Phonotactics: Don't put that there!

For those not familiar with the term, phonotactics is the linguistic phenomenon which controls which structures of words are acceptable.

Let's make up two words. Clestrath and Pkan. Try to pronounce them. Assuming you're an English monoglot, you probably found the first far easier to say than the second.

This is because the first complies with English phonotactics - even though it's longer, the two consonant clusters "cl" and "tr" are acceptable.

"Pkan", however, could not be a word in today's English. That's because the cluster "pk" is not allowed at the beginning of a word. It's allowed in the middle of a word, like in "napkin", but not at the start.

English actually has rather flexible phonotactics, as evidenced by the word "strength". At the beginning of the word, there's a cluster of three consonantal sounds, and at the end there are two. (Yes - there are four letters, but they only represent two sounds. A phonologist would probably find this cluster more interesting than a layman, with the massive difference between the velar nasal "ng" and voiceless interdental fricative "th". But I digress.)

Now, what does a language with very restrictive phonotactics look like? We'll have a look at Japanese, which has very restrictive phonotactics.

The syllable structure of a Japanese word is always (C)V(V), where C is a consonant, V is a vowel, y is the English "y" consonant, and n is a nasal consonant. The brackets, as you've probably guessed, mean that the component is optional.

So, "Sten" could not be a Japanese word because it fits a CCVn structure, which is invalid. Even though "s", "t", "e", and "n", are all valid Japanese sounds, "Sten" is not a valid hypothetical Japanese word. Just like "Pkan" is not a valid hypothetical English word.

Other other hypothetical words that are easy to pronounce for us but can't be in Japanese are "Kot", "Bomed", "Esta", and others.

(Some might note that ts is a valid cluster in Japanese, like in tsunami. Technically, "ts" is one consonant, and is treated as such by the language. If you're interested, it's a special type of "compound" consonant called an affricate.)

Conversely, Georgian has an even less restrictive phonotactical system than English. გვფრცქვნი (gvprckvni) is a real word, meaning "you peel us", in Georgian.

So, this begs the question: why did phonotactics develop? Did certain words become so entrenched in our mind that we lost our ability to string together other possible combinations with ease? But that would make it highly improbable that rigid systems like Japanese would arise, if it was only on the pattern of use. So, why?

I said it like so: "peh-can". :P

On a serious note: I did find that kind of interesting.

Yeah - you had to insert an intermediary vowel. To say it as a "p" followed directly by a "k" is difficult for most English speakers, if in word-initial position.

Thanks. ^^;

Now it's starting to bother me that no one developed an accepted phonetic sound for some consonant combinations.

This reminds me of learning to roll r's.

donavannj said:

Now it's starting to bother me that no one developed an accepted phonetic sound for some consonant combinations.

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All consonant clusters can be pronounced. A phonologist would have no trouble pronouncing "pkan". It wouldn't surprise me if some languages did have this cluster.

Hakeen said:

This reminds me of learning to roll r's.

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It's not quite the same thing. Rolled rs are another phoneme (unit of sound) entirely (the technical term being alveolar trill). Whereas the issue with phonotactics is that it means we have difficulty pronouncing a series of sounds, that individually, are easy to pronounce.

Yes... rolling r's is like that. :(

LIKE TRYING TO SAY FOREVER AND ROLLING BOTH R'S.

In that case (assuming you've incorporated the rolled r into the phonemic inventory) then you're right, it is. :P

I don't know what that means but I know I'm right. XDD

XD; Well, that's the main thing. :P

"Phonemic inventory" is the set of acceptable sounds in a language. For example, our "L" sound is not in the Japanese phonemic inventory. XD;

>:[ Stop trying to make me feel stupid. ;_; My position as linguistics-nerd is being compromised.

I don't set out to make you feel stupid. ;0;

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL j/k. Just stop using big words, mmkay? )_)

I pronounced like "kan". Greek for the win. ;P

I think the Japanese just wanted a language that flowed, you know? It may give them a lot of homonyms in the future, but hey, they've got kanji to give them the meaning. ;>

Remember they also have "ng" and anything that starts with an "n" as available consonant sounds. They can still be German with stuff like "antsukyangan", hypothetically. :