Consonant clusters1/28/2024 This is why linguists prefer more focused study of fewer languages where we can scrutinize the details, spending years on a few languages. Large-scale bean-counting projects assume that the claims made in print or personal communication are correct as (mis/under)stated. Instead, we gather up whatever data we can find, and report whatever is most convenient for the position that we support. Furthermore, there is at best an informal seat of the pants method of selecting from the attested languages of the world that avoids the problem that most human languages are members of one of two language groups (Niger-Congo and Austronesian), which happen to be very similar in terms of syllable structure. if every linguist listened to the Lushootseed language tapes, every linguist would come up with a different analysis). We don't have standardized methods of phonological analysis whereby everybody would create the same analysis when exposed to a fixed input (e.g. First, there aren't any reliable phonological databases that can be used to extrapolate to valid generalizations about "what human languages, by nature, do" (in case that was why you asked for a database). You're asking a lot of questions, and here are a few answers. One realizes this is a broad topic and perhaps my line of questioning is unfocused (for which one must sincerely apologize), but any and all thoughts on the matter would be of much utility and deeply appreciated. So… why? How? How was monosyllabic “Heaven”, “seven”, “even” lost? It’s clear it must have been somewhat awkward even in Early Modern English considering that the last of those was usually elided as “e’en” and not “ev’n”, and all three could be either mono or bisyllabic, but the “v’n” elision seemed to have been accepted without second thought - at least until it wasn’t. This is the case despite no great change in the language occurring over the last two (and indeed the last three or four) centuries. Why is it that a consonant cluster such as /vl/, despite having no presence in the English lexicon, is readily accepted by native speakers at an onset (e.g., few would struggle to pronounce “Vladimir”) yet is absolutely disallowed in codal position?įor that matter, why have the restrictions on codal clusters in Modern English itself changed over time? This is perhaps the question one has primary interest in - monosyllabic “Heav’n” was attested as late the poetry of the early mid 19th century but codal /vn/ is not simply uncommon today, but utterly unthinkable. As per the question statement: is there a resource available for quickly determining which codal (or onset) consonant clusters are attested in human language? Mark Vandam’s Word Final Coda Typology seems like an excellent starting point, but I wonder if this data was categorized in (some hopefully public) database somewhere that linguists and philologists might be able to contribute to.Ī related question, if you would forgive for the imprudence of my asking another within the confines of this post, would be “How does a language, particularly over time, determine which consonant clusters are allowed at onset or coda?”
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