Open thread, July 28 - August 3, 2014

polymathwannabe

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If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

Notes for future OT posters:

1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.

2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one.

3. Open Threads should be posted in Discussion, and not Main.

4. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.

The presence of a consonant after the r in "beard" does not make the r any less consonantal. Words like "mast" and "mats" have two consonants at the end of a syllable and both are still fully consonantal.

The IPA of beard is: "bɪəd" b and d are consonants but the "r" belongs to "ə" which is a vowel.

1DanielLC12y

You can have multiple consonants in a row on the same part of a syllable, but it's restricted. Most of them seem to have the same place of articulation. For example, n and t are alveolar. m and p are bilabial. Thus, ant and amp are allowed, but anp and amt are not. s and z don't seem to have to follow alveolar consonants, but s, which is voiced, must follow a voiced consonant, and z, which is unvoiced, must follow a voiced consonant. I also can't help but suspect this has to do with the fact that in English, you make words plural by adding an s or z at the end. There might be a vowel placed before it, like in bridges, but it might have caused us to get better at sticking those letters directly after consonants. Can someone who speaks a language that doesn't do that comment on this? It's hard to stick a bunch of consonants together, so you're only allowed to if there's extenuating circumstances. By contrast, vowels are easy. r is easy, so it's a vowel.