Consonant Cluster Simplification is widespread

Sat Sep 6 00:06:29 UTC 2008

I agree that t/d/ deletion is a misnomer, but for different reasons.
Final cluster simplification drops final LENIS consonants from
clusters, especially if there is a following consonant.  So we'll get
Arnold's "san' dollar" but not "pin' bottle" from "pint bottle."  But
it's been a long diachronic development. We get final -g, except for a
few dialects, only morpheme-internally and before a derivational
suffix, as has been discussed recently on the Chinglish thread.  So
deletion of -g in clusters occurs only after nasals in the
environments I just described.  Final -b has been lost so consistently
that it occurs finally in clusters only after -l-, as in "bulb," but
it typically doesn't delete.  So it's down to coronals, and they
delete pretty freely.  But there's another wrinkle.  A lot of
phonological analyses confuse the issue by insisting that the
fundamental distinction among obstruents is voicing, and English
spelling rather supports this with final clusters spelled -sp, -st,
and sk, but no -sb, sd, sg.  But in fact, as quite a few descriptions
have demonstrated, going back to a 1957 paper by Halle, Hughes and
Radley, the contrast is not one of voicing but one of articulatory
strength, or, in more recent terms, fortis vs. lenis.  In final
obstruent clusters in English the final obstruent has to be lenis.
IPA doesn't provide symbols for a fortis/lenis contrast, so we have to
redefine, by means of language-specific conventions, the IPA voiceless
obstruent series as fortis and the IPA voiced obstruent series as
lenis.  Fortis obstruents in English are always voiceless; lenes are
voiced or voiceless depending on the neighboring glottal states.
Phonologically, then, those final obstruent clusters ARE /sb/, /sd/,
/sg/, where /bdg/ represent voiceless lenes.  In final cluster
simplification, it's the final lenis that deletes, which is why words
like "lamp," "pint," "junk," etc. don't simplify.

Herb

On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 2:33 PM,  <RonButters at aol.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       RonButters at AOL.COM
> Subject:      Consonant Cluster Simplification is widespread
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Consonant Cluster Simplification is found in all varieties of American=20
> English, especially Southern and South Midland (as well as AAVE). In other v=
> arieties=20
> it occurs variably but in low amounts, the highest frequency being in=20
> environments before a word that begins with the same or similar consonant as=
>  C2. For=20
> example, for most Americans, SAND DOLLAR becomes SAN' DOLLAR, FEND DOGS AWAY=
> =20
> becomes FEN' DOGS AWAY, BREAST DOCTOR becomes BREAS' DOCTOR, etc. But you wi=
> ll=20
> also hear, e.g., WRIST WATCH becomes WRIS' WATCH. Some words are particularl=
> y=20
> susceptible to CCS, e.g., AND becomes AN'. Of course, this sort of CCR could=
> =20
> arguably be seen as a part of the larger sandhi-reduction of homorganic stop=
> s=20
> across word boundaries, e.g., DOG CATCHER becomes DO' CATCHER.
>
> What Arnold meant by "t/d deletion" is not clear: "t deletion" takes place=20
> when "n't" becomes "n'", but "d deletion" is simply a part of CCS. Unless I'=
> m=20
> mistaken, there is no such thing as "t/d deletion" as such, so it could not=20=
> very=20
> well be "widespread."
>
> In a message dated 9/4/08 10:50:33 PM, strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM writes:
>
>
>> On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 9:09 PM,=A0 <RonButters at aol.com> wrote:
>>=20
>> ... But then you started talking about final consonant cluster
>> simplification, in a variety which I have never heard.=A0 But that makes
>> sense now too after having taken a look at the index to Fromkin &
>> Rodman's book (damn Google books snippet view being no help), I see
>> that this CCS is a feature of AAVE.=A0 My experiences with AAVE are
>> mostly limited to my growing up in Cincinnati, OH, in the 70s, and
>> what I heard every day on the subway, etc. when I lived in NYC several
>> years ago.=A0 So while t/d deletion is very widespread (appearing in
>> most English dialects), CCS is not, which accounts for my not being
>> aware of it.=A0 (I've also not read much about AAVE.)
>>=20
>> --
>> Randy Alexander
>> Jilin City, China
>> My Manchu studies blog:
>> http://www.bjshengr.com/manchu
>>=20
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