1.

Introduction

Phonotactics is the specific branch of phonology that deals with restrictions in a

language on the permissible combinations of phonemes. Phonotactics identifies
permissible syllable structure, consonant clusters, and vowel sequences within a
particular language (Waengler, 2009: 9).

In English there are only eleven three-consonant combinations which can occur in
syllable-initial position among 13,824 arithmetically possible combinations.
Regarding two-consonant syllable-initial clusters there are a total of 42 permissible
combinations among 576 arithmetically possible combinations.

This emphasizes the important role of phonotactics which restricts the use of
acceptable combinations with a small number among the huge number of possible
combinations (Finch, 2005, 62).

The lexicon has a set of phonotactic constrains which function as a filter allowing
entry only to phonologically well-formed words. Before any accepted word can
enter the lexicon, it must have a combination of sounds that is permissible in the
language. So, words like ‘*ltarpment’ and ‘*mpandy’ are immediately rejected
because the consonant combinations /lt/ and /mp/ are disallowed as an initial
consonant clusters of a word in English (Katamba and Stonham, 2006: 83).

1
This is an example of acceptable and unacceptable sequences of sounds in English
words:

Distribution requirements is another factor which put restrictions on words and

syllable shapes and dictate how many phonemes can be combined together at the
beginning and end of syllables and the particular ones that can be combined. For
example, only three consonants are allowed at the beginning of a syllable and up to
four at the end as it is permitted for certain consonant to be combined at the
beginning and end of the syllables. The combination /ps/ is not one that begins a
syllable, but it does end syllables, such as in ‘stops’ or ‘claps’ (Waengler, 2009:
304).

Thus, through phonotactics we can know what can occur at the beginning of the
first word when we begin to speak after a pause. We can find that a word can begin
with a vowel, or with one, two, or three consonants. In the same way, phonotactics
helps us to know how a word ends when it is the last word spoken before a pause.

2
It can end with a vowel, or with one, two, three or, in small number of cases, four
consonants. We don’t expect to find a word ends up with more than four
consonants (Roach, 2000: 71).

All of these information about what are permissible and what are not for the
sounds to be combined to form our speech and language emphasizes the
importance of phonotactics and its effective role in shaping the way we utter and
produce our language. Through these sounds our language is formed and is
distinguished from other languages which have their own phonotactic rules that
form their shapes in turn.

2. Difficulties

Gimson (1980) mentions a number of difficulties in applying phonotactics to

English throwing light of how these difficulties may sometimes violate the rules of
the language sounds due to certain conditions:

1- Sometimes we have words that provide examples of unusual combinations of

phonemes such as the archaic or foreign words and proper names, but the decision
is often arbitrary, depending upon the native feeling for the Englishness or
otherwise on the sequence. Thus, words like ‘Schweppes’ and ‘schnapps’ are
discarded as unique evidence of /∫w-/ and /∫n-/ because of their restricted use.

2- It is always happening that we face a word which has more than one accepted
pronunciation. Words such as ‘width’, ‘breadth’, and ‘hundredth’ have variants
with /-tθ/ or /dθ/; but the latter is excluded in favor of the more common former.
There are also words such as ‘French’ and ‘range’ that may be said with either

3
/nt∫/, /-ndᴣ/, /-n∫/, or /-nᴣ/. Since the former seem to be most common. The others
are excluded as final CC clusters.

3- Phoneme sequences have different values according to their frequency of

occurrence in normal discourse. Thus, /gl-/ occurs before most vowels in a large
number of common words, whereas /gj-/ is highly restricted to very few words like
‘gules’. The same thing is applied with /-ld/ which is extremely common after most
vowels, whereas /-lm/ occurs only after / ɪ, e, ʌ/ as in the word film /- ɪlm/.

