Phonotactics

The phonotactic distribution of sound segments in CollSgE is best understood in terms of the syllable structure. In the onset, CollSgE allows a maximum of three consonants, much as in RP. Examples include string and spray.

Where the coda is concerned, CollSgE is much more restrictive. Hung (1995: 33) notes that for most speakers the upper limit seems to be either two or three consonants in the coda as shown in words like texts or glimpsed below.

Hung (1995: 33) goes on to suggest that “(p)erhaps as a result of these syllable-structure constraints, final consonant clusters are regularly simplified in SE, by the deletion of some of the word-final consonants.” The deletion of final consonants is discussed below.

Regarding the nucleus of the syllable, unlike a variety of English such as RP, where the lateral /l/ and the nasals can be syllabic, that is, occupy the nucleus position of a syllable, in CollSgE this is simply not possible. Instead, a process of schwa insertion takes place, leading this vowel to occupy the nucleus position, and thus relegating the lateral or nasal to the coda. The following examples, from RP and from CollSgE, provide the relevant contrasts.

In a word like button, the schwa intervenes between the /t/ and the /n/. In bottle, it is inserted between /t/ and /l/. And, similarly, in whistle, it appears between /s/ and /l/. In all such cases, the effect is that syllabic laterals and nasals are avoided.