The Representation of Nasal + Stop + Obstruent Clusters in English: Stop Insertion or Stop Deletion?

Polgárdi, Krisztina (2023) The Representation of Nasal + Stop + Obstruent Clusters in English: Stop Insertion or Stop Deletion? In: Part I Segmental Structure and Representations. De Gruyter Mouton, Berlin, Boston, pp. 187-200.

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Abstract

The medial stop of English nasal+stop+obstruent clusters is present only optionally (indicated by italics or superscript in the transcription, following Wells 2008): e.g. sphincter [ˈsfɪŋktə] and concert [ˈkɒnt sət]. The question then arises if the stop is deleted or inserted in this context. I argue that in fact both processes exist, accounting for the differences between them. I propose a Government Phonological analysis, where deletion is caused by lack of proper government, whereas insertion involves creation of a contour structure. I show that the latter process applies at the stem level, while the former belongs to the word level. The analysis is then extended to a third process of optionally reducing affricates to fricatives after nasal or oral stops (as in angel [ˈeɪndʒəl] and actual [ˈæktʃuəl]), represented as loss of the affricate’s stop half.

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