4- The big complexity of final consonant clusters which accounted for by the fact
that final /t, d, s, z/ often represent a suffixed morpheme (e.g. -ed, -s, -‘s) as in
‘parked’, ‘plagued’, ‘dukes’, chef’s’ etc. (Gimson, 1980: 238)

3. Rules of phonotactics

Phonotactics has many rules which specify the permissible initial consonant
clusters and syllable-final clusters, and which vowels can combine with which
consonants. Most of the time we have fixed rules that we can follow to know what
is possible in a language to speak it with acceptable sound sequences. For example,
in English if we set aside /sfr/ and /smj/ as exceptions, the general rule for initial
CCC clusters is /s/ + voiceless stop + approximant.

This rule would also permit clusters that do not exist in English at present, such as
/spw/, /stl/ and /stw/, but which are perfectly possible. Linguists call these
‘potential’ clusters, to distinguish them from those like /bsn/ or /ftd/, which are
impossible (Finch, 2005, 62).

Gimson (1980: 239-54) is the best one who classifies the rules of phonotactics of
English beginning with initial vowels and consonant clusters and ending with final
4
vowel and consonant clusters. We will support these rules with examples to clarify
how these rules are applied to English words:

1- Vowel

There are ten vowels that constitute monosyllabic words words:

1- /i: / ‘E’ 2- /ə / ‘a’ 3- /ɑ:/ ‘are’ 4- /ɔ:/ ‘or’

5- /ɜ:/ ‘err’ 6- /eɪ/ ‘A’ 7- /aɪ/ ‘I’ 8- /aɪ/ ‘owe’

9- /ɪə/ ‘ear’ 10- / / ‘air’

In addition to that, /i:/ and /u:/ occur as reduced forms for ‘he’ and ‘who’, and
/ɔɪ/ may occur in the exclamation ‘Oy!’

2- Initial V

All vowels occur initially, with the exception of /ʊ/ and /ʊə/.

3- Initial VC-

- /ŋ/ does not occur initially.

- /ᴣ/ occurs initially before /ɪ /, /i: /, /æ/, and /a:/ in words such as ‘gigolo’, ‘gigue’,
‘zhivago’, ‘jalousie’, ‘genre’.

- The other consonants generally occur before all vowels.

5
4- Initial CCV-

The following are the initial CC clusters pattern:

- p + l, r, j as in the words (plural, pretty, pure)

- t + r, j, w as in the words (tree, tune, twist)

- k + l, r, j, w as in the words (clamp, crew, cure, queen)

- b + l, r, j as in the words (black, break, beauty)

- d + r, j, w as in the words (drill, due, dwell)

- g + l, r, j, w as in the words (glue, grow, argue, Gwen)

-m+j as in the word (mew)

-n+j as in the word (new)

-l+j as in the word (lewd)

- f + l, r, j as in the words (fly, fry, fury)

-v+j as in the word (view)

- θ + r, j, w as in the words (through, thews, thwart)

- s + l, j, w, p, t, k, m, n, f as in the words (slow, suit, sweet, spoil,

steal, sky, smother, snow)

-∫+r as in the word (shrimp)

-h+j as in the word (huge)

6
We must notice that / C + j/ occur only before /u:/ or /ʊə/ or occasionally /ʊ/.

In addition to that, initial /tw, dw, gw/ occur before only a restricted set of vowels.

5- Initial CCCV-

The following are the CCC clusters pattern:

- s + p + l, r, j as in the words (split, spring, spurious)

- s + t + r, j as in the words (street, stew)

- s + k + l, r, j, w as in the words (sclerosis, screech, skew)

Here we should notice that the first phoneme is always /s/, the second with the
exceptions of /smj/ as in the word ‘smew’ and /sfr/ is always a stop, and the third,
always a non-nasal sonorant and must be one of /l, r, j, w/.

Among the twelve potential CCC sequences, this rule would also permit clusters
that do not exist in English at present, such as /spw-/, /stl-/, /stw-/, but which are
perfectly possible. Linguists call these ‘potential’ clusters to distinguish them from
those like /bsn-/, or /ftd-/, which are impossible to occur in English (Finch, 2005:
62).

In addition to specifying permissible initial vowel and consonant clusters, the

phonotactic rules of a language also specify syllable-final clusters, and which
vowels can combine with which consonants.

