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This study examines the production of third language (L3) German consonant clusters by 26 L1 Cantonese–L2 English bilinguals, with the aim of uncovering the possible cross-linguistic influences on L3 pronunciation. Learners' production of 17 onset and 21 coda German consonant clusters were auditorily analysed with respect to accuracy and error type. Findings showed that L3 pronunciation accuracy was affected by the similarities between each individual L3 consonant cluster and its possible correspondences in L1 Cantonese and L2 English. An L3 German consonant cluster that contained more Cantonese and English consonants would be produced more accurately, whereas an L3 consonant cluster that looked similar to English but mismatched with English orthography would generate production errors (e.g. kn [kn] → kn [n]). Individual variation between different L3 consonant clusters suggests that cross-linguistic influences on the L3 can occur from both the L1 and the L2 at the feature level and can be both positive and negative. At the same time, the study also shows that L3 speech is significantly influenced by markedness and language experience factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to examine Sundanese students' proficiency and errors in performing final consonant clusters in English. The research used a qualitative approach. The participants in this research were 40 college students. Their mother tongue was Sundanese. The data were recordings, which were collected through a pronunciation test of the target clusters in a provided word list. A perceptual approach was applied to analyze the data recordings. The results of this research found that the Sundanese students were not satisfactory when performing consonant clusters in English. They were only at intermediate levels. Omissions were major errors made by the students. The Sundanese students typically omitted the last consonant for -CC and the middle consonant for -CCC and -CCCC. In addition, the Sundanese students' semester and their English grades affected the Sundanese students' proficiency. It seemed that the differences in clusters' phonological structure between English and Sundanese and unfamiliar sounds contributed to the errors. This research suggests that teachers perform explicit instruction to improve students' cluster proficiency and enhance students' phonetic knowledge of English clusters. Accurate pronunciation is an important factor affecting communication intelligibility.

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In speech sound intervention, consonant clusters promote generalisation (i.e. improvement in untreated sounds and words), ostensibly due to their relative complexity compared to other phonological targets. However, our understanding of clusters as intervention targets is largely restricted to those in word-initial position (e.g. [fl-], flip). The present study extends available work to consider the effects of word-final consonant cluster targets (e.g. [-ks]). Phonologically complex word-final clusters may be morphologically simple (e.g. mix) or morphologically complex (e.g. packs, inflected with third-person singular) – yet this cross-domain complexity remains an understudied phenomenon. Presently, two case studies provide an initial investigation of word-final cluster intervention targets for children with phonologically based speech sound disorders. Intervention targets for both Anna (3;7 [years;months]) and David (4;1) featured the phonologically complex word-final cluster [-ks], with Anna's target being morphologically simple and David's being morphologically complex. Intervention was provided in 45-minute, individual sessions three times per week for a maximum of 18 sessions. Both children demonstrated high target accuracy by intervention's end. Following intervention, both children demonstrated progress in intelligibility and ability to produce word-final consonant clusters; David further demonstrated generalisation across multiple measures. Results are interpreted with consideration of individual differences and existing research on complexity in phonological intervention. Overall, present findings motivate continued research, as manipulation of word-final complexity allows for emphasis on a context that is relevant for children with speech sound disorders, for peers with difficulties in morphology (including word-final grammatical morphemes) and for the substantial proportion of children demonstrating weaknesses in both domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a descriptive account of the phonology of Kussummiya spoken in southwest