This document discusses consonant clusters, which are groups of consonant sounds that occur together without an intervening vowel. It presents different views on whether consonant clusters can include sounds across syllable boundaries or must be contained within a single syllable. Examples are given of words with different numbers of consonant letters and sounds, and whether they contain consonant clusters. The locations of consonant clusters at the beginning, middle, or end of words are illustrated. Finally, ways of simplifying words containing consonant clusters are shown.

1. CONSONANT
CLUSTERS
• In phonetics, a consonant cluster is a
group of consonant sounds which have
no intervening vowel sound between
them.
• For example, the groups [spl] and [ts]
are consonant clusters in the word
splits.

2. CONSONANT CLUSTERS
Some linguists argue
that the term can be
properly applied only
to those consonant
clusters that occur
within one syllable.
Others claim that the
concept is more
useful when it
includes consonant
sequences across
syllable boundaries.
According to the
former definition,
the consonant
clusters in the word
extra would be [ks]
and [tr], whereas the
latter allows [kstr].

3. CONSONANT CLUSTERS
Word Number of
consonant
letters
Number of
consonant
sounds
Consonant
clusters
1. against 3 3 [nst]
2. ticket 2 1 ------
3. right 3 1 ------
4. next 2 3 [kst]
5. walk 2 1 ------

4. CONSONANT CLUSTERS
At the beginning
of words
In the middle of
words
At the end of
words
splash complain fox
study conclusion elephant
spray widespread waist
grace sparkling amused
cry astray shocked

5. SIMPLIFYING CONSONANT CLUSTERS
Word/Phrase Full form Symplified form
asked [æskt] [æst]
months [mʌnθs] [mʌns]
fifths [fɪfθs] [fɪfs]
last Saturday [læst. ˈsæɾ·ɚ·deɪ] [læs.ˈæɾ·ɚ·deɪ]
send me a card [ˈsɛnd.mi.ə.kard] [ˈsɛn.mi.ə.kard]