This document contrasts consonant clusters in English and Lebanese Arabic. It defines consonant clusters and discusses their structure and occurrence in each language. English allows initial clusters of up to 3 consonants and final clusters of up to 4 consonants. Lebanese Arabic allows much longer initial clusters of up to 7 consonants. The document analyzes specific cluster patterns and exceptions in both languages. It concludes that the phonotactic rules of one's native language influence how new languages are pronounced.

1. Consonant Clusters
in English and Lebanese Arabic
A contrastive study
By Fadi Sukkari

2. Syllables, Vowels & Consonants
Words are comprised of syllables,
composed in turn of consonants and
vowels (nucleus), to which, short vowels
called diacritics are added in some
languages like Arabic.
By definition, vowels are characterized by
a flow of air, whereas, in contrast,
consonants are produced by obstructing
this air flow.

3. Phonology and Phonemes
In phonology, the science dealing with
pronunciation and speech study, a
phoneme is the smallest contrastive
unit (a unit capable of showing a
distinction in meaning between two
words) in the sound system of any
language, each language having its
own inventory of phonemes.

4. Phonotactics
There exist phonetic restrictions that
vary greatly from one language to
another and that take the form of
limitations in the manner phonemes are
arranged in sequence.
How phonemes are arranged in a given
language is called phoneme distribution
or phonotactics.

5. Consonant Clusters
Among these restrictions, are consonant
clusters (C.C.) rules, defining the
maximum number of contiguous,
consonants that occur, not separated by a
vowel, and that keep their individual
pronunciation when blended.

6. C.C. vs Diagraphs
Diagraphs are sometimes mistaken for
consonant clusters. Actually, diagraphs
can be defined as a sequence of more
than one consonant pronounced as one
phoneme such as (ch; /k/) in chronology,
(ph; /f/) in phrase, (sh; /ʃ/) in shrink, etc.

7. Phoneme Combinations
A (C-V) combination, called open
syllable because it is not closed by a
consonant, is a frequent pattern in all
languages without exception.
The (C-C) pattern, on the other hand, is
much rarer and more restrictive.

8. Consonant Clusters: Definition
There is no consensus, among English
linguists over whether consonant
clusters should be limited within
syllables: some think that CCs can only
occur within the same syllable, while
others contend that the concept can
apply when a CC spreads across
syllable boundaries.

9. Consonant Clusters in English
In English the number of consonants in
sequence could be 3 maximum in initial
position and up to 4 in the final one and
can of course occur in the median
position.

10. English Sylalble Structure
Linguists usually give the following
representation to the structure of English
syllables: CCC-V-CCCC
(C)+(C)+ (C) - V - (C)+(C)+(C)+(C),
where the initial cluster is called “Onset”,
the vowel “Nucleus”, and the final cluster
“Coda”.

11. Structure of C.C. in English
Initial three-consonant clusters always
have the consonant voiceless alveolar
fricative /s/ in the first position of the
onset, one of the voiceless stops /p, t, k/
in the second, and one of the following
liquids in third position /w, y, r, l/.

12. Structure of C.C. in English
/s/ + /k/ + / l / : sclerosis
/s/ + /k/ + / r / : scream
/s/ + /k/ + / j / : skew
/s/ + /k/ + /w / : squash
/s/ + /p/ + / l / : splash
/s/ + /p/ + / r / : spring
/s/ + /p/ + / j / : spew
/s/ + /t/ + / r / : street
/s/ + /t/ + / j / : student

13. Structure of C.C. in English
Concerning the second and third
consonants of the cluster, the louder
consonant will always be put closer to
the nucleus, or vowel of the syllable.
Thus we have “splash” and “spread”,
yet, no words start with /slp-/ or /srp-/.

14. Structure of C.C. in English
However, there are four exceptions to
this rule. The sequence of
consonants /s + m + j/ occurs only once
as an initial consonant in English in the
word “smew”;/smju:/ (a diving duck). On
the other hand, /spw/, /stw/, and /stl/,
never occur.

15. C.C. as source of difficulty
Given that initial CCs are forbidden by
the Arabic phonetic system, they can be
a source of difficulty for Arabs who are
learning English as their L2.
While a native English speaker
reduces a CC like in “sixths”:/sɪkfs/, an
Arab would insert an “extra” schwa to be
able to pronounce the word as in
“spread”:/səbˈrɪd/.

16. Consonant Clusters in Arabic
Altaha (1999) gives the following
possible phonetic distribution patterns of
Modern Standard Arabic syllables:

17. Consonant Clusters in Arabic
1) C-V as in /bi/ “with”
2) C-VC as in /lam/ “not”
3) C-VCC as in /qalb/ “heart”
4) C-VV as in /laa/ “no”
5) C-VVC as in /qaal/ “say”
6) C-VVCC as in /ħaadd/ “sharp”

18. Consonant Clusters in Arabic
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is one of
the languages that do not allow initial
consonant clusters at all.

19. C. C. in Lebanese Arabic
However, Colloquial or dialectal
Arabic, like Moroccan under Berber
influence or Lebanese under Syriac
influence, in contrast does allow
consonant clusters that can be very
long – up to seven in the case of
Lebanese Arabic.

20. C. C. in Lebanese Arabic
3- /trtəbek/ = CCC –VCVC
4- /stħmalt/ = CCCC –VCC
5- /tXtsru/ = CCCCC –V
6- /btʃtrku:/ = CCCCCC –VV
7- /mħtrmtkon/ = CCCCCCC – VC

21. C. C. in Lebanese Arabic
As a rule, in dialectal Lebanese Arabic,
the initial hamza whether in the past or
imperative mode in five-partite verbs built
on the ʔifʕalla meter (‫ )إفعل‬is left out: thus,
ّ(
“ʔɪstaʕadda” with the second singular
pronoun (you) becomes (b)tstʕedd which
is “you (are) get(ting) ready” follows the
CCCCC-VCC pattern with a four-
consonant initial cluster and a gemination
(or shadda in Arabic) for a final CC.

22. Conslusion
The phonotactic patterns of a language have a
compulsory effect upon its native speakers,
who learn these rules very early and then find
it hard to infringe upon them later on - when
learning a new language for instance.
A case worth close scrutiny is that of loan-
words: people tend to pronounce them with
the phonotactic patterns of their mother
tongue. In Turkish, the synonym of “elevator”
is /asansør/ borrowed from French
“ascenceur”.

23. Conslusion
English allows initial clusters of three
consonants, Modern Standard Arabic
none, and dialectal Lebanese Arabic up
to seven.
This pattern in Lebanese Arabic widely
varies, however, from a Lebanese region
to another, yet for the purpose of this
study we tried to make an inventory of
the extreme cases where we could find
an initial cluster of seven consonants.