Ethiopia. It is basically a qualitative study in that linguistic data are collected from native speakers by using elicitation technique. The collected data are organized and analyzed categorically. The findings of the study show that Kussummiya has 21 attested consonant phonemes and five short and five long vowel phonemes which is a typical feature of Cushitic vowel system. All consonant phonemes geminate and they occur only in word medial position. Consonant gemination and vowel length are phonemic. Consonant cluster occur in word medial position with a maximum of two non-identical consonants. Some of the phonological processes identified in words or across words are: insertion, deletion, devoicing, spirantisation, assimilation and metathesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Tagalog, consonant clusters are phonologically allowed and mainly found in loanwords from Spanish and English. However, their phonetic realization has not yet been studied while previous studies (Colantoni and Steele 2005; Kilpatrick et.al. 2006; Ramírez 2006) reported that a svarabhakti vowel has been observed between consonant clusters in Spanish and French. Thus, this research note claims that a svarabhakti vowel also occurs between consonant clusters in Tagalog based on an initial acoustic analysis conducted by Kurusu (2022a, 2022b). Although this is consistent with the findings of earlier works, not much has been said about its characteristics. Therefore, finally, this research note presents issues which should be studied in the future: (1) the phonetic environment where a svarabhakti vowel appears in Tagalog; (2) perception of a svarabhakti vowel by speakers, and; (3) universality of a svarabhakti vowel that appears between consonant clusters among languages in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Vilnius University Open Series is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Logopedia Silesiana is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Slaskiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This research attempts to find out the impact of using cellphones on the students' pronunciation with an emphasis on consonant clusters. The sample of the study was 40 female secondary school students divided into two groups control and experimental. The study attempted to answer one question: Will the use of pronunciation videos on cell phones help to improve Saudi female secondary students' pronunciation of English consonant clusters occurring in the onset position? To achieve this, the researcher conducted a pre-test and a post-test to test students' pronunciation of selected vocabulary from the English Inventory of consonant clusters. After the pre-test, the experimental group used video to practice these sounds while the control group practiced that in traditional classes. The findings showed that both groups improved. However, the experimental group, having utilised cell phone videos, made significant improvement by 7.05% in the correct production of consonant clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Languages change is an inevitable phenomenon which may come with phonological implications. In Optimality Theory, first put forth by Prince and Smolensky (1991), language is seen as an inventory of universal violable constraints, the permutation of which might vary from one language to another. The present study aims to put forward a typological comparison among four Iranian languages of Farsi, Sorani Kurdish, Hawrami, and Kalhori Kurdish in terms of the change they have undergone in initial consonant cluster /xw/ at the beginning of certain words, assuming /xw/ as the proto-form and input. The version of Optimality Theory incorporated in this article is that of the Parallel one (McCarthy, 2008) in which the Generator can enforce unlimited number of modifications to the input. The candidates produced by the Generator, then, go through the filter of the Evaluator, consisting of language-specific permutation of markedness and faithfulness constraints. In order to collect the data, the authors have used librarian sources as well as carrying out field study, interviewing 10 native speakers of each of the aforementioned languages. Since the study is not sociolinguistic in nature, there was no restriction on the age of the consultants. The forms elicited from these native speakers were persistent. The collected data were, then, transcribed and relevant information was extracted through a preliminary observation. It was revealed that with regard to syllables beginning with the consonant cluster /xw/, followed by a vowel, only the following combinations are valid in each of the