Branching onsets and syncope in English

Abstract

English abounds in lexical consonant clusters, and morpheme-internal consonant clusters can also be created postlexically, by syncope (the deletion of a schwa within a word). In theories that do not recognize empty nuclei, the consonant clusters thus created are usually analysed as coda-onset clusters. This article argues that such syncope-created consonant clusters in English bear a much closer resemblance to so-called branching onsets. I argue that these two categories are not entirely distinct; rather, branching onsets are a special type of the set that includes all syncope-created clusters. I consider the three types of consonant cluster that are often distinguished in English, which I label ‘onset clusters’, ‘medial clusters’ and ‘coda clusters’, and argue, instead, for an alternative system of cluster types which has only two types, each with two subtypes; the main aim of this article is thus to question long-accepted, apparent truisms about consonant clusters.