -------chased, first, pursed
058---------sts (final) ------thirsts
059---------sk (final) -------ask, desk, dusk, risk

+----[ Back ]
060---------zd (final) -------amazed, crazed, gazed, lazed, phased, phrased

((
----[ Back ]
061---------lmd (final) ------filmed
062---------lmz (final) ------elms, films
063---------lp (final) --------help
064---------lpt (final) -------helped
065---------lps (final) -------helps
066---------lbd (final) -------bulbed
067---------lbz (final) -------bulbs
068---------lf (final) ---------self
069---------lfǇs (final) -------twelfths, Alf´s
070---------lft (final) --------elfed
071---------lvd (final) -------delved
072---------lǇ (final) --------health
073---------lǇs (final) -------tilths

074---------lnd (final) -------kilned
075---------lnz (final) -------kilns
076---------lt (final) --------difficult
077---------ltst (final) -------waltzed
078---------ld (final) --------cold, held
079---------ldz (final) -------holds, worlds
080---------ls (final) --------else
081---------lz (final) --------fills, girls
082---------lt (final) -------filched
083---------ld (final) ------bilged
084---------lt (final) --------welshed
085---------lk (final) --------milk, silk
086---------lks (final) -------milks
087---------lkt (final) -------milked
088---------lkts (final) ------mulcts

((
----[ Back ]
rm (final) -------silent before a consonant in England & üales------- "alarm" / l:m /, "arm" /
:m /, "warm" / w:m /
rm (final) -------generally pronounced (& sometimes rolled) in Scotland & Ireland

---------------- "alarm" / l:rm /, "arm" / :rm /, "warm" / w:rm /
The / r / within these consonant clusters is generally pronounced in Canada most parts of the USA.
The / r / is pronounced by all English speakers when it precedes a vowel sound, as in "angry" / ær
/ or "zebra" / zebr /.
/ r / can precede several other consonants sounds, though in these contexts it is rarely pronounced in
England and üales.

(
----[ Back ]
089---------t (final) -------hitched, matched, watched

(
----[ Back ]
090---------d (final) ------caged, edged, forged, judged, waged

(

----[ Back ]
091---------t (final) -------cashed, fished, mashed, washed

(

----[ Back ]
092---------d (final) -------leisured, measured, pleasured, treasured

(

,----[ Back ]
/ t / + / j / is often replaced by / / in words such as "nature" / ne /, "future" / fju: /,

"feature" / fi: /, and "creature" / kri: /. This type of assimilation is known as coalescence.
See üikipedia on Yod-coalescence.
/ d / + / j / is often replaced by / / in words such as "gradual" / græ l / and individual / . This

type of assimilation is known as coalescence. See üikipedia on Yod-coalescence.

-----[ Back ]
093---------ŋǇ (final) -------length
094---------ŋt (final) -------instinct
095---------ŋts (final) ------instincts
096---------ŋd (final) -------longed
097---------ŋst (medial) -----minxed
098---------ŋz (final) -------things
099---------ŋk (final) -------think
100---------ŋg (final) -------thing

(
----[ Back ]
101---------kǇ (final) -------sixth
102---------kǇs (final) ------sixths
103---------kt (final) -------fact, worked
104---------kts (final) ------conflicts, contexts, expects texts
105---------ks (final) -------six, works
106---------kst (final) ------context, next, oversexed, pretext, text

(
----[ Back ]
107---------gd (final) -------bagged, hugged, logged, tagged, wagged
108---------gz (final) -------eggs, figs, mugs, rugs
! .
Voiceless and voiced
*Y Voiceless consonants-no vibration of the vocal cords and more

pulmonic air.
*Y Voiced consonants-the vocal cords vibrate, limiting the airflow.
Place of articulation
*Y Bilabial consonants / m /, / p / and / b / are made with both lips.

*Y Labio-dental consonants / f / and / v / are made with the upper teeth
and the lower lip.
*Y Dental consonants / Ǉ / and / ð / are made with the tip of the tongue
against the upper teeth.
*Y Alveolar consonants / n /, / t /, / s /, / z / and / l / are made with the
tip of the tongue against or near to the ridge behind the upper teeth.
*Y Postalveolar consonants / /, / /, / / and / / are made with the
tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, placing them a
bit further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are
at the ridge itself, but not quite as far back as the hard palate.
*Y Velar consonants / ŋ /, / k / and / g / are made with the back part of
the tongue against the back part of the roof of the mouth.
Manner of articulation
*Y Nasal consonants / m /, / n / and / ŋ / are made with the velum
lowered, allowing air to escape through the nose.
*Y Plosives or stop consonants / p /, / b /, / t /, / d /, / k / and / g / are
made by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract.
*Y Fricative consonants / f /, / v /, / Ǉ /, / ð /, / s / and / z / are made
by forcing air through a narrow channel by placing two articulators
close together.
*Y Affricate consonants / / and / / start as plosives, but release as
fricatives rather than directly into the following vowel.
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In linguistics (articulatory phonetics),

describes how the tongue, lips, jaw,
and other speech organs are involved in making a sound make contact. Often the concept is only used
for the production of consonants. For any place of articulation, there may be several manners, and
therefore several homorganic consonants.
One parameter of manner is Ê that is, how closely the speech organs approach one another.
Parameters other than stricture are those involved in the r-like sounds (taps and trills), and the
sibilancy of fricatives. Often nasality and laterality are included in manner, but phoneticians such as
Peter Ladefoged consider them to be independent.
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From greatest to least stricture, speech sounds may be classified along a cline as stop consonants
(with Ê , or blocked airflow), fricative consonants (with partially blocked and therefore strongly
turbulent airflow), approximants (with only slight turbulence), and vowels (with full unimpeded
airflow). Affricates often behave as if they were intermediate between stops and fricatives, but
phonetically they are sequences of stop plus fricative.
Historically, sounds may move along this cline toward less stricture in a process called lenition. The
reverse process is fortition.
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Sibilants are distinguished from other fricatives by the shape of the tongue and how the airflow is
directed over the teeth. Fricatives at coronal places of articulation may be sibilant or non-sibilant,
sibilants being the more common.
Taps and flaps are similar to very brief stops. However, their articulation and behavior is distinct
enough to be considered a separate manner, rather than just length.[Ê
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Trills involve the vibration of one of the speech organs. Since trilling is a separate parameter from
stricture, the two may be combined. Increasing the stricture of a typical trill results in a trilled
fricative. Trilled affricates are also known.
Nasal airflow may be added as an independent parameter to any speech sound. It is most commonly
found in nasal stops and nasal vowels, but nasal fricatives, taps, and approximants are also found.
ühen a sound is not nasal, it is called An oral stop is often called a Ê while a nasal stop is
generally just called a Ê
Laterality is the release of airflow at the side of the tongue. This can also be combined with other
manners, resulting in lateral approximants (the most common), lateral flaps, and lateral fricatives and
affricates.
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Manners of articulation with substantial obstruction of the airflow (plosives, fricatives, affricates) are
called . These are prototypically voiceless, but voiced obstruents are extremely common
as well. Manners without such obstruction (nasals, liquids, approximants, and also vowels) are called
because they are nearly always voiced. Voiceless sonorants are uncommon, but are found
in üelsh and Classical Greek (the spelling "rh"), in Tibetan (the "lh" of Lhasa), and the "wh" in those
dialects of English which distinguish "which" from "witch".
Sonorants may also be called , and some linguists prefer that term, restricting the word
'sonorant' to non-vocoid resonants (that is, nasals and liquids, but not vowels or semi-vowels).
Another common distinction is between ( (plosives and nasals) and
(all else);
affricates are considered to be both, because they are sequences of stop plus fricative.
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All of these manners of articulation are pronounced with an airstream mechanism called pulmonic
egressive, meaning that the air flows outward, and is powered by the lungs (actually the ribs and
diaphragm). Other airstream mechanisms are possible. Sounds that rely on some of these include:
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In articulatory phonetics, the (