For example, we never find syllable ending in /tb/ or /zv/, as no word in English
begins with /ŋ/ as we have seen previously.

7
6- Final –V

- All vowels occur finally except /e, æ, ʌ, ɒ/.

- /ʊ/ occurs in word finally like ‘to’ before a word beginning with a vowel or in
pre-pausal position (as well as in certain pronunciation of a word like ‘statue’).

7- Final –VC

- /r, h, j, w/ do not occur finally in the present phonemic analysis of PR.

- /ᴣ/ occurs finally only after /i:, a:,u:, eɪ/ in French borrowed words.

- /ŋ/ occurs finally only after /ɪ, æ, ʌ, ɒ/.

- /ð/ occurs finally only after /ɪ, i:, u:, eɪ, aɪ, aʊ, oʊ/.

- /d/ is the only consonant that occurs after all vowels.

- There is no any vowel can occur before all consonants.

8- Final –VCC

The following are the Final CC clusters pattern:

- p + t, θ, s as in the words (swept, depth, caps)

- t + θ, s as in the words (eighth, puts)

- k + t, s as in the words (packed, box)

- b + d, z as in the words (rubbed, jobs)

-d+z as in the word (feeds)

8
- g + d, z as in the words (sagged, rugs)

- tʃ + t as in the word (itched)

- dʒ + d as in the word (dodged)

- m + p, d, f, θ, z as in the words (limp, drummed, nymph, warmth, rims)

- n + t, d, as in the words (mint, lined)

- ŋ + k, d, z as in the words (mink, longed, bangs)

- l + p, t, k, b, d, tʃ, dʒ, m, n, f, v, θ, s, z, ∫ as in the words (help, guilt,

bulk, bulb, build, filch, bulge, helm, sullen,
elf, shelve, health, else, heels, Welsh.)

- f + t, θ, s as in the words (left, fifth, oafs)

- v + d, z as in the words (loved, gives)

- θ + t, s as in the words (earthed, hearths)

- ð + d, z as in the words (bathed, oaths)

- s + p, t, k as in the words (wasp, waste, rusk)

-z+d as in the word (seized)

-∫+t as in the word (wished)

-ᴣ+d as in the word (rouged)

In addition to these rules of phonotactics in final –VCC we have also:

- /r, h, j, w/ do not combine with other consonants in final positions.

- /g, ŋ, ð/ do not occupy final position in a final CC cluster.

- /pθ/ occurs only after /e/

9
- /mθ/ occurs only after /ɔ:/

- /ln/ occurs only after /ɪ/

- /l∫/ occurs only after /e/

- /fθ/ occurs only after /ɪ/

- Only /dz/ occurs after all vowels

- All other CC clusters show considerable restrictions in their ability to combine

with preceding vowels.

9- Final –VCCC

The following are the final VCCC clusters pattern:

p + t, θ scripts (-pts), depths (-pθs)

t+θ widths (-tθs)

k+t facts (-kts)

m + p, f limps (-mps), nymphs (-mfs)

n + t, θ pints (-nts), tenths (-nθs)

s
ŋ+k thanks (-ŋks)

l + p, t, k, f, θ helps (-lps), wilts (-lts), silks (-lks), sylphs (-lfs),

health’s (-lθs)

f + t, θ lifts (-fts), fifths (fθs)

s + p, t, k lisps (-sps), lists (-sts), risks (-sks)

10
p+s lapsed (-pst)

t+s blitzed (-tst)

k+s breaks (-ks)

d+s midst (-dst)

m + f, p bumped (-mpt)
t
n + s, t∫ minced (-nst), lunched (-nt∫t)

ŋ + s, k amongst (-ŋst), linked (-ŋkt)

l + s, p, k, t∫ waltzed (-lst), helped (-lpt), milked (-lkt),

filched (-lt∫t)

s + p, k gasped (-spt), asked (-skt)

n+d finds (-ndz)

l + b, d, m, n, v z bulbs (-lbz), welds (-ldz), helms (-lmz)

gallons (-lnz), selves (-lvz)

n + dᴣ, z lunged (-ndᴣd), cleansed (-nzd)

d
l + dᴣ, m, v bulged (-ldᴣd), overwhelmed (-lmd),
shelved (-lvd)