languages. The assumed input for the three given forms below in each row are /xwa/, /xwɑ/, and /xwi/ respectively. Farsi: [xo], [xɑ], [xi] Sorani Kurdish: [xwi], [xwɑ], [xwi] Hawrami: [wa], [wɑ], [wi] Kalhori Kurdish: [xwa], [xwɑ], [xy] The above forms show the reactions each of the four language under study has regarding how much /xw/ plus a following vowel is tolerated, with Farsi and Hawrami showing no tendency to maintain the cluster, in complete contrast to Sorani Kurdish, in which /xw/ is left intact. One can roughly see the same thing in Kalhori Kurdish, with only one difference of /xwi/ changed into [xy]. The non-back high round vowel of [y] clearly has inherited features from both /w/ and /i/. In this study, the analysis of the diachronic change of /xw/ consonant cluster was conducted considering four constraints of *COMPLEX SYLLABLE, a markedness constraint against any syllable bigger than CVC; MAX(initial), which disfavors any candidate with the initial consonant deleted; MAX[round], a faithful constraint demanding that candidates should retain their round feature; and UNIFORMITY, which demands that candidates avoid coalesce. Through the analysis of the collected data from an Optimality-theoretic point of view, the permutation of these constraints was determined in each of the languages under study as follows: Farsi: Maxinitial, *CS >> Maxrnd>> Uniformity Sorani Kurdish: Maxinitial­, Maxrnd, Uniformity>> *CS Hawrami: Maxrnd, *CS, Uniformity>> Maxinitial Kalhori Kurdish: Maxrnd, Maxinitial>> *CS >> Uniformity It can be deduced that except for Sorani Kurdish, these languages opt not to have any complex syllable and use the strategies of coalescence and deletion in order to prevent such syllables from being formed. This is evident in Sorani having all the faithfulness constraints crucially dominating the only markedness constraint of *COMPLEX SYLLABLE, while the same constraint is active and never crucially dominated in the three other languages. Also, Kalhori Kurdish and Farsi are the only languages in which UNIFORMITY is dominated by the other constraints, which results in validating coalescence as a strategy to be adopted so that /xw/ would be avoided. However, regardless of the strategy Farsi, Hawrami, and sometimes Kalhori Kurdish seem to adopt what these languages apparently share is their unwillingness to entirely do away with roundness. Hawrami keeps this feature at the cost of dropping the initial consonant of /x/, as a result of the faithful constraint of MAX(initial) being crucially dominated. Farsi, although merging /w/ and /a/ into [o], retains roundness. Kalhori Kurdish makes use of coalescence, forming the sound [y], which obviously borrows the roundness of the second segment in /xw/. It must be mentioned that in order to come up with a comprehensive analysis, we might need to involve more than these four constraints in some of these languages. However, to simplify the presentation of the analysis, and more importantly, to fixate on the difference these languages have in terms of constraint permutation, this article sticks to these four constraints and shows how the difference in permutation of constraints can lead to phonological systems of languages diverging from one another.

In the first part of the article, we looked at the distribution of nasals in Persian (: m & n) to determine how they are distributed in consonant clusters. The results suggest that there is a strong tendency among nasals to be complementarily distributed in the consonant clusters of etymologically Persian words. In the second part of the article, we asked, what are the distributional-phonological characteristics of loanwords in Persian? The results suggest that the distribution of phonological features of loanwords tends to be more dispersed and more balanced than the corresponding features in etymologically Persian words. However, if in the process of borrowing new words, a specific morphological structure of the donor language has been extensively borrowed by the recipient language, such distinctions have been weakening. Furthermore, we suggested that multiple donor languages and the randomness of the borrowing process are two reasons why phonological features of loanwords are more dispersed and more balanced. We also explained why the nC cluster is the most frequent nasal cluster in Persian. We suggested that the reason lies in the fact that n has an oral stop stricture, a property that has been ignored in the description of nasals, which makes it a proper candidate to co-occur with 16 obstruent consonants of Persian. Our data came from a lemmatized corpus-driven list of words, which contains 55000 words.