(also (

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point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active (moving) articulator
(typically some part of the tongue) and a passive (stationary) articulator (typically some part of the
roof of the mouth). Along with the manner of articulation and phonation, this gives the consonant its
distinctive sound.
A (

is defined as both the active and passive articulators. For instance, the active
lower lip may contact either a passive upper lip (bilabial, like w ) or the upper teeth (labiodental, like
w). The hard palate may be contacted by either the front or the back of the tongue. If the front of the
tongue is used, the place is called retroflex; if back of the tongue ("dorsum") is used, the place is
called "dorsal-palatal", or more commonly, just palatal.
There are five basic active articulators: the lip ("labial consonants"), the flexible front of the tongue
("coronal consonants"), the middle/back of the tongue ("dorsal consonants"), the root of the tongue
together with the epiglottis ("radical consonants"), and the larynx ("laryngeal consonants"). These
articulators can act independently of each other, and two or more may work together in what is called
(see below).
The passive articulation, on the other hand, is a continuum without many clear-cut boundaries. The
places linguolabial and interdental, interdental and dental, dental and alveolar, alveolar and palatal,
palatal and velar, velar and uvular merge into one another, and a consonant may be pronounced
somewhere between the named places.
In addition, when the front of the tongue is used, it may be the upper surface or of the tongue
that makes contact ("laminal consonants"), the tip of the tongue ("apical consonants"), or the under
surface ("sub-apical consonants"). These articulations also merge into one another without clear
boundaries.
Consonants that have the same place of articulation, such as the alveolar sounds -- n, t, d, s, z, l -- in
English, are said to be homorganic.
A homorganic nasal rule is a case where the point of articulation of the initial sound is assimilated by
the last sound in a prefix. An example of this rule is found in language Yoruba, where , "hide",
becomes , "is hiding", while Ê , "sleep", becomes Ê , "is sleeping".
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Some languages have consonants with two simultaneous places of articulation, called coarticulation.
ühen these are doubly articulated, the articulators must be independently movable, and therefore
there may only be one each from the categories labial, coronal, dorsal, and radical. (The glottis
controls phonation and sometimes the airstream, and is not considered an articulator.)
However, more commonly there is a secondary articulation of an approximantic nature, in which case
both articulations can be similar, such as labialized labials, palatalized velars, etc.
Some common coarticulations include:
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In linguistics, a (or ) is a group of consonants which have no

intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word
Ê Ê.
Some linguists argue that the term can only be properly applied to those consonant clusters that occur
within one syllable. Others contend that consonant clusters are more useful as a definition when they
may occur across syllable boundaries. According to the former definition, the longest consonant
clusters in the word would be and ,[1] whereas the latter allows . The German word
A Ê Ê /aŋstvas/ (fear sweat) is another good example, with a cluster of five consonants:
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Languages' phonotactics differ as to what consonant clusters they permit.
Many languages do not permit consonant clusters at all. Maori and Pirahã, for instance, don't permit
any two consecutive consonants in a word. Japanese is almost as strict, but it allows clusters of
consonant plus as in T
w, the name of Japan's capital city. Across a syllable boundary, it
also allows a cluster of a nasal consonant plus another consonant, as in ] Ê w (the name of
the largest island) and w !" (a traditional dish). A great many of the languages of the
world are more restrictive than English in terms of consonant clusters; almost every Malayo-
Polynesian language forbids consonant clusters entirely. Tahitian, Fijian, Samoan and Hawaiian are all
of this sort. Standard Arabic does not permit initial consonant clusters, or more than two consecutive
consonants in other positions; neither do most other Semitic languages. Khmer, as do most Mon-
Khmer languages permits only initial consonant clusters with up to three consonants in a row per
syllable. Finnish has initial consonant clusters natively only on South-üestern dialects and on foreign
loans, and only clusters of three inside the word are allowed. Most spoken languages and dialects,
however, are more permissive.
At the other end of the scale, the Kartvelian languages of Georgia are drastically more permissive of
consonant clustering. Clusters in Georgian of four, five or six consonants are not unusual²for
instance, ##$ % ( ), #$ % ( ) and " ( )²and if grammatical affixes are used,
it allows an eight-consonant cluster: &'% (Ê Ê). Consonants cannot appear as
syllable nuclei in Georgian, so this syllable is analysed as CCCCCCCCVC. Some Slavic languages such
as Slovak may manifest formidable numbers of consecutive consonants, such as in the words
(, °° ) () *", and + ( , but the liquid consonants /r/ and /l/ can form
syllable nuclei in Slovak, and behave phonologically as vowels in this case. Another example is the
Croatian word Ê ,(-%."/$, though note that <lj> and <nj> here are digraphs
representing single consonants: w- and w/, respectively. Some Salishan languages exhibit long words
with no vowels at all, such as the Nuxálk word 01#2131313 #: Ê ÊÊÊÊ

. It is extremely difficult to accurately classify which of these consonants may be
acting as the syllable nucleus, and these languages challenge classical notions of exactly what
constitutes a syllable.
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Consonant clusters occurring in loanwords do not necessarily follow the cluster limits set by the
borrowing language's phonotactics. The Ubykh language's root Ê , a loan from Adyghe, violates
Ubykh's rule of no more than two initial consonants; also, the English words Ê 4*5 and Ê
4*, Greek loans, violate the restraint (or constraint, see also optimality theory) that two fricatives
may not appear adjacently word-initially.
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In English, the longest possible initial cluster is three consonants, as in Ê 4 * and Ê 45 ,
all beginning with or and ending with or ;[2] the longest possible final cluster is five
consonants, as in Ê Ê 46, though that is rare and four, as in Ê 4$ 7, Ê Ê 4*7,
Ê Ê 48 and Ê 4& * , is more common.
However, it is important to distinguish clusters and digraphs. Clusters are made of two or more
consonant Ê Ê, while a digraph is a group of two consonant Ê standing for a single sound. For
example, in the word Ê, the two letters of the digraph ½sh¾ together represent the single consonant
w. Also note a combination digraph and cluster as seen in with two digraphs ½ng¾, ½th¾
representing a cluster of two consonants: 7; or even Ê with a silent digraph ½gh¾ followed by a
cluster ½t¾, ½s¾: .
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*Y Ë)2
Y Ë'Ë 2
Y Ë'·>!2 !
Y Ë'â 2 2
2
*Y ·>2
Y ·'Ë> 2
Y ·'·> 2

*Y âG

Y â'Ë,
2!

Y â'·2
Y â'â2
Y â'ù2
*Y ùO

Y ù'Ë

Y ù'·"2
*Y &

Y 'Ë> 2
0

Y '·2

Y 'â
2

*Y '

*Y å,
l !

The h-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English
involving consonant clusters beginning with /h/ that have lost the /h/ in certain varieties of English. [1]
l "!

*Y 2!

! !
!
G # '

!

!/

'
*Y !2! - .! '%

$ #
'

%
# #

# '
2!

! 2

'-

9 ,

# '.
l #!
The yew-hew merger is a process that occurs in some dialects of English that causes the cluster to
be reduced to .[2] It leads to pronunciations like + for and 5 for ; and

become homophonous. It is sometimes considered a type of glide cluster reduction, but is much less
widespread than wh-reduction, and is generally stigmatized where it is found. Aside from accents with
h-dropping, this reduction is in the United States found mainly in accents of Philadelphia and New York
City; also in Cork accents of Hiberno-English. In some dialects of English, the cluster (phonetically
w:) has been reduced to w: so that and
differ only by the initial consonant sound i.e. w: and
w).[1][3][4]
l !
$!
!

The hl-cluster, hr-cluster and hn-cluster reductions are three reductions that occurred in Middle
English that caused the consonant clusters , and to be reduced to , , and . For
example, Old English and became and in Modern English.
l #!

l # !
Yod-dropping is the elision of the sound w. The term comes from the Hebrew letter yod, which
represents w.
Yod-dropping before w occurs in most varieties of English in the following environments:[1]
*Y w;+;

w4¦ w4+ w
*Y <
w<
*Y
?
w4
There are accents, for example üelsh English, in which pairs like Ê/Ê,
/
,
/ are distinct: the first member of each pair has the diphthong w* while the second
member has w.[1]
Many varieties of English have extended yod dropping to the following environments, on condition that
the w be in the same syllable as the preceding consonant:
*Y

w4
*Y
w4
*Y )
Mw4)
*Y 7
w$47)%6)5
Yod-dropping in the above environments was formerly considered nonstandard in England, but today
it is heard even among well-educated RP speakers.[1] In General American yod-dropping is found not
only in the above environments but also:
*Y

w4 w4 w4
Glide retention in these contexts has occasionally been held to be a shibboleth distinguishing
Canadians from Americans. However, in a survey conducted in the Golden Horseshoe area of Southern
Ontario in 1994, over 80% of respondents under the age of 40 pronounced Ê and Ê without
yod.[5]

!
8
!
!*

'('*
General American thus undergoes yod-dropping after all alveolar consonants. Some accents of
Southern American English preserve the distinction in pairs like / and / by using a
diphthong * in words where RP has , thus w w *;ww*, etc.[6]
However, in words like , , , , , etc., where there is a syllable break
before the , there is no yod dropping.
Some East Anglian accents such as Norfolk dialect extend yod-dropping not only to the position after
, or , but to the position after nonalveolar consonants as well, so that pairs like /,

/
, / , / are homophonous.[1]. üatchers of UK television are likely to be
familiar with Bernard Matthews's description of his turkeys in his television advertisements as
for .
In yod-pronouncing dialects, the spellings , , CV (where C is any consonant and V is any vowel),
and , as in , , , and Ê generally indicate or *, while the spellings and
, as in and Ê generally indicate .
l # !
Yod-coalescence is a process that changes the clusters w, w, w and w) into w+, w, w and w+
respectively.
This occurs in unstressed syllables in many varieties of English. Occurring in unstressed syllables, it
leads to pronunciations such as the following:

@4$+ *

@4&6+ *

@4 *5

@4 $+5
@4$5
It also occurs in some accents in stressed syllables as in and . Yod-coalescence in stressed

syllables occurs in Australian, Cockney, Estuary English and New Zealand English resulting in further
examples as follows:
! @4+
@4
@54+
@54
It leads to the words , , and being pronounced identically. Yod-coalescence has
traditionally been considered non-RP.
$
*Y 2

l

l !

