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Variable and Stable Clusters: Variation in the Realisation of Consonant Clusters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Wenckje Jongstra
Wenckje Jongstra*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Abstract

This article reports on between-individual and within-individual variation in consonant cluster reduction strategies (where C1C2 is realised as C( or C2) among young children. The empirical base of the study is a Dutch database with over 9,000 instances of C1 and C2 realisations of 23 word-initial consonant clusters from 45 children aged between two and three years old. The study finds that within-child variation is very limited, whereas between-child variation occurs. It is also shown that there are typological implications; that is, realising C2 in cluster y, implies realising C2 in cluster y, but not vice versa. The data provide support for the position that variation can be accounted for by a finer grained notion of sonority where the sonority distance between the two consonants in a cluster plays a crucial role in establishing prosodic constituency.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article traite de la variation individuelle et entre les enfants en ce qui concerne les stratégies de réduction des groupes consonantiques (où C1C2 est réduit à C1 ou C2). L’assise empirique de cette étude consiste en une base de données en néerlandais comportant plus de 9 000 occurrences de C1 et C2, apparaissant dans 23 groupes consonantiques initiaux produits par 45 enfants âgés entre deux et trois ans. L’étude révèle une variation individuelle minime, mais une variation entre enfants notable. En outre, des implications typologiques s’en dégagent: la réalisation de C2 dans le groupe x, l’implique également dans le groupe y, mais non l’inverse. Les données appuient l’hypothèse que la variation pourrait être expliquée par un raffinement de la notion de sonorité où l’écart de sonorité entre deux consonnes d’un groupe jouerait un rôle prépondérant dans l’établissement de la prosodic et de ses constituants.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 48 , Issue 3-4 , December 2003 , pp. 265 - 288
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2003

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