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English phonotactics1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2015

LAURIE BAUER
LAURIE BAUER*
Affiliation:
School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealandlaurie.bauer@vuw.ac.nz
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Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the phonotactic structures of English presented in The Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, paying attention to morphological boundaries, the difference between stressed and unstressed syllables, the difference between native and non-native, and considering the distribution of vowels as well as consonants. The phonotactic status of names turns out to be unlike the status of other morphologically unanalysable words, and some new observations are made on consonant clusters as well as vowel sequences, which have previously been overlooked.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , November 2015 , pp. 437 - 475
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

1

The research for this article was undertaken while I as on sabbatical leave from Victoria University and Visiting Professor at Newcastle University, UK. I should like to thank both institutions for their support in making this research possible. I should also like to thank Melanie Bell, the anonymous referees for ELL and Patrick Honeybone for their comments on earlier versions, which have been invaluable in improving this article.

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