The rap-wrap merger is a reduction occurring in most dialects of English that causes the initial cluster
to be reduced to , making and , and etc. homophones. In some dialects of
Scots, has changed to .
Old English had a contrast between and , the former characterized by lip rounding. In Middle
English, the contrast disappeared and all cases of initial came to be rounded.
l !%
The not-knot merger is a reduction that occurs in modern English where the historical cluster is
reduced to making and homophones. This reduction is complete in present English,
although it has not happened in all varieties of Scots.[7]
All of the words stem from Old English forms beginning with , and at the time all were
pronounced with an initial before the . These words were common to the Germanic languages,
most of which still pronounce the initial . Thus, for example, the Old English ancestor of was
, pronounced and the cognate word in Modern German is K , pronounced %.
Most dialects of English reduced the initial cluster to relatively recently²the change seems to
have taken place in educated English during the seventeenth century, meaning that Shakespeare did
not have the reduction.[ ]
l !
The nome-gnome merger is the reduction of the initial cluster & to that occurs in all dialects of
present English (though not Scots[8]). In Middle English, words spelt with like , Ê , ,
etc. had the cluster &. The humorous song T G jokes about this, even though the in may
actually have always been silent in English, since this loanword did not enter the language until the
late 18th century.[9] The trumpeter Kenny üheeler wrote a composition titled "Gnu High", a pun on
"New High".
l !

$
is the dropping of from the initial consonant clusters with voiceless plosives
(environments , , and =>) occurring in Caribbean English. After the initial is removed, the
plosive is aspirated in the new word-initial environment, resulting in pronunciations such as:
@A -w4* @w43*.

@A
-w4? 5 @w43? 5.
@A -w4$ @w43$.-

.
0 @A 0 -w4%) @w43%).
l &

l

Nonstandard reduction of final consonant clusters occurs in African American Vernacular English and
Caribbean English. The new final consonant may be slightly lengthened as an effect.
Examples are:
@A -w3$ @w3$.
@ A -w4$ @w4$.

@
A -w46 @w46.
@A -w4$ @w4$.
@A -w4 $ @w4 $.
!
@!
A -w4@ @w4@.
The plurals of Ê and Ê may become ÊÊÊ and ÊÊÊ by the same English rule that gives us
plural ÊÊÊ from singular ÊÊ.[10][11][12][13]
l ÿ
!

The plum-plumb merger is the reduction of the final cluster /mb/ to /m/ that occurs in all dialects of
present English. In early Middle English, words spelled with like , etc. had the cluster
/mb/.
l c

l # ! '
[14]
Yod-rhotacization is a process that occurs for some Southern AAVE speakers where is rhotacized
to in consonant clusters causing pronunciations like:

@4*5
@4
@4 )*
l !

S-cluster metathesis is the nonstandard metathesis of final consonant clusters starting with /s/
occurring in African American Vernacular English[14] as well as many other varieties of English.
For AAVE speakers with S-cluster metathesis the following words can undergo the following changes:
@46

@4&6
!
@4@

@4&6
S-cluster metathesis is lexically determined.
The above pronunciations in fact have a long history, and all the metathesised forms have existed in
English for around as long as the words themselves, with varying degrees of acceptance.
For example, the Old English verb 2Ê also appeared as Ê , and both forms continued into
Middle English. The two forms co-existed and evolved separately in various regions of England, and
later America. The variant Ê gives us the modern standard English Ê, but the form "axe",
probably derived from Old English Ê , appears in Chaucer: "I axe, why the fyfte man üas nought
housband to the Samaritan?" ( B Ê P, 1386.) It was considered acceptable in literary
English until about 1600 [15] and can still be found in some dialects of English including African
American Vernacular English. It is, however, one of the most stigmatized features of AAVE, often
commented on by teachers. It also persists in Ulster Scots as 4" and Jamaican English as 4", from
where it has entered the London dialect of British English as 4@.
l !

The scream-stream merger is the pronunciation of the consonant cluster as occurring for some
speakers of African American Vernacular English making "scream" and "stream" homophonous as
4% . [14]
This phonological pattern in AAVE is a phonological pattern that's been mentioned from time to time,
often by speech pathologists. Presumably the speech pathologists were concerned about this use of
"skr" in place of standard English "str" because it was not clear whether the combination of sounds
was an indication of a disorder or dialectal pattern. Still the scream-stream merger has not been
observed or recorded in the literature nearly as often as other sound patterns. There are three
possible reasons for this: (1) One is that because "skr" only occurs in positions where "str" can occur
in general American English, there will be limited opportunity to produce the sound. (2) Secondly, the
scream-stream merger may be viewed as a feature of the speech of young AAVE speakers that is not
maintained in adult AAVE. (3) Thirdly, the scream-stream merger may be associated with AAVE
spoken in certain regions of the United States.
&! !

!
@4%
@4$

@4 *
In summarizing her research on the cluster, Dandy (1991) notes that the form is found in Gullah and
in the speech of some young African Americans born in the Southern United States. She explains that
the stream-scream merger is a highly stigmatized feature and that many of the students in her study
who used it were referred to speech pathologists. She goes on to note the following about her
research: "I also found a continuum that may indicate sound change in progress. If children said
Ê for Ê , they probably have used the Ê alternation in other words that contained the
feature: Ê for Ê , Ê for Ê , Ê for Ê , Ê Ê
for Ê Ê
.
There were some who said Ê for Ê but did not make alteration on other words with that
sound". (p. 44). Also, although Dandy does not make this point, it is important to note that the
students' use of may have been affected by the training they were getting from the speech
pathologists.
l
*Y "
#

*Y "
#

Y 92
*Y "
#

Y )2
l
Ë'Y / &'-Ë >·.' O'&
&
8 " '
%+52·Ë2·· Ë 2å-'Ë.%+52·Ë2·ù··ù2B-'·.%+52·Ë2·ù··2>-'â.'
·'Y / ''' C ËË'
â'Y /9'&'-Ë >5.' O-â ' '.'
# !
" '%+52åËâË2'·>å2·'
ù'Y /
" -·55Ë.' -ù ' '.'O
)

&" '%+52Ë25åâË 2·'
'Y /(Ë*# 'D'&
3

'3
#
·'-Ë >.
1
â5·5Ë5'
''Y /

&
+ -·55'.'Ñ O
'+ 1 9 '%+â2ËË25Ë'åù'2>'
å'Y / !!!Ë'2
' ' # E·5-

.' '
F3#!2!

+#

'

0-'

.

-'! ! ! .

!
+#
'3
>'Y / !!!'2'

'

'Y / ! #

Ëååå

1
2 A
'(·*
Ë5'Y/ !!!'
'

'

O
'
ËË'Y/) O " #
Ë·'Y/ #

! 18#
Ëâ'Y/#
7
Ëù'Y/ "
O

#
Ë'Y/G#7

O

'
"

'8

'`
A is two or more vowels occurring next to each other in a single syllable with no
intervening consonant. Vowel clusters are distinct from diphthongs in that diphthongs are vowel
combinations in a single syllable involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another
while vowel clusters have a slower rate of change of formant trajectories.

O

º

G

O

O

!
^

ë
"
#$
%
&

&

%"!

! '()*

In phonetics and phonology, a

(or
) is a sound that is phonetically equivalent to a
vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than nucleus.[1]
c
( *
*Y Ë&

*Y ·!
*Y â&
! !
*Y ù&
!

