questions for topic 10

(try answer the questions, then move the pointer below the question to see the answer)

1. What clusters are problematic when setting up phonotactic constraints?
   clusters that exist, but are very rare: it is not clear whether such clusters should be taken to be possible or impossible
2. What is a systematic gap in a phonological system?
   a word containing a sound string that some phonotactic constraint rules out
3. What is an accidental gap in a phonological system?
   a sound string that no phonotactic constraint rules out but still does not exist as a word
4. Where do phonotactic constraints typically apply?
   within a word, not across words; between neighbouring segments; between consonants, more rarely between a consonant and a vowel; word finally and word initially
5. What does “homorganic” mean?
   it means ‘having the same place of articulation’
6. Why is homorganicity relevant in word-initial consonant clusters?
   word-initial consonant clusters which do not begin with [s] or [ʃ] are generally not homorganic
7. How is the distribution of [j] different from that of [l r w] in word-initial clusters?
   [j] occurs not only after plosives and voiceless fricatives, but also after voiced fricatives and sonorant consonants
8. What is the common property of three-member word-initial consonant clusters?
   they all begin with [s] (or [ʃ])
9. Which nasal+consonant clusters do not occur word finally?
   [mb], [ŋɡ], [mv], [nð]; that is, those ending in a voiced noncoronal plosive or a nonsibilant voiced fricative
10. What are the common properties of word-final obstruent clusters?
    both are voiceless, at least one of them has to be a plosive and at least one of them has to be coronal
11. What are the constraints on consonants word finally?
    [ʒ] is rare, [h] does not occur, nor does [r] in nonrhotic accents (like CUBE); [j] and [w] only occur as the second member of a diphthong
12. Are there any consonants that do not occur after diphthongs?
    yes, [aw] occurs only before coronal consonants, [oj] occurs almost only before alveolar consonants
13. Are there any constraints on consonant+vowel sequences?
    no, only on consonant cluster+vowel sequences: C[j] is most often followed by [u], [uw], [uː]/[oː]/[əː] or [ə], but not other vowels, C[w] is never followed by [u], [uw], or [uː] (except [sw])
14. Does language change affect phonotactic constraints?
    yes, language change may introduce new phonotactic constrains, allowing novel patterns or disallowing former patterns
15. Do loanwords conform to the phonotactic patterns of the host language?
    yes, in most cases they do, but the large scale influx of elements from another language may introduce new patterns in a language

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