11
k+s sixth (-ksθ)

n+t thousandth (-ntθ)

θ
ŋ+k length (-ŋkθ)

l+f twelfth (-lfθ)

10 – Final –VCCCC

Final CCCC clusters occur only rarely as a result of the suffixation to CCC of a /t/
or /s/ morpheme, for example:

- /-mpts/ in words like ‘prompts’ and ‘exempts’

- /-mpst/ in words like ‘glimpsed’

- /-lkts/ in words like ‘mulcts’

- /-lpts/ in words like ‘sculpts’

- /-lfθs/ in words like ‘twelfths’

- /-ksts/ in words like ‘texts’

- /-ksθs/ in words like ‘sixths’

- /-ntθs/ in words like ‘thousandths’

12
 4. General Rules of Phonotactics

- The glottal consonants [h] and [ ] cannot appear as part of an onset cluster – e.g.,
*[bhæn].

- The affricates [t∫] and [dᴣ] cannot appear as part of an onset cluster – e.g.,
*[dᴣwæn].

- The voiced palatal fricative [ᴣ] cannot appear as part of an onset cluster, or in
onset at all – e.g.,*[sᴣil], *[ᴣil].

- The voiced velar nasal [ŋ] cannot appear as part of an onset cluster, or in onset at
all – e.g.,*[sŋoʊ], *[ŋoʊ].

- Clusters with the liquids [l] and [r] as the second consonant are very common –
e.g., [kræ∫] ‘crash’, [flæ∫] ‘flash’.

- Indeed, all of the stops can form a cluster with [r] as the second consonant – e.g.,
[preɪ] ‘prey’, [treɪ] ‘tray’, [kræ∫] ‘crash’, [bræn] ‘bran’, [dreɪn] ‘drain’, [greɪn]
‘grain’.

- But, there are no clusters with the liquids [l] or [r] as the first consonant – e.g.,
*[rkæ∫],*[lfæ∫].

- Clusters with the glides [j] and [w] as the second consonant are very common –
e.g., [fju] ‘few’,[kwaɪt] ‘quite’.

- But, there are no clusters with the glides [j] or [w] as the first consonant – e.g.,
*[jfu],*[wkaɪt]

13
- If the first consonant in a cluster is a stop, then the second consonant is a liquid or
a glide – e.g., [drɪŋk] ‘drink’, [twaɪs] ‘twice’, [pjuni] ‘puny’, [klin] ‘clean’.

- If the first consonant in a cluster is a voiceless fricative other than [s], then the
second consonant is a liquid or a glide – e.g., [flaɪ] ‘fly’, [θwart] ‘thwart’, [∫rik]
‘shriek’, [fju] ‘few’.

- With the exception of [vr] as in vroom and [vj] as in view, there are no clusters
beginning with a voiced fricative.

- There are no clusters with a voiced fricative as the second consonant – e.g.,
*[sðoʊ], *[svoʊ].

- There are no clusters with a voiced stop as the second consonant – e.g., *[sdoʊ],
*[sboʊ].

- With the exception of [mj] (as in music) and, in some dialects, [nj] (as in news),
there are no clusters beginning with a nasal consonant – e.g., *[nwoʊ], *[mloʊ].

- The nasals [n] and [m] can appear as the second consonant of a cluster only if the
first consonant is [s] – e.g., [sniz] ‘sneeze’, [smæk] ‘smack’.

- [s] is by far the most common segment for a cluster to begin with – e.g., [stim]
‘steam’, [spid] ‘speed’, [skɪn] ‘skin’, [sfir] ‘sphere’, [smoʊk] ‘smoke’, [snoʊ]
‘snow’.

- If an onset cluster has three consonants, then it begins with [s].