*Y &
!
2!
*Y '

*Y å

*Y >,
*Y +

*Y Ë5O

l c

Semivowels form a subclass of approximants.[2][3] Although "semivowel" and "approximant" are
sometimes treated as synonymous,[4] most authors agree that not all approximants are semivowels,
although the exact details may vary from author to author. For example, Ladefoged and Maddieson
consider that the labiodental approximant is not a semivowel,[5] while Martínez-Celdrán proposes that
it should be considered a semivowel.[6]
l

Martínez-Celdrán lists four semivowels according to what he calls "the established classification": they
correspond to the four close cardinal vowel sounds:[7]
^ !"
# $!
#
w-

. w%- !.
wA-
2

. wB- !.
wC-

. wD-
!.
w-

. w-
!.
In addition, some authors[5][6] consider the rhotic approximants w<;wE to be semivowels corresponding
to R-colored vowels such as wF. As mentioned above, the labiodental approximant w. is considered a
semivowel in some treatments, but not others.
In some languages, such as Nepali, there exist semivowels corresponding to mid-vowels. For example,
colloquial Nepali has w G , which contrasts with the closer w.[5]
l c
Semivowels, by definition, contrast with vowels by being non-syllabic. In addition, they usually
contrast at the phonetic level by being shorter than vowels.[2]. In some languages, (Amharic, Yoruba,
and Zuni), studies have shown that semivowels are produced with a narrower constriction in the vocal
tract than their corresponding vowels.[5] Nevertheless, in some cases semivowels may be effectively
interchangeable with vowels. For example, the English word
can be considered either as consisting
phonemically of an open syllable ending in a diphthong "*, or as a closed syllable ending in a
semivowel ".[8]
l c ( )

According to the standard definitions, semivowels (such as w) contrast with fricatives (such as wH) in
that fricatives produce turbulence, while semivowels do not. In discussing Spanish, Martínez-Celdrán
suggests setting up a third category of "spirant approximant", contrasting both with semivowel
approximants and with fricatives.[9] Though the spirant approximant is more constricted (having a
lower F2 amplitude), longer, and unspecified for rounding (e.g. w4I" 'widow' vs
w"4HI"
'help'),[10] the distributional overlap is limited. The spirant approximant can only appear in the syllable
onset (including word-initially, where the semivowel never appears). The two overlap in distribution
after and :
Ê wJK/4LH K "M ('to plaster') wN 'K K ('flood')[11] and, although there is dialectal
and ideolectal variation, speakers may also exhibit other near-minimal pairs like * ('abject') vs
i ('opened').[12] One potential minimal pair (depending on dialect) is
Ê w=L>H"4O%K ('I
already dress') vs
Ê w"4O%K ('and he has seen').[13] Again, this is not present in all dialects.
Other dialects differ in either merging the two or in enhancing the contrast by moving the former to
another place of articulation (e.g. w+).
l c !

Samoan also contrasts close semivowels with mid ones:[ ]
*Y

& wP"% G-A
A.
*Y

& wP" G -A A.
*Y

& wP"GM-A A.
*Y

w"G-A
A.
Romanian contrasts the diphthong "G with ", a perceptually similar approximant-vowel sequence.
The diphthong is analyzed as a single segment while the approximant-vowel sequence is analyzed as
two separate segments. In addition to phonological justifications for the distinction (such as the
diphthong alternating with in singular-plural pairs), there are phonetic differences between the
pair:[14]
*Y "

"G
*Y
! !

"
"G !

O·-''

.'
Although a phonological parallel exists between G" and ", the production and perception of phonetic
contrasts between the two is much weaker, likely due to a lower lexical load for " (which is limited
largely to loanwords from French) and a difficulty in maintaining contrasts between two back rounded
glides in comparison to front ones.[15]
l
Semivowels are transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet either using dedicated symbols
(e.g. w) or by adding the non-syllabic diacritic (an inverted breve) to a vowel sound (e.g. w% G;G).
The same diacritic is placed under iota (k ) to represent the Proto-Indo-European semivowel ± as it
relates to Greek grammar; upsilon with an inverted breve ( ) is used alongside digamma to
represent the Proto-Indo-European semivowel ±.[16]
l
*Y 7
*Y
*Y

*Y !
*Y )
-.
D
O

"

'8

'`!
Ñ

£ÿë

8

'
In phonology, a
( , pronounced 4*Q79 or 4*Q79, (also

) (from Greek
įǁĳǇǎǄǄǎǐ, Ê, literally "two sounds" or "two tones") refers to two adjacent vowel sounds
occurring within the same syllable. In most dialects of English, the words
,
, and contain
examples of diphthongs.
Diphthongs contrast with monophthongs, where only one vowel sound is heard in a syllable. ühere
two adjacent vowel sounds occur in syllables, as in, for example, the English word ,
the result is described as hiatus, not as a diphthong.
Diphthongs often form when separate vowels are run together in rapid speech during a conversation.
However, there are also unitary diphthongs, as in the English examples above, which are heard by
listeners as single-vowel sounds (phonemes).[1]
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, pure vowels are transcribed with one letter, as in English Ê
wR. Diphthongs are transcribed with two letters, as in English Ê w"* G or Ê w * G. The two vowel
symbols are chosen to represent the beginning and ending positions of the tongue, though this can be
only approximate. The diacritic SGT is placed under the less prominent component to show that it is
part of a diphthong rather than a separate vowel, though it is sometimes omitted in languages such as
English, where there is not likely to be any confusion. (In precise transcription, w"% represents two
vowels in hiatus, found for example in Hawaiian and in the English word , and does not represent
the diphthong, for instance, in the Finnish word , "ship").
c
( *
*Y Ë
Y Ë'ËO

Y Ë'·&

Y Ë'â
*Y ·7
!
!
*Y â7

Y â'Ë&

Y â'·&

Y â'â&0
Y â'ù7
Y â'#
Y â''O

Y â'åO
Y â'>O
Y â' 9

Y â'Ë5%

Y â'ËË%
Y â'Ë·%

Y â'Ëâ1

Y â'Ëù1

&
Y â'Ë

Y â'Ë' !

Y â'Ëå"
Y â'Ë>,

Y â'Ë

Y â'·5

Y â'·Ë>
Y â'··4
*Y ù

*Y ,
*Y '+

l
l &

(or
) diphthongs start with a vowel quality of higher prominence (higher pitch or
volume) and end in a semivowel with less prominence, like w"* G in
, while

(or
)
diphthongs begin with a less prominent semivowel and end with a more prominent full vowel, similar
to the w" in
. (Note that "falling" and "rising" in this context do refer to vowel height; the
terms "opening" and "closing" are used instead. See below.) The less prominent component in the
diphthong may also be transcribed as an approximant, thus w" in
and w" in
. However, when
the diphthong is analysed as a single phoneme, both elements are often transcribed with vowel letters
("* G, * G"). Note also that semivowels and approximants are not equivalent in all treatments, and in the
English and Italian languages, among others, many phoneticians do not consider rising combinations
to be diphthongs, but rather sequences of approximant and vowel. There are many languages (such
as Romanian) that contrast one or more rising diphthongs with similar sequences of a glide and a
vowel in their phonetic inventory.[2]
l c$$
In
diphthongs, the second element is more close than the first (e.g. w"%); in (

diphthongs, the second element is more open (e.g. w%"). Closing diphthongs tend to be falling (w"% G),
and opening diphthongs are generally rising (w% G"), as open vowels are more sonorous and therefore
tend to be more prominent. However, exceptions to this rule are not rare in the world's languages. In
Finnish, for instance, the opening diphthongs % G and G are true falling diphthongs, since they begin
louder and with higher pitch and fall in prominence during the diphthong.
A third, rare type of diphthong that is neither opening nor closing is

diphthongs,
with both elements at the same vowel height.[ ] These were particularly characteristic of Old
English, which had diphthongs such as 6@, .
A
diphthong is one that begins with a more peripheral vowel and ends with a more central
one, such as w*5G, w$5G, and wU5G in Received Pronunciation or w%5G and w5G in Irish. Many centering
diphthongs are also opening diphthongs (w%5G, w5G).
l
Languages differ in the length of diphthongs, measured in terms of morae. In languages with
phonemically short and long vowels, diphthongs typically behave like long vowels, and are pronounced
with a similar length.[ ] In languages with only one phonemic length for pure vowels,
however, diphthongs may be behave like pure vowels.[ ] For example, in Icelandic, both
monophthongs and diphthongs are pronounced long before single consonants and short before most
consonant clusters.
Some languages contrast and diphthongs. In some languages, such as Old English, these
behave like short and long vowels, occupying one and two morae, respectively. In other languages,
however, such as Ancient Greek, they occupy two and three morae, respectively, with the first
element rather than the diphthong as a whole behaving as a short or long vowel.[ ]
Languages that contrast three quantities in diphthongs are extremely rare, but not unheard of;
Northern Sami is known to contrast long, short and "finally stressed" diphthongs, the last of which are
distinguished by a long second element.[ ]
l D

ühile there are a number of similarities, diphthongs are not the same as a combination of a vowel and
an approximant or glide. Most importantly, diphthongs are fully contained in the syllable nucleus[3][4]
while a semivowel or glide is restricted to the syllable boundaries (either the onset or the coda). This
often manifests itself phonetically by a greater degree of constriction.[5] though this phonetic
distinction is not always clear.[6] The English word
Ê, for example, consists of a palatal glide followed
by a monophthong rather than a rising diphthong. In addition, while the segmental elements must be
different in diphthongs so that w%% G, when it occurs in a language, does not contrast with w% though it is
possible to contrast w% and w%.[7]
Nonetheless, in practice the choice of treating a diphthong or diphthong-like element as a single

phoneme, a sequence of two vowels or a combination of a vowel and a glide is based not on the
phonetic nature of the diphthong but on systemic properties of the language.[ ] The following
are examples of systemic characteristics that tend to determine which analysis is chosen:[ ]
*Y

!

