Phonotactic patterns

Consonant clusters are a major phonotactic problem in EAfE, as many African languages have a relatively strict consonant-vowel syllable structure (often CV-CV-CV). This explains African English tendencies with regard to consonant clusters and final consonants. Consonant clusters tend to be dissolved, either by dropping one/some of the consonants involved or by splitting them through the insertion of vowels.

Final consonants are dropped when there are two or more in a sequence, e.g. in [neks] for next and [hen] or [han] for hand. But this tendency also occurs in native-speaker English and its frequency seems to vary a lot. The general rule appears to be that if plosives are preceded by fricatives, they are dropped in word-final position; if they are preceded by other plosives or occur in non-final position they are split by vowels inserted between the consonants. A similar phenomenon occurs when final vowels are added to closed syllables, i.e. syllables ending in consonants. The vowels inserted or added are normally [ɪ] or [ʊ], depending on the occurrence of palatal or velar consonants in the environment ( e.g. [hosɪpɪtalɪ] for hospital or [spɪrɪnɪ] for spring) or on vowel harmony (e.g. in [bʊkʊ] for book).