- In a three-consonant cluster, the first two consonants must be able to appear

independently as a cluster and the second two consonants must be able to appear
independently as a cluster – e.g., given [skrit∫] ‘screech’, [sk] can appear as a
cluster (like in skin) and [kr] can appear as a cluster (like in ‘crunch’).

14
- Nasal stops in English can cluster only with oral stops sharing the same place of
articulation (unless the oral stop marks the past tense, as in ‘harmed’); hence
‘lamp’, ‘clamber’, ‘plant’, ‘land’, ‘rink’, ‘finger’, but not [*lamk], [*lanp], *[laŋt].

- /v/ and /m/ cannot be the first member of any initial consonant cluster, although
both can occur alone initially, medially and finally.

- /h/ never clusters at all (although, again, this was possible in Old English, where
there are forms like [hring] ‘ring’, [hwæl] ‘whale’).

As a consequence of all of these rules, phonotactics is able to determine the range

of permissible words in a language. These will include potential words, such as
/zvɔt/, and /spwæθ/, which do not exist at the present time in English but their
occurrence is possible. At the same time phonotactics exclude words such as
/btæt/, and /sbwigh/ which their occurrence in English is not possible, these are
sometimes called ‘illicit words’ (Finch, 2005, 62).

Phonotactic statements of this kind restrict the length and composition of possible
clusters, on a language specific (and period-specific) basis.

- Some phonemes have defective distributions: they are not only restricted in the
combinations of consonants they can form, but are simply absent from some
positions in the word. English /h/ and /ŋ/ both fall into this category, since the
former is available only syllable-initially, and the latter only syllable-finally. It is
because those defective distributions are mutually exclusive that English [h] and
[ŋ] are in complementary distribution. Phonemes with defective distributions like
this are relatively rare.

15
Sometimes, their defectiveness follows from their historical development: [ŋ] is
derived historically from a sequence of [nk] or [ng], where the nasal assimilated to

the place of articulation of the following consonant; and since initial clusters of
nasal plus stop are not permissible in earlier English or today, the appropriate
context for [ŋ] never arose word-initially.

Similarly, a chain of sound changes leading to the weakening and loss of /h/
before consonants and word-finally has left it ‘stranded’ only syllable-initially
before a vowel; and there is a parallel story in non-rhotic varieties of English,
where /r/ is pronounced before a vowel, but not before a consonant or a pause,
meaning that [ɹ] appears in 'red’, ‘bread’, ‘very’, but not in ‘dark’, ‘car’.

Often, defectively distributed phonemes are relatively new arrivals for English
sounds. For instance, the newest member of the English consonant system is
probably /ᴣ/, which developed in Middle and Early Modern English from
sequences of [zj] in ‘measure’, ‘treasure’, and from French borrowed words such
as ‘rouge’, ‘beige’: the [zj] sequence does not appear word-initially, and although
French does allow [ᴣ] here, as in ‘jamais’ ‘never’, we cannot find any words with
such structure have been borrowed into English, which result to an apparent
prohibition on word-initial English [ᴣ] which is really accidental, and may change
in time (as suggested by recent loans like ‘gîte’) (McMahon, 2002, 56).

16
 5. Importance of phonotactics

1- By knowing the permissible sequences of phonemes found in specific positions

within words, this could constitute valuable information for locating word
boundaries in the speech stream. For instance, the sequence [br] is generally
located at the beginning of a word, whereas the sequence [nt] is typically found at
word end. Knowledge of how phonotactic patterns are distributed in the input
could be important in isolating words from the speech stream. (Brent &
Cartwright, 1996).

2- The distribution of consonants and phonotactics constraints is important when

we are conducting a phonemic analysis. Thus this would help the linguist in
studying new language by understanding the phonemic system and its function in
that language (Waengler, 2009: 304).

3- Phonotactics is also a very important factor in analyzing the disordered

phonological system of children and adults. In this respect, the functions of the
phonemic system that is displayed by the individual with a speech-disorder are
figured out.

Distribution and phonotactic constraints can be applied to an independent or a

relational analysis and then the distribution of phonemes is analyzed by noting the
segments relative to their occurrence as syllable-initiating or syllable-terminating
sounds.