!

!

!!

*Y -
.

*Y

*Y
!
! !
*Y

Furthermore, falling diphthongs are more likely to be analyzed as unit phonemes than rising
diphthongs.
As an example, the English diphthongs are usually considered single phonemes because they (mostly)
originated historically as monophthongs, alternate with monophthongs in pairs such as i vs.
i
, maintain their coherence when another vowel follows, and other, similar-looking diphthongs
like do not exist in the language.[ ] On the other hand, Japanese "% is normally analyzed
as a sequence of two vowels; Spanish "% is normally analyzed as either a sequence of two vowels or
of a vowel and a glide, depending on the analysis.[ ]
l D

l c
Catalan possesses a number of phonetic diphthongs, all of which begin (Ê Ê) or end
( Ê) in w or w.[8]
&

w"
A!
A w"
A
A
w5

A A w5 A!!
A
w$ A A w$ AA
w AA w A A
w% AA

w, A A w, A!A
w A!A

w
A
A w A
A

w"
A

A w" A A
w$ A!A

w ø A!A

w5 A !
A w5
A!
A
w% ø AA

w, A A w,
A
A
w A A

There are also certain instances of Ê

° in the Majorcan dialect so that
4V ('logs') (in addition to deleting the palatal plosive) develops a compensating palatal glide and
surfaces as w4 (and contrasts with the unpluralized w4V). Diphthongization compensates for the
loss of the palatal stop (part of Catalan's segment loss compensation). There are other cases where
diphthongization compensates for the loss of point of articulation features (property loss
compensation) as in w4"/ ('year') vs w4" ('years').[9] The dialectal distribution of this compensatory
diphthongization is almost entirely dependent on the dorsal plosive (whether it is velar or palatal) and
the extent of consonant assimilation (whether or not it's extended to palatals).[10]
l c
*Y -$.
¦(ËË*
[12]
Croatian dialects also have , as in while, in Standard Croatian, these words are
konj, rod, on)
l c'
There are three diphthongs in Czech:
*Y "UG
-
! .
*Y UG
-! .
*Y UG

The vowel groups , and in foreign words are not regarded as diphthongs, they are
pronounced with between the vowels w*";*$;**;*;*.
l D

7 7
è
(Ëâ* (Ëù*

° w$* G
wWXG
° wRUG w,UG
(ËË* w * G w
(ËË* wYXG wY
(ËË*
wUG w
Ë'Y / w * GwYXG

wUG

wM

! !

w 5GwY5G
w5G'%

0 - 6
+
-·55·.
.'
The dialect of Hamont (in Limburg) has five centring diphthongs and contrasts long and short forms of
w$* G, wWXG , w,UG, and w@UG.[15]
l
" O
All English diphthongs are falling, apart from , which can be analyzed as w% G.

#
ë

ÿ! # ë
ë c

w5UG w5ZG wUG
w"UG
w"UG w6,G w"UG
w5UG(·Ë*
w"* G w@ G w"* G

w5* G(·Ë*
w * G w6* G w * G
w,* G w* G w,* G
w wZ wUG(··*
w% w*% G(··* w*% G(··*
w*5G w*5G w*FG (·â*
w$5G(·ù* w (·ù* w$F(·â*
wU5G(·ù* wU5G wUFG (·â*
Ë'Y / &

#
"UG
"* G
&

'9
,"

"* G'
·'Y / ! %

0

'%

wG
w%% G! 2

'

%'
â'Y / %
!

0

0
!! w<
'
ù'Y / %, "
!

0 w$

w -,
-·55ù·ù5..'

#

0
'
l &
Diphthongs in Faroese are:
*Y "%
-

.
*Y "

*Y $"
#
*Y $%

*Y $

*Y W
$

*Y Z

*Y U%
%&'-

.
*Y ,"
'
*Y ,%
-

.
*Y ,
(

l &
º ")
All Finnish diphthongs are falling. Notably, Finnish has true opening diphthongs (e.g. /uo/), which are
not very common crosslinguistically compared to centering diphthongs (e.g. /u / in English).

*Y w"% G

- .
*Y w % G
-!.
*Y w% G
- .
*Y w6% G
e- .
*Y wY% G
|-
.
*Y w"G
- .
*Y w G
- .
*Y wG
- .
*Y w BG
e-!
.
*Y w6BG
e-.
*Y wYBG
|ee- .

*Y w% G
-!.
*Y wB% G
¦-
.
*Y w%G

-.
*Y w%BG
e-
.

*Y w% G
-.
*Y wG
- .
*Y wBYG
|- .
l &
In French, ", $[, and A% may be considered diphthongs (that is, fully contained in the syllable
nucleus). Other sequences of a glide and vowel are considered part of a glide formation process that
turns a high vowel into a glide (and part of the syllable onset) when followed by another vowel.[16]
*Y "
33
*Y $[
3003
*Y A%
3 3
*Y %
33
*Y $[
3 3
*Y $
*
*Y "

3! 3
*Y $
º
*Y W
O3
3
*Y
3 3
*Y Y

3 3
*Y @

l *
Phonemic diphthongs in German:
*Y "* G
GH
*Y "UG
º GH
*Y ,XG
G!H
In the varieties of German that vocalize the /r/ in the syllable coda, other diphthongal combinations
may occur. These are only phonetic diphthongs, not phonemic diphthongs, since the vocalic
pronunciation w?G alternates with consonantal pronunciations of /r/ if a vowel follows, cf. Ê w
4Y?G µyou hear¶ ± wP*:4Y\5 µI hear¶. These phonetic diphthongs may be as follows:
*Y w ?G
G H
*Y w%?G
G-
.H
*Y w?G
G
H
*Y wY?G
G-
.H
*Y w?G
- GH
*Y wB?G
Ñ G H
*Y w"?G
G H
The diphthongs of some German dialects differ a lot from standard German diphthongs. The Bernese
German diphthongs, for instance, correspond rather to the Middle High German diphthongs than to
standard German diphthongs:
*Y %5G
G
H
*Y 5G
G H
*Y wB5G
G H
*Y % G
ÔGH
*Y G
ÔG H
*Y Y% G
Ô|G H
Apart from these phonemic diphthongs, Bernese German has numerous phonetic diphthongs due to L-
vocalization in the syllable coda, for instance the following ones:
*Y w"G
G
H
*Y w"G
GH
*Y w6G
eG! H
*Y w6G
eeGH
*Y wUG
GH
l
Diphthongs in Icelandic are the following:
*Y "
3 3
*Y
(3 3
*Y WA
33
*Y "
#3 3
*Y
4 3 3
Combinations of j and a vowel are the following:
*Y "
¦ 3
3
*Y "
¦33
*Y
¦'3 33$
33 3-

! .
*Y
¦(3&
3
*Y W
¦|3
3
*Y "
¦#¦ 3 !3
l
All Irish diphthongs are falling.
*Y w5% G

*Y w5G
*Y w%5G
*Y w5G
l
In standard Italian, only falling diphthongs are considered to be true diphthongs. Rising diphthongs
are considered to be sequences of approximant and vowel.[ ] The diphthongs of Italian
are:[17]

*Y w % G
-A Ë''A.
*Y w$% G
-AA.
*Y w"% G
-A
A.
*Y w,% G
-A
A.
*Y w% G

-A'A.
*Y w% G
-A A.
*Y w G
-A A.
*Y w$G
-A A.
*Y w"G
-A
A.

*Y w
OO-A !A.
*Y w$
-AA.
*Y w"

-AA.
*Y w,
-A
A.
*Y w
O -A! A.
*Y w
-A
A.
*Y w%
-A A.
*Y w
X-A
A.
*Y w$
X -A
A.
*Y w"
-A A.
*Y w,
X -A
A.
*Y w
X-A!
A.
In general, unstressed % in hiatus can turn into glides in more rapid speech (e.g.
w 4" 'biennial'; ° wG" %4 'coalition') with the process occurring more readily in
syllables further from stress.[18]
l º
Maltese has seven falling diphthongs.[19]
*Y w$* G¦

*Y w?* G ¦
*Y w,* G¦
*Y w*UG
*Y w$UG
*Y w?UG
*Y w,UG
l º c
Rising diphthongs in Mandarin are usually regarded as a combination of a medial glide (i, u, or ü) and
a final segment, while falling diphthongs are seen as one final segment. Tone marker is always placed
on the vowel with more prominence.