This study investigates the pronunciation difficulty of selected English consonant clusters (CCs) encountered by Saudi EFL learners. The sample consisted of 134 female Saudi EFL students in their freshman year in the English Department at Najran University. Two instruments were used: a pronunciation test that assessed participants' CC pronunciations in the onset and coda positions and a questionnaire that explored participants' attitudes towards their CC pronunciations. This study provides detailed data on the participants' pronunciation difficulties using Optimality Theory (OT). The results showed that the participants encountered CC pronunciation difficulties in both the onset and coda positions. However, most errors occurred in the coda position, especially for the four-consonant pattern (-CCCC). Participants used different strategies to simplify their CC pronunciations: epenthesis, deletion, substitution, or some combination thereof. Questionnaire data indicated that the participants attributed their pronunciation difficulties to inadequate knowledge of the pronunciation rules, insufficient language instruction, and native-language influence. The participants proffered some remedies to their difficulties, which included doing more pronunciation drills and offering a new course focused primarily on correct pronunciation. OT analysis revealed that onset clusters were mainly influenced by L1 ranking constraints whereas coda clusters were more influenced by universal Markedness constraints. OT indicated that the tendency to satisfy Markedness constraints over the Faithfulness constraints led the participants to use the above-mentioned simplification strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sonority Sequencing Principle and the Structure of Slovak Consonant Clusters In line with the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP), the centre of the syllable is the most sonorous sound and the sonority of the other segments in the syllable drops towards the syllable edges. Nevertheless, in many languages, there are syllable onsets and codas that violate this principle of sonority. Following the functional approach proposed by Jerzy Kuryłowicz, types of word/syllable-initial and word/syllable-final clusters in standard Slovak were delimited. A sonority-based analysis of those clusters revealed that almost 40% of the common initial consonant sequences violate the SSP. The situation with the final clusters is similar. These findings indicate that the creation of consonant clusters in a language does not depend solely on the sonority of the individual segments but also follows other phonological and/or perceptual regularities connected with the process of communication. Zasada sekwencji sonorności a struktura zbitek spółgłoskowych w języku słowackim Zgodnie z zasadą sekwencji sonorności (Sonority Sequencing Principle, SSP) jądro sylaby jest dźwiękiem o najwyższej sonorności, a sonorność pozostałych segmentów sylaby maleje wraz z odległością od jądra. Niemniej jednak w wielu językach występują nagłosy i wygłosy, które naruszają tę zasadę. Przyjmując podejście funkcjonalne zaproponowane przez Jerzego Kuryłowicza, wyróżniono typy zbitek w nagłosie i wygłosie w standardowym języku słowackim. Ich analiza pod względem sonorności wykazała, że prawie 40% sekwencji powszechnie występujących w nagłosie narusza zasadę sekwencji sonorności. W przypadku wygłosu wynik był podobny. Ustalenia te wskazują, że tworzenie zbitek spółgłoskowych nie zależy wyłącznie od sonorności poszczególnych segmentów, ale również od innych prawidłowości fonologicznych i/lub percepcyjnych związanych z procesem komunikacji.

Pronunciation has many great important roles in one speaking performance. The inappropriate pronounced words cause the negative impact of misunderstanding. Therefore, this study aims to find out how the pronunciation of Batu Bara Malay students, particularly the English consonant clusters and the word stress, and to identify the factors affecting Batu Bara Malay students’ difficulties in pronouncing English consonant clusters and the word stress. The qualitative method was applied in this study. There were 25 students of seventh-grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Datuk Tanah Datar as the study subjects who speak the Malay Language as their mother tongue. The data were collected by recording students’ voice and interviewing. The researchers applied the Miles and Huberman model to analyze the data. The results are Batu Bara Malay students’ ability to pronounce English consonant clusters around 29%. Most of the students inaccurately utter the English consonant cluster word at the final position. The students’ ability in pronouncing English word by correct word stress rules around 30%. As the students' achievement under 50%, it means their ability in pronouncing consonant cluster and word stress is very low. These problems are caused by the existence of the mother tongue intervening in their process of learning another language and the distinction between English characteristics and nature compared with Indonesia Language (similar to the Malay language), particularly consonant clusters. English has more types of consonant. Besides that, the lack of both knowledge and pronunciation exercises on how to pronounce English word accurately for beginner learners so the students are unable to pronounce English consonant clusters and emphasize appropriate word stress.

