Re: NATLANG: o_0? re: consonant clusters

I can't remember exactly, but here's the sonority hierarchy (i.e., most sonorous
to least) as I remember it:

1.) vowel
2.) semi-vowel
3.) liquid
4.) nasal
5.) fricative
6.) stop/affricate

And the way you build syllables that are (allegedly) easiest to pronounce is that
you start the word from the high end, and build as you see fit moving down the
line, until you get to the vowel, then you build up from least to greatest if
you want an end consonant cluster.

So, for example, English clusters like /st/ and /sp/ violate the sonoarity
hierarchy, which is why, for example, when you go from Latin to most Romance
languages, initial /sC/'s get an initial /e/ (and then in French the /s/
dropped). So, that's my input on ease of pronounceability. As to commonness, I
really don't know.

-David

Reply