ÿ
I I

¦+- +-§ .

J

¦,-¾

,-Õ ·
JK IK

,-ì

,-
·
J J *-

*-1 .
J J -

Ë
I I
!
+-_ +-v
.

I
!
,-
,-¤ .
JK JK
!
°+-»
--é

·
J J ! ,- ,- .
J J ! *-.

·
JK JK ! .-E Ë·

J L

,-\
,-s ·
J J L -¡
*-¸
.
JK JK -Ï ,-æ ·

*Y
w"* G
--ý.
*Y w * G
*- .
*Y
w@UG
--+!
.
*Y wUG
/-Y
.
1
only occurs in isolation
2
always followed by nasal
l
The diphthong system in Northern Sami varies considerably from one dialect to another. The üestern
Finnmark dialects distinguish four different qualities of opening diphthongs:
*Y 6
3 3
*Y %
3

3
*Y "
33
*Y

¦ 3!3
In terms of quantity, Northern Sami shows a three-way contrast between , and
.
diphthongs. The last are distinguished from long and short diphthongs by a markedly long
and stressed second component. Diphthong quantity is not indicated in spelling.
l
There are five diphthongs in Norwegian:
*Y w6* G
33
*Y wYXG
$3
3
*Y w6ZG
3 3
*Y w@* G
3
3
*Y w,XG
¦3
3
An additional diphthong, wZ]XG, occurs only in the word in the expression Ê "in great
haste". The number and form of diphthongs vary between dialects.
l ÿ

º "
The Portuguese diphthongs are formed by the labio-velar approximant w and palatal approximant w
with a vogal,[20] European Portuguese has 14 phonemic diphthongs (10 oral and 4 nasal),[21] all of
which are falling diphthongs formed by a vowel and a nonsyllabic high vowel. Brazilian Portuguese has
roughly the same amount, although the two dialects have slightly different pronunciations. A w
onglide after or & as in X w4?[U ('when') or w4&"M? ('guard') may also form rising
diphthongs and triphthongs. Additionally, in casual speech, adjacent heterosyllabic vowels may
combine into diphthongs and triphthongs or even sequences of them.[22]
O
"
ÿ(·Ë* ÿ

w"
w
w?
w$
( w,
w
w

w%
w

w$
w"
w?[ wJ
0 w?[
1 w^
w_
0 w?[
In addition, phonetic diphthongs are formed in Brazilian Portuguese by the vocalization of in the
syllable coda with words like Ê w, ('sun') and Ê w ('south') as well as by yodization of vowels
preceding in words like ° w"4` ('rice') and Ê w " ('but').[22]
l
º "2
Romanian has two diphthongs: "G and G". As a result of their origin (diphthongization of mid vowels
under stress), they appear only in stressed syllables[23] and make morphological alternations with the
mid vowels and . To native speakers, they sound very similar to " and " respectively.[24]
There are no perfect minimal pairs to contrast G" and ",[25] and because G" doesn't appear in the
final syllable of a prosodic word, there are no monosyllabic words with G"; exceptions might include
('veil') and ('sidewalk'), though Ioana Chiţoran argues[26] that these are best treated as
containing glide-vowel sequences rather than diphthongs. In addition to these, the semivowels and
can be combined (either before, after, or both) with most vowels, while this arguably[27] forms
additional diphthongs and triphthongs, only "G and G" can follow an obstruent-liquid cluster such as
in Ê ('frog') and ('to mend').[28] implying that and are restricted to the syllable
boundary and therefore, strictly speaking, do not form diphthongs.
l
Spanish has six falling diphthongs and eight rising diphthongs. In addition, during fast speech,
sequences of vowels in hiatus become diphthongs wherein one becomes non-syllabic (unless they are
the same vowel, in which case they fuse together) as in w4G " ('poet') and Ê w4 " G M
('teacher'). The phonemic diphthongs are:[29]

*Y % G
-AA.
*Y "% G
-A
A.
*Y % G
-A
A.
*Y G
-A
A.
*Y "G
-A
A.
*Y G
-A A.

*Y
-A
A.
*Y "
-A!
A.
*Y
-A
A.
*Y

-A! !A.
*Y %
O-A!!A.
*Y
O-A A.
*Y "
-A A.
*Y
-A
A.
l
In addition to vowel nuclei following and , Thai has three diphthongs:[30]
*Y w%"G
*Y wD"G
*Y w"G
l #
Yiddish has three diphthongs:[31]
*Y w$* G
w $* G5 -A A'.
*Y w"$G
w"$G-AA.
*Y w,5G
w,5G(-A!
A.
Diphthongs may reach a higher target position (towards %) in situations of coarticulatory phenomena
or when words with such vowels are being emphasized.
l +

Diphthongs between true vowels never occur in Zulu, with each syllable having only one vowel sound,
e.g. w%a"a". However, Zulu has two semi-vowels which form diphthongs with vowels:
*Y w"
w%"b4c$b" -%

.
*Y w"
w%" -%
%

.

O

'
"

'8

'`
In phonetics, a
( (from Greek j , "triphthongos", literally "with three sounds," or
"with three tones") is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of
the articulator from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third. ühile "pure" vowels, or
Ê, are said to have one target articulator position, diphthongs have two, and triphthongs
three.
c
( *
*Y Ë#

Y Ë'Ë
Y Ë'·
Y Ë'â
*Y ·,
*Y â

l )
l

English in British Received Pronunciation (these can be also analyzed as disyllabic sequences of a
diphthong and a monophthong[ ]):
*Y w"UG5

*Y w"* G5
O
*Y w * G5

*Y w,* G5

*Y w5UG5

Bernese German (a Swiss German dialect):

*Y w%5G
A A
*Y wB5G
OAA
*Y w5G
A A
*Y wB5G
º¦A A
Latvian:
*Y w% "
w4% "A A( *
*Y w"
w4"A!
A( *
Northern Austro-Bavarian[1]:
*Y (,G?*
,G?-1)9 .A
A
,G?- 'ï .A
A
*Y ($% G5*
$% G5-1)93 .A A
*Y (G?*
G?-1)9 .A A
*Y ( %5*

G %5-1)9

G .A A
%5 -1)9
G 4.A
A
The Northern Austro-Bavarian triphthongs have evolved from combinations of former long vowels or
diphthongs from the Middle High German (MHG) period and vocalized .
l

Spanish:
*Y w %K G
AA
*Y w"% G
-
*Y w"% G
-A(
*
A.
*Y w %K G
-A

A.
Mandarin:
*Y w% G"% G
yAA
*Y w% G"UG
-AA
*Y w% GUG
¯5AA
*Y wG"% G
Ý-A
A
*Y wG % G
ô%A A
Romanian:
*Y w"
A%
A
*Y w "G
4 A !
A
Vietnamese:
*Y wd5G* G
,,A A
*Y wd5GUG
,,A
A
*Y w%5GUG
3A A
*Y w5G* G
ïA A
*Y w% GUG
,A
AA( *
l

Romanian (semivocalic phonemes marked with reversed circumflex accents):
*Y w G G"
A A
*Y w% GG"
AA
l
Ë'Y /9L -Ë åË.' ''
>6 6ïËË63Ë
6Ëâ6Ëù6'

,
-
O

^

º ! #( !*
0 ! #( !*
O ! #
!#( !*
! #( !*

In phonology,
(English: "*4 *5; Latin: w*4"U
"yawning") refers to two vowel sounds occurring in adjacent
syllables, with no intervening consonant. ühen two adjacent
vowel sounds occur in the Ê syllable, the result is instead ë ( !*
described as a diphthong.