Dukpa belongs to the Central Bodish group of Tibeto-Burman language family (Bradley 1997). The term Dukpa originated from the Tibetan word Drugpa. Drug means 'dragon' and pa means 'resident' which literally co-defined the meaning of 'the resident of the dragon land'. The total population of Dukpa is not mentioned in the Census of India. They are also one of the smaller and lesser-known tribes living in the Buxa hill forest of Alipurduar district, West Bengal with a population of 1951 according to 2011 Census of Kalchini block of Alipurdaur district, West Bengal. The present paper is an attempt to describe the Consonantal system of Dukpa. Dukpa has twenty three/23 consonantal sounds including two semi-vowels. They are /p, ph, b, t, th, d, c, ch, k, kh, ɡ, m, n, ŋ, ɲ, s, z, ʃ, h, r, l, w, and y/. Consonant combination in Dukpa can classified three categories these are: (i) consonant cluster (ii) consonant sequence and (iii) geminate. Dukpa has initial and medial consonant clusters that occur within the syllabic boundary. Two consonant clusters are present in the language i.e., initial and medial but final cluster remains absent. Consonantal sequences and geminates are only in medial position of a word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two different outcomes of reconstructed * rs sequences in Umbrian. While the sequence * rs which goes back to Proto-Sabellic is continued as ⟨ rs ⟩,secondary * rs that developed from * r V s by syncope or from * rtt by assibilation and degemination is written as ⟨ rf ⟩.A synchronic and diachronic analysis of these different outcomes is provided.It is argued that the key conditioning factor for the different outcomes is not whether * rs was diachronically original, but whether * s in * rs formed a simple onset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pronunciation has many great important roles in one speaking performance. The inappropriate pronounced words cause the negative impact of misunderstanding. Therefore, this study aims to find out how the pronunciation of Batu Bara Malay students, particularly the English consonant clusters and the word stress, and to identify the factors affecting Batu Bara Malay students’ difficulties in pronouncing English consonant clusters and the word stress. The qualitative method was applied in this study. There were 25 students of seventh-grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Datuk Tanah Datar as the study subjects who speak the Malay Language as their mother tongue. The data were collected by recording students’ voice and interviewing. The researchers applied the Miles and Huberman model to analyze the data. The results are Batu Bara Malay students’ ability to pronounce English consonant clusters around 29%. Most of the students inaccurately utter the English consonant cluster word at the final position. The students’ ability in pronouncing English word by correct word stress rules around 30%. As the students' achievement under 50%, it means their ability in pronouncing consonant cluster and word stress is very low. These problems are caused by the existence of the mother tongue intervening in their process of learning another language and the distinction between English characteristics and nature compared with Indonesia Language (similar to the Malay language), particularly consonant clusters. English has more types of consonant. Besides that, the lack of both knowledge and pronunciation exercises on how to pronounce English word accurately for beginner learners so the students are unable to pronounce English consonant clusters and emphasize appropriate word stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia z Filologii Polskiej i Slowianskiej is the property of Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Slavic Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present paper takes up the Phonological description of Siraji with focus on the segmental part including consonants, vowels, diphthongs, syllables, including their distribution and arrangement in the language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic phonological theory (SPT) of J. Sabol (1989) views the syllable as a complex sound unit that connects the sound level of a language with the level of the meaning. The syllable boundaries are placed according to several criteria, and the syllabification of words is always complete. The present paper introduces the individual phonetic, phonemic and morphophonemic criteria of syllabication as specified by SPT. The criteria are applied to the delimitation of the syllable boundaries in the Slovak word-medial consonant clusters. Then the sample analysis of the English word-medial consonant clusters follows. Our research probe indicates the possibility to use the theory not only in Slovak, but also in English. By implication, the results indicate language-typological and language-universal nature of the syllable theory on the basis of SPT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to analyse the permissible syllable structures and the aspiration and voicing of word-initial and word-final segments in the syllable structure of Bangla. A corpus study leads to a detailed analysis of Bangla syllable structure restrictions, relative to the three traditional strata of the Bangla lexicon, namely, Native Bangla (NB, Tadbhava), Sanskrit borrowings (SB, Tatsama and