Consonant Cluster Simplification is widespread

Sat Sep 6 01:41:25 UTC 2008

Maybe   am missing something here, but it seems to me that we are talking 
about different phenomena here. In this thread have not been talking about the 
diachronics of final consonants in English but about the variable synchronic 
phenomenon whereby WASP becomes WAS', TASK becomes TAS', LOST becomes LOS', COLD 
becomes COL', LIVES becomes LIVE', FIND becomes FIN', etc. For many speakers, 
this happens sometimes but not all the time, depending on (1) the phonological 
environment that follows and (2) the speaking style. High incidence also 
correlates with sociolinguistic variables, including region. Morpheme boundaries 
often inhibit the application of the rule (though we get "Jack Johnson car" for 
"Jack Johnson's car"). The relationship between C1 and C2 is usually 
described as one of voicing/unvoicing, perhaps only because that is a 
better-understood category than fortis/lenis and seems to be synchronically equally accurate 
as a predictor. Since we do not have English words ending in /sb/, /sd/,/sg/, 
etc., the CCR rule of course does not apply, so they seem to be irrelevant to 
the rule. 

In a message dated 9/5/08 8:06:57 PM, hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM writes:

> 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:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header 
> -----------------------
> > 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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> >>=20
> >
> >
> >
> >
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