Information AboutPhonotactics |
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Phonotactics (in Greek ''phone'' = voice and ''tactic'' = course) is a branch of Phonology that deals with restrictions in a Language on the permissible combinations of Phoneme s. Phonotactics defines permissible Syllable structure, Consonant Cluster s, and Vowel sequences by means of ''phonotactical constraints''. For example, in Japanese , consonant clusters like are not allowed, although they are in English . Similarly, the sounds and are not permitted at the beginning of a word in Modern English but are in German and Dutch . Syllables have the following internal segmental structure: Both onset and coda may be empty (a vowel-only syllable). English phonotactics See Also: English phonology#English phonotactics The English syllable (and word) ''twelfths'' is divided into the onset , the nucleus , and the coda , and it can thus be described as CCVCCCC (C = consonant, V = vowel). On this basis it is possible to form rules for which representations of phoneme classes may fill the cluster. For instance, English allows at most three consonants in an onset, but phonemes in a three-consonantical onset are strictly limited to the following scheme: : + Voiceless Plosive () + Approximant () : + Voiceless Plosive () + Approximant ()
Note that those English dialects that preserve the pronunciations {Link without Title} for ''cue'' have also preserved the pronunciation for ''blue''. Other languages don't share the same constraint, compare Spanish ''pliegue'' . Sonority hierarchy
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