Ardha-Tatsama), and other borrowings (OB, Deshi and Bideshi), following Ito and Mester's work on the Japanese lexicon. Complex codas are allowed only in OB. Complex onsets are ruled out in NB while they have the maximal form s+C+liquid in SB and OB. There is no onset maximisation: Medial clusters in all strata avoid complex onsets if a consonant can be syllabified into the preceding coda (Vp.lV rather than V.plV). Aspiration is banned from the coda in NB but not generally in SB and OB, where restrictions that are more complex obtain. Obstruent voicing contrasts are present in onset and coda, but voicing agreement is enforced in obstruent clusters. Analyses of these restrictions are presented in Optimality Theory: the different strata of the lexicon may have different phonologies, i. e. different constraint ranking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines the process of loanword syllable adaptation in tetrasyllabic words in Persian, within an Optimalitytheoretic framework. In Persian, consonant clusters are avoided in onset position. As a result, the loanwords borrowed from other languages which have complex onsets, when introduced into Persian, are adapted to fit the syllable structure of the target language. When placed word-initially, the onset cluster is generally resolved by the insertion of an epenthetic vowel. However, this vowel epenthesis occurs in a split pattern, as it does in many other languages. In this study, following Gouskova's (2001) proposal, we argue that this split pattern in loanword syllabic adaptation can best be explained to be an effect of the Syllable Contact Law (SCL). That is, when the two segments in the onset cluster have a rising sonority sequence, the cluster is broken up by the process of anaptyxis; while in sequences of falling sonority, the cluster is resolved through the process of prothesis. It is argued that, this pattern uniformly holds true at least as far as the dictionary-derived data in the present study are concerned. For the exceptional cases of /SN/ and /SL/ clusters--not attested in our data set, but still present and frequently referred to in the literature--we propose the addition of two positional faithfulness constraints of the DEP-V/X_Y family (Fleischhacker 2001) to our set of universal constraints to account for all the possible cases of loanword syllabic adaptation in Persian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Objective This study is to examine the final cluster processing in Cochlear implanted child and compare the hearing age factor with the chronological age one. Introduction Scholars argue that, in a Cochlear Implanted (CI) child, the hearing age is the crucial factor in the speech rather than the chronological age. To determine which factor affects the production more, we examined the mastery of Persian final consonant clusters realization in CI children at one-to-two years of hearing experience and compared the result to Normal Hearing (NH) peers. Methods and materials The study included 21 children in two categories of girls and boys. Using picture-naming task, we collected the data from participants. Result Data analysis showed that all the children used the same set of phonological rules at their developmental stages of word final consonant cluster but the distribution of preferences differed between the groups. In one hand, Cluster reduction was the most produced phonological rule in both groups and on the other hand, CI children preferred breathing, coalescence and cluster simplification more than NH children did. Considering Gender, unlike NH girls and boys who had the same trend in their phonological system, CI girls were closer to complete production rather than boys. Conclusion According to this survey, what seems to be important in speech production of CI children is years of hearing experience rather than chronological age. Girls tried different rules compared to boys for cluster production, but when the mastery over cluster production was achieved, there was no difference between girls and boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Persian, consonant clusters are avoided in onset position. So in the case of lexical borrowing, when word formation violates the phonotactic rules, and makes a consonant or vowel cluster, Persian resolves the onset cluster by epenthesis, deletion, and re-syllabification processes in order to be adopted in this language. The present study examines the process of epenthesis as well as the type of the epenthetic vowel in initial consonant clusters of English loanwords in Persian, based on phonotactic rules Greenberg (1998) in Generative Phonology framework. The data in this research includes 92 English loanwords extracted from Moshiri (1371) and Zomorodian (1384) dictionaries of Persian. Results of the research reveals that Persian uses vowel epenthesis in initial consonant clusters and changes the syllable structure. In this research, the reason for vowel epenthesis is assumed to satisfy the Syllable Contact Law. Persian uses asymmetrical vowel epenthesis pattern in English loanword adaptation. That is when the two segments in the onset cluster have a rising sonority sequence, the cluster is broken up by the process of anaptyxis, while in sequences of falling sonority, the cluster is resolved through the process of prothesis. The unmarked vowel in the epenthesis process is /e/.

