hardest to pronounce

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 01:29 PM 10/22/2004, you wrote:
>At 11:55 AM -0500 10/22/04, Mullins, Bill wrote:
>>  > >in which case one oft-cited example of the hardest
>>>  monosyllabic word is
>>>  >"sixths" with the final -[ks(th)s] cluster.
>>>
>>>  My first thought was along those lines; "strengths".
>>>  --
>>For me, "sixths" is harder than "strengths".  I think it's because when you
>>say "strenghths", the toungue moves along the roof of the mouth from front
>>to back and then back to front more smoothly than when you say "sixths" (in
>>which the movement of the toungue is jumpier).
>
>It might also be that the former's final cluster does involve one
>more consonant than the latter's, although the move from a velar
>nasal to an interdental oral fricative isn't the easiest transition
>around, and indeed I typically adjust it to [strEn(th)s] or
>[stren(th)s], assimilating the nasal.  (Of course I tend to do that
>with the singular too.)  With "sixths" there doesn't seem to be any
>such out, so I do produce it as [sIks(th)s], but not without
>difficulty.  (I know there are some who have a [t] instead of [(th)]
>for the ordinal, and I assume they would have less of a problem with
>[sIksts].)
>
>larry

And "fifths" is often [fIfts], even in (th) pronouncers.