Consonant deletion

The reduction of word-final consonant clusters occurs very widely: regularly and without functional constraints in Caribbean and creole-related varieties (Eastern islands, T&TC, TobC, JamC, SurC, BahE, Gullah); generally with monomorphemic clusters (e.g. desk > des’) but variably and less frequently with bimorphemic ones (e.g. helped > help’) in NfldE and AAVE, and variably irrespective of the functional load of the final sound in WMwE, InlNE, PhilE, NYCE, NEngE, SAmE, and ChcE. Word-final single consonants (e.g. cut > cu’) are omitted much less widely: generally in CajE only, variably in NfldE and contact dialects, notably AAVE, ChcE, BahE, and the T&TCs. Word-final single nasals may be deleted in JamC, rendering the preceding vowels nasalized. The simplification of word-initial consonant clusters (in words such as splash or square) is not typical of American varieties; it is attested as occurring variably in SAmE, NfldE, T&TCs, SurCs, and JamC.