Raising vowel is one of the phonological process in Persian in various forms presented in this study. One of these forms is raising low back vowel “ɒ” before alveolar nasal “n”. In this study to analyze the process in the frame work of Optimality, Using “AntConc” words ending in “-ɒn” have been extracted from a part of Persian corpus (Hamshahri 2) with about fifteen million words. The study shows that “ɒ” raising before coronal nasal consonant can be analyzed as a general constraint (*-ɒn) which does not appear before coronal nasal consonants in syllable boundary or within syllable. In the present study , It has been analyzed that the constraint has been violated in some cases presented in this study. Some of the constraints presented and analyzed in this study are “specific words”, “idioms newly translated”, “borrowed words and expressions” and the stem of tavanestan (can). In this study it has been shown that Optimality Theory can account for both those vowel raising being applied and those can not be to applied to.

Evolution of languages has always been of interest to linguists. In this paper we study the natural progress of the syllable structure from Old Persian (O.P) to Middle Persian (Mi.P) and up to the Modern Persian (Mo.P). For this purpose all the words containing consonant sequences are collected from specific sources of each of these languages, and then analysed according to the syllabification principles. Pulgram (1970) distinguishes three principles for this matter which is stated in Hyman (2003:279).The first one, is the maximum open syllable principle, the second, the minimum coda and maximum onset principle and the last one is the irregular coda principle. In addition , to find the syllable structure of the words, phonological rules are also applied. Greenberg (1978) suggests a number of rules specifying the collocation constraint of phonemes and phonological structure of the word, which are: Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP), Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) and Syllable Contact Law (SCL). On basis of these rules and principles the clusters are separated from sequences,and the syllable structure of each language is acquired. Finally the progress of the syllable structure change is studied through representing the data from all three languages, and investigating the process taken for clusters to reach the present time. As the data exhibits, in O.P initial consonant clusters are frequently observed and also, through syllabification, some final syllable clusters will be obtained. In Mi.P also both initial and final clusters fully exist, with growing number of final ones. Initial consonant clusters are completely omitted in Mo.Pand only final clusters remain. Deletion and vowel insertion are the two most occurring processes in these processes.

The aim of the present study is to test the Strong Morphonotactic Hypothesis (SMH), according to which speakers use morphonotactic consonant clusters as morphological boundary signals (Korecky-Kröll et al. 2014). It is hypothesized that morphonotactic clusters will be better retained during production than phonotactic clusters due to the function fulfilled by a morpheme. The study is based on experimental data collected from 60 Lithuanian TD children and 11 Lithuanian SLI children. This study explores the impact of morphology on the acquisition of phonotactics. The findings suggest that TD children process morphonotactic clusters more accurately than phonotactic clusters because morphonotactic clusters have the function of co-signalling the existence of a morphological rule. In contrast to TD children, for SLI children prototypical morphonotactic clusters are the most difficult as SLI children are not sensitive to morphological information which is carried by morphonotactic clusters.

This study is set out in a controlled experiment with the objective of observing the acoustic behavior of CCV syllables, still in acquisition, produced by a four-and-a-half-year-old child with the other syllabic structures acquired. The CCV syllable structure was analyzed in the production of words and "wugwords" in order to verify possible acoustic differences in syllable production in these two contexts. Following the assumptions regarding Usage-Based Phonology (BYBEE, 2001), the experiment elicits the production of very frequent words, as well as of "wug-words", these with token frequency equal to zero. The results show that the type frequency (C + [ɾ] - the unmarked type) is relevant. The epenthetic vowels are presented with a quality that is considerably different from the corresponding nucleus vowels in most of the data. The token frequency was pertinent regarding the duration, since the CCV syllables of the very frequent words presented less high duration when compared to the "wug-words". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts at describing the syllable structure in Mahbashi Yemeni Arabic. Mahbashi Yemeni Arabic (MYA) is one of the neglected Yemeni Arabic varieties. The study shows that MYA exhibits ten syllable structures. This variety permits the following syllable types: CV, CVC, CW, CWC, CCV, CCW, CCVCC, CCVC, CVCC and CCWC. The study proved that the syllable structures CV, CW, CCV and CCW do not occur in monosyllabic words. They exist in bi-syllabic words. It is also noticed that onsetless syllables are banned, coda is optional, consonant clusters are allowed up to two consonants in both onset and coda positions and the geminates are permissible word medially and finally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]