BETTER ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

CONSONANT SEQUENCES

Lecturer
Hayder Kubashi
CONSONANT CLUSTERS

Consonant consequences are groups of two or

more consonants. A consonant consequence
can appear at the beginning, in the middle,
or at the end of a word.
 INITIAL SEQUENCES

 Initial two-consonant sequences are of two sorts in

English

1. One sort is composed of /s/ followed by one of a small set

of consonants; examples of such consequences are found
in words such as 'sting' /stɪŋ/, 'sway‘ /sweɪ/ , 'smoke‘
/sməʊk/.

The /s/ in these consequences is called the pre-

initial consonant and the other consonant (/t/, /w/, m/ in
the above examples) the initial consonant.
2. The other sort begins with one of a set of about
fifteen consonants, followed by one of the set /l/, /r/,
/w/, /j/ as in, for example, 'play’ /pleɪ/, 'try’ /trʌɪ/,
'quick’ /kwɪk/, 'few’ /fjuː/.

We call the first consonant of these consequences

the initial consonant and the second the post-
initial.
THREE-CONSONANT INITIAL CONSEQUENCES

Post-Initial

l r w J
s plus initial p /spleI/ /spreI/ - /spju:/

t - /strɪŋ/ - /stju:/
k /sklɪəˈrəʊsɪs/ /skriːn/ /skwiːk/ /skju:/
CONSONANT CONSEQUENCES AT BEGINNING OF
WORDS
/p/ /t/ /k/ /b/ /d/ /g/
+/l/ Play - Class Black - Glass
\ˈplāɪ\ \ˈklas\ \ˈblak\ \ˈglas,
ˈgläs\

+/r/ Pray Trip Crime Brown Drop Grow

\ˈprāɪ\ \ˈtrip\ \ˈkrīm\ \ˈbrau̇n \ˈdräp\ \ˈgrō\
\
+/w/ - Twin Queen - Dwell -
\ˈkwēn\ \ˈdwel\

+/j/ Pure Tube Queue Beauty Due -

\ˈpyu̇r\ \ˈtüb, \ˈkyü\ \ˈbyü- \ˈdü,
ˈtyüb\ tē\ ˈdyü\
 /m/ /n/ /f/ /v/ /Ɵ/ /ʃ/ /h/

+/l/ - - Fly - - - -
\ˈflī\

+/r/ - - Fry - Three Shrink -

\ˈfrī\ \Ɵri:\ \ʃriȠk/

+/w/ - - - - - - -

+/j/ Music News Few View - - Huge

\ˈmyü- \ˈnüz, \ˈfyü\ \ˈvyü\ \ˈhyüj,
zik\ ˈnyüz\ ˈyüj\
 FINAL CONSEQUENCES

 Any consonant may be a final consonant except h, w, j.

 There are two sorts of two-consonant final consequence

1. One being a final consonant preceded by a pre-final

consonant and the other a final consonant followed by a post-
final consonant.
 The pre-final consonants form a small set: m, n, ŋ, l, s.
 The post-final consonants also form a small set: s, z, t, d, θ;
example words are: 'bets' betz, 'beds’ bedz.
 There are two types of final three-consonant
consequence ; the first is pre-final plus final
plus post-final, as set out in the following
table:
Pre-final Final Post-final

/hɛlpt/ hɛ l p t

/baŋks/ ba ŋ k s

/b ndz/ b n d z

/twɛlfθ/ twɛ l f θ
 The second type shows how more than one post-final
consonant can occur in a final consequence : final
plus post-final l plus post-final. Post-final is again
one of s, z, t, d, θ.

Pre-final Final Post-final 1 Post-final 2

/fɪfθs/ fɪ - f θ s

/nɛkst/ nɛ - k s t

/lapst/ la - p s t
 Most four-consonant consequences can be
analysed as consisting of a final consonant
preceded by a pre-final and followed by post-
final and post-final, as shown below:
Pre-final Final Post-final 1 Post-final 2

/twɛlfθs/ twɛ l f θ s

/pr m(p)t/ pr m p t s
A small number of cases seem to require a
different analysis, as consisting of a final
consonant with no pre-final but three post-final
consonants:

Pre- Final Post- Post- Post-

final final 1 final 2 final 3

/sɪksθs/ sɪ - k s θ s

/tɛksts/ tɛ - k s t s
 THE PRODUCTION OF CONSONANT
CONSEQUENCE

Some more examples of consonant consequences:

a) Nasal + stop – /kamp/, /stamp/, etc.
b) Nasal + fricative – /wɔːmθ/, /təːms/, etc.
c) Stop + stop – /kɛpt/, /trakt/, etc.
d) Stop + nasal – /ˈrɪtn/, /ˈbɪtn/, etc.
e) Stop + lateral – /ˈmɪdl/, /ˈhʌdl/, etc.
f) Nasal + affricate – /bɛn(t)ʃ/, /lʌn(t)ʃ/, etc.
g) Fricative + stop – /bɛst/, /dr ːft/, etc.
 OTHER EXAMPLES OF CONSONANT
CONSEQUENCES
TWO & The Distribution
THREE
Conse- Initial Medial Final
quences
Bl Blame / leɪ / Ablutions /əˈ luːʃ z/ Capa le/ˈkeɪpə l/
Gr Green /ɡriː / Progress /ˈprəʊɡres/ -
Kj Curious /ˈkjʊəriəs/ Exe utio /ˌeksɪˈkjuːʃ / -
Kl Clown /klaʊ / Eclipse /ɪˈklɪps/ Che i al /ˈke ɪkl/
Pr Pride /praɪd/ Approach /əˈprəʊtʃ/ -
Tr Trip /trɪp/ I trovert /ˈɪ trəvɜːt/ -
St Stop /stɒp/ I sta t /ˈɪ stə t/ Pia ist /ˈpɪə ɪst/
Str Stray /streɪ/ Extra /ˈekstrə/ -
 http://www.eslgold.com/pronunciation/consonant_
clusters_s.html