For example, if a child says [boʊ] for ‘boat’ but he says [toʊ] for ‘toe’, we can
conclude through this process that the child uses /b/ and /t/ to initiate syllables and
/t/ is not used terminating a syllable (Ibid).

17
 6. Phonotactic rules with foreign words

Every language has its own set of conditions on consonant sequencing. When a
word is borrowed into one language from another, the borrowed word is often
reformed to conform to the sequencing conditions in the borrowing language
(Akmajian, 2001, 102).

As for example when English words are borrowed into the Hawaiian Language the
first thing is happening is that the consonants and vowels in Hawaiian that are
closest to the English counterparts are used. The second thing is that the English
words are reformed according to the Hawaiian phonotactic constraints to be
acceptable.

This is the case when the English greeting ‘Merry Christmas’ sounds very different
when pronounced by a native speaker of Hawaiian. which results from the fact that
Hawaiian lacks [r] and [s], for which it substitutes its nearest equivalents [l] and
[k], respectively; it has no consonant sequences such as [kr] and [sm], for which it
substitutes [kal] and [kim], and it has no word-final [s], for which it substitutes [ki]
(Hudson, 2000: 247).

It is necessary to know that Hawaiian has only eight consonants (p, m, n, l, k, h, w,

ᴣ) and five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and that English has 24 consonants and 15 vowels.
So Hawaiian does not have enough consonants and vowels to represent all English
consonants and vowels.

The matter here is that phonotactics of Hawaiian is responsible for this adjustment,
since phonotactics constraints of Hawaiian does not permit consonant clusters or
syllable-final obstruents. ‘Meli Kalikamaka’ is thus the Hawaiian version of
‘Merry Christmas’ (Akmajian, 2001, 103). So, sequential constraints on syllables

18
(along with the phonological rules) force borrowed words to conform to the
principles of that language.

The same thing is applied whenever someone invents a new word as for example
as a brand name, this word must conform to the syllable (and word formation)
rules of English. The syllable-initial sequence in a word such as ‘*ftic’ is not
possible in English, although it is possible in other language. English speakers
recognize immediately whether or not a word conforms to the English rules of
syllable well-formedness depending on their strong intuitions

- Sometimes we have to avoid applying phonotactic rules on certain foreign words

when they are borrowed from other languages.

Non-nativised foreign words with sounds sequences that are not permitted in
English may be allowed in, as a special case. Presumably such words are put in a
special sector reserved for them (Katamba, 1993: 84).

We need to make some allowance for example for foreign place names like ‘tblisi’
or foreign personal names like ‘zgusta’ which begin with the consonant clusters
[tbl] and [zg] which are strange in English. Thus, foreign words entering the
language may be allowed to by-pass the phonotactic filter. In that case they keep
their foreign pronunciation unchanged e.g. ‘tsunami’.

But in general and more often, such words probably tend to be significantly
modified so that they fit in the general phonotactic pattern of the language. So, a
schwa may be inserted between the first two consonants in names like ‘zgusta’ and
‘tblisi’ to produce [zəgʊstə] and [təblisi] respectively (Katamba, 1993: 84).

19
 7. Conclusions

As we have seen how important phonotactics is. Without its rules we cannot speak

the language well. It is a science and although its rules are fixed, they can

sometimes be deviated according to certain circumstances as the borrowing from

other languages.

In focusing on English phonotactics, we came across some clusters that although

they are not used in English but they are acceptable as a sequence of consonants.

Consonant clusters such as /spw/, /stl/ are not used in any word in English but they

are vulnerable to be so in the future, putting in our mind that English is a global

language that is in a continuous touch with all language and all people all over the

world, in addition to the influence of the development of internet and mass media.

All of these could be possible reasons that make the language adopt new rules of

phonotactics besides its own as a result of the influence of these languages on

English.

Thus, we could say that it is good to have rules that we can follow to produce a

good language, but we may expect these rules of phonotactics to be changed or to

have additions as a result of the mentioned reasons.

20