The English word Ê itself contains a hiatus between the
first and second syllables.
D
c
c !
#( !*
( *

*Y Ë

Y Ë'Ë# ^ !
#( !*
gY Ë'Ë'Ë% ,
Y Ë'·#
0
Y Ë'â

*Y ·1

Y ·'Ë7

Y ·'·)
*Y â&
! :
:
*Y ù,
*Y

l .
Many languages disallow or restrict hiatus, avoiding it either by deleting or assimilating the vowel, or
by adding an extra consonant.
l
A glottal stop or a glide may be added (epenthesis) between vowels to prevent hiatus.
l

Some (but not all) non-rhotic dialects of English insert an to avoid hiatus after non-high word-final
(or occasionally morpheme-final) vowels, although prescriptive guides for Received Pronunciation
discourage this.[1]
l '

In Greek and Latin poetry, hiatus is generally avoided, though it does occur in many authors under
certain rules with varying degrees of poetic licence. Hiatus may be avoided by elision of a final vowel,
occasionally Ê (elision of initial vowel) and synizesis (pronunciation of two vowels as one
without change in writing).
l
In Sanskrit, most instances of hiatus are avoided through the process of sandhi.
l º %
l D
In Dutch, the second of two vowels in hiatus is marked with a diaeresis. In written English it was
formerly common to use a diaeresis (or "tréma") to indicate a hiatus (for example: coöperate, daïs,
reëlect).
l
Nowadays in English and Dutch, the diaeresis is normally left out (cooperate), or a hyphen is used
(co-operate). It is, however, still common in loanwords such as naïve and Noël.
l c
Correption is the shortening of a long vowel before a short vowel in hiatus.
l
c

O

^

º ! #( !*
0 ! #( !*
O ! #
!#( !*

In phonology and historical linguistics,
is

the simplification of consonant clusters in certain environments
or over time.
! #( !*
In some dialects of English such as AAVE certain historical
consonant clusters reduce to single consonants at the ends of

words: rhymes with B and is homonymous with
. In both cases, a historical cluster of homorganic
consonants loses a plosive: 4$;4U However, in ë ( !*
where the consonant cluster falls between vowels, the
remains: 4U F. The similar word-final reduction of e to
and e& to is complete in standard English (eg. ,
), as it is in many other Germanic languages (eg. Swedish
, ). D
Italian is well known to have undergone cluster reduction, c !

#( !*
where stop clusters have become geminates. For example,
V has become V . In other words, articulation but
not length has reduced. A similar occurrence is observed in

Portuguese as well, but gemination is absent. Cluster reduction
also takes place in Catalan, and in a similar way as it happens
^ !
#( !*
in English. Certain consonant clusters placed at the end of a
word are reduced: instead of , although they

recover the reduced consonant when the cluster falls between
vowels: 554". This phenomenon does not exist in

Valencian, though: and 4"M.

! :
:
O

'
"

'8

'`
A is two or more vowels occurring next to each other in a single syllable with no
intervening consonant. Vowel clusters are distinct from diphthongs in that diphthongs are vowel
combinations in a single syllable involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another
while vowel clusters have a slower rate of change of formant trajectories.
l

ÿ

O

The (

. /
is part of the phonological history of the
English language in terms of changes in the phonology of consonant clusters.
c
( *
*Y Ë)2
Y Ë'Ë 2
Y Ë'·>!2 !
Y Ë'â 2 2
2
*Y ·>2
Y ·'Ë> 2
Y ·'·> 2

*Y âG

Y â'Ë,
2!

Y â'·2
Y â'â2
Y â'ù2
*Y ùO

Y ù'Ë

Y ù'·"2
*Y &

Y 'Ë> 2
0

Y '·2

Y 'â
2

*Y '

*Y å,
l !

The h-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English
involving consonant clusters beginning with /h/ that have lost the /h/ in certain varieties of English. [1]
l "!

*Y 2!

! !
!
G # '

!

!/

'
*Y !2! - .! '%

$ #
'

%
# #

# '
2!

! 2

'-

9 ,

# '.
l #!
The yew-hew merger is a process that occurs in some dialects of English that causes the cluster to
be reduced to .[2] It leads to pronunciations like + for and 5 for ; and

become homophonous. It is sometimes considered a type of glide cluster reduction, but is much less
widespread than wh-reduction, and is generally stigmatized where it is found. Aside from accents with
h-dropping, this reduction is in the United States found mainly in accents of Philadelphia and New York
City; also in Cork accents of Hiberno-English. In some dialects of English, the cluster (phonetically
w:) has been reduced to w: so that and
differ only by the initial consonant sound i.e. w: and
w).[1][3][4]
l !
$!
!

The hl-cluster, hr-cluster and hn-cluster reductions are three reductions that occurred in Middle
English that caused the consonant clusters , and to be reduced to , , and . For
example, Old English and became and in Modern English.
l #!

l # !
Yod-dropping is the elision of the sound w. The term comes from the Hebrew letter yod, which
represents w.
Yod-dropping before w occurs in most varieties of English in the following environments:[1]
*Y w;+;

w4¦ w4+ w
*Y <
w<
*Y
?
w4
There are accents, for example üelsh English, in which pairs like Ê/Ê,
/
,
/ are distinct: the first member of each pair has the diphthong w* while the second
member has w.[1]
Many varieties of English have extended yod dropping to the following environments, on condition that
the w be in the same syllable as the preceding consonant:
*Y

w4
*Y
w4
*Y )
Mw4)
*Y 7
w$47)%6)5
Yod-dropping in the above environments was formerly considered nonstandard in England, but today
it is heard even among well-educated RP speakers.[1] In General American yod-dropping is found not
only in the above environments but also:
*Y

w4 w4 w4
Glide retention in these contexts has occasionally been held to be a shibboleth distinguishing
Canadians from Americans. However, in a survey conducted in the Golden Horseshoe area of Southern
Ontario in 1994, over 80% of respondents under the age of 40 pronounced Ê and Ê without
yod.[5]

!
8
!
!*

'('*
General American thus undergoes yod-dropping after all alveolar consonants. Some accents of
Southern American English preserve the distinction in pairs like / and / by using a
diphthong * in words where RP has , thus w w *;ww*, etc.[6]
However, in words like , , , , , etc., where there is a syllable break
before the , there is no yod dropping.
Some East Anglian accents such as Norfolk dialect extend yod-dropping not only to the position after
, or , but to the position after nonalveolar consonants as well, so that pairs like /,

/
, / , / are homophonous.[1]. üatchers of UK television are likely to be
familiar with Bernard Matthews's description of his turkeys in his television advertisements as
for .
In yod-pronouncing dialects, the spellings , , CV (where C is any consonant and V is any vowel),
and , as in , , , and Ê generally indicate or *, while the spellings and
, as in and Ê generally indicate .
l # !
Yod-coalescence is a process that changes the clusters w, w, w and w) into w+, w, w and w+
respectively.
This occurs in unstressed syllables in many varieties of English. Occurring in unstressed syllables, it
leads to pronunciations such as the following:

@4$+ *

@4&6+ *

@4 *5

@4 $+5
@4$5
It also occurs in some accents in stressed syllables as in and . Yod-coalescence in stressed

syllables occurs in Australian, Cockney, Estuary English and New Zealand English resulting in further
examples as follows:
! @4+
@4
@54+
@54
It leads to the words , , and being pronounced identically. Yod-coalescence has
traditionally been considered non-RP.
$
*Y 2

l

l !

The rap-wrap merger is a reduction occurring in most dialects of English that causes the initial cluster
to be reduced to , making and , and etc. homophones. In some dialects of
Scots, has changed to .
Old English had a contrast between and , the former characterized by lip rounding. In Middle
English, the contrast disappeared and all cases of initial came to be rounded.
l !%
The not-knot merger is a reduction that occurs in modern English where the historical cluster is
reduced to making and homophones. This reduction is complete in present English,
although it has not happened in all varieties of Scots.[7]
All of the words stem from Old English forms beginning with , and at the time all were
pronounced with an initial before the . These words were common to the Germanic languages,
most of which still pronounce the initial . Thus, for example, the Old English ancestor of was
, pronounced and the cognate word in Modern German is K , pronounced %.
Most dialects of English reduced the initial cluster to relatively recently²the change seems to
have taken place in educated English during the seventeenth century, meaning that Shakespeare did
not have the reduction.[ ]
l !
The nome-gnome merger is the reduction of the initial cluster & to that occurs in all dialects of
present English (though not Scots[8]). In Middle English, words spelt with like , Ê , ,
etc. had the cluster &. The humorous song T G jokes about this, even though the in may
actually have always been silent in English, since this loanword did not enter the language until the
late 18th century.[9] The trumpeter Kenny üheeler wrote a composition titled "Gnu High", a pun on
"New High".
l !

$
is the dropping of from the initial consonant clusters with voiceless plosives
(environments , , and =>) occurring in Caribbean English. After the initial is removed, the
plosive is aspirated in the new word-initial environment, resulting in pronunciations such as:
@A -w4* @w43*.

@A
-w4? 5 @w43? 5.
@A -w4$ @w43$.-

.
0 @A 0 -w4%) @w43%).
l &

l

Nonstandard reduction of final consonant clusters occurs in African American Vernacular English and
Caribbean English. The new final consonant may be slightly lengthened as an effect.
Examples are:
@A -w3$ @w3$.
@ A -w4$ @w4$.

@
A -w46 @w46.
@A -w4$ @w4$.
@A -w4 $ @w4 $.
!
@!
A -w4@ @w4@.
The plurals of Ê and Ê may become ÊÊÊ and ÊÊÊ by the same English rule that gives us
plural ÊÊÊ from singular ÊÊ.[10][11][12][13]
l ÿ
!

The plum-plumb merger is the reduction of the final cluster /mb/ to /m/ that occurs in all dialects of
present English. In early Middle English, words spelled with like , etc. had the cluster
/mb/.
l c

l # ! '

[14]
Yod-rhotacization is a process that occurs for some Southern AAVE speakers where is rhotacized
to in consonant clusters causing pronunciations like:

@4*5
@4
@4 )*
l !

S-cluster metathesis is the nonstandard metathesis of final consonant clusters starting with /s/
occurring in African American Vernacular English[14] as well as many other varieties of English.
For AAVE speakers with S-cluster metathesis the following words can undergo the following changes:

@46

@4&6
!
@4@

@4&6
S-cluster metathesis is lexically determined.
The above pronunciations in fact have a long history, and all the metathesised forms have existed in
English for around as long as the words themselves, with varying degrees of acceptance.
For example, the Old English verb 2Ê also appeared as Ê , and both forms continued into
Middle English. The two forms co-existed and evolved separately in various regions of England, and
later America. The variant Ê gives us the modern standard English Ê, but the form "axe",
probably derived from Old English Ê , appears in Chaucer: "I axe, why the fyfte man üas nought
housband to the Samaritan?" ( B Ê P, 1386.) It was considered acceptable in literary
English until about 1600 [15] and can still be found in some dialects of English including African
American Vernacular English. It is, however, one of the most stigmatized features of AAVE, often
commented on by teachers. It also persists in Ulster Scots as 4" and Jamaican English as 4", from
where it has entered the London dialect of British English as 4@.
l !
The scream-stream merger is the pronunciation of the consonant cluster as occurring for some
speakers of African American Vernacular English making "scream" and "stream" homophonous as
4% . [14]
This phonological pattern in AAVE is a phonological pattern that's been mentioned from time to time,
often by speech pathologists. Presumably the speech pathologists were concerned about this use of
"skr" in place of standard English "str" because it was not clear whether the combination of sounds
was an indication of a disorder or dialectal pattern. Still the scream-stream merger has not been
observed or recorded in the literature nearly as often as other sound patterns. There are three
possible reasons for this: (1) One is that because "skr" only occurs in positions where "str" can occur
in general American English, there will be limited opportunity to produce the sound. (2) Secondly, the
scream-stream merger may be viewed as a feature of the speech of young AAVE speakers that is not
maintained in adult AAVE. (3) Thirdly, the scream-stream merger may be associated with AAVE
spoken in certain regions of the United States.
&! !

!
@4%
@4$

@4 *
In summarizing her research on the cluster, Dandy (1991) notes that the form is found in Gullah and
in the speech of some young African Americans born in the Southern United States. She explains that
the stream-scream merger is a highly stigmatized feature and that many of the students in her study
who used it were referred to speech pathologists. She goes on to note the following about her
research: "I also found a continuum that may indicate sound change in progress. If children said
Ê for Ê , they probably have used the Ê alternation in other words that contained the
feature: Ê for Ê , Ê for Ê , Ê for Ê , Ê Ê
for Ê Ê
.
There were some who said Ê for Ê but did not make alteration on other words with that
sound". (p. 44). Also, although Dandy does not make this point, it is important to note that the
students' use of may have been affected by the training they were getting from the speech
pathologists.
l
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*Y "
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*Y "
#

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l
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&" '%+52Ë25åâË 2·'
'Y /(Ë*# 'D'&
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å'Y / !!!Ë'2
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F3#!2!

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1
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'

'

O
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ËË'Y/) O " #
Ë·'Y/ #

! 18#

Consonant Clusters Index

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c c

BACK-------GLOSSARY-------ASSIMILATION PRACTICE-------ONLINE PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY

/l/ /r/ // // // // / j/ /ŋ/ /k/ /g/

rKissing Consonantsr    

"KISSING CONSONANTS" practises 

001---------mp (final) -------bump, camp, hemp, limp, lump, ramp

002---------mps (final) ----- amps, camps, lamps, lumps, mumps, trumps

003---------mf (final) -------lymph, nymph

004---------mft (final) ------triumphed

005---------mfs (final) ------nymphs

006---------mt (final) -------camped, dreamt revamped, lumped

007---------mt (medial) ------empty, temptation

008---------mtr (medial) -----temptress

009---------mts (final) -------tempts

010---------md (final) -------aimed, assumed, formed, roamed, shamed

011---------mst (final) ------glimpsed

012---------mz (final) -------comes, terms, times

016---------pt (final) --------abrupt, Egypt, except, harped, kept, opt

017---------pt (medial)------abruptly, absorption, acceptable

019---------ps (final) --------cups, equips, jumps, perhaps, steps

020---------ps (medial) ------Epsom, Ipswich, lopsided, upside down

021---------pst (final) -------lapsed

022---------bd (final) --------absorbed, bribed, curbed, lobbed, robed, robbed

023---------bz (final) --------cabs, fibs, jabs, knobs, verbs, yobs

024---------fǇ (final) ---------fifth, twelfth

025---------fǇs (final) --------fifths, twelfths

026---------fǇl (medial) ------fifthly

027---------ft (final) ---------craft, drift, gift, left, lift, loft, soft

028---------ft (medial) -------after, daftest, often rafter, softly, swiftly, thrifty

029---------fts (final) --------crofts, drifts, gifts, lifts, lofts

030---------fs (final) ---------beliefs, cliffs, chefs, chiefs, hankerchiefs, laughs

031---------vd (final) --------arrived, believed, involved, lived, proved, saved

032---------vz (final) --------additives, captives, loaves, loves, serves, waves

033---------Ǉs (final) --------baths, cloths, maths, oaths, paths, truths

035---------ðz (final) --------bathes, breathes, clothes, loathes, seethes, soothes

036---------nǇ (final) -------month, tenth

037---------nǇ (medial) -----anthem

038---------nt (final) --------ant, aren´t, aunt, bent, can´t, font, want

039---------nts (final) -------ants, fonts, grunts, hints, hunts, pants

040---------ntst (final) ------chintzed

041---------nd (final) -------behind, concerned, find, found, friend, owned

042---------nd (medial) -----friendship, landlord -----* Note rules for deletion of / d /

043---------ndz (final) ------bends, ends, friends, sounds

044---------ns (final) -------hence, pence, since, tense

045---------ns (medial) -----pensive, tenses

046---------nz (final) -------hens, lens, pens, runs, tens

047---------n (final) -------lunch, pinch

048---------nt (final) ------lunched, pinched

049---------n (final) ------change, hinge

050---------nd (final) -----changed, hinged

051---------tǇ (final) --------breadth, eighth, hundredth, thousandth, width

052---------tǇs (final) -------breadths, eighths, hundredths, thousandths, widths

054---------tst (final) ------amidst, midst

055---------dz (final) -------almonds, beds, birds, hands, kinds, weeds, words

056---------sp (final) -------clasp, crisp, gasp, lisp, wasp

057---------st (final) -------chased, first, pursed

058---------sts (final) ------thirsts

059---------sk (final) -------ask, desk, dusk, risk

060---------zd (final) -------amazed, crazed, gazed, lazed, phased, phrased

061---------lmd (final) ------filmed

062---------lmz (final) ------elms, films

063---------lp (final) --------help

064---------lpt (final) -------helped

c c

/l/ /r/ // // // // / j/ /ŋ/ /k/ /g/

rKissing Consonantsr

"KISSING CONSONANTS" practises

047---------n (final) -------lunch, pinch

048---------nt (final) ------lunched, pinched

049---------n (final) ------change, hinge

050---------nd (final) -----changed, hinged

082---------lt (final) -------filched

083---------ld (final) ------bilged

084---------lt (final) --------welshed

090---------d (final) ------caged, edged, forged, judged, waged

091---------t (final) -------cashed, fished, mashed, washed

092---------d (final) -------leisured, measured, pleasured, treasured

/ t / + / j / is often replaced by / / in words such as "nature" / ne /, "future" / fju: /,

/ d / + / j / is often replaced by / / in words such as "gradual" / græ l / and individual / . This

In linguistics (articulatory phonetics),

*Y ë ! '#

*Y G !

*Y 0

l

l

In articulatory phonetics, the (

l

l

In linguistics, a (or ) is a group of consonants which have no

-, #

*Y 2!

*Y w;+;

*Y

It also occurs in some accents in stressed syllables as in and . Yod-coalescence in stressed

*Y 2

l !

@A -w4$ @w43$.-

0 @A 0 -w4%) @w43%).

l

@A -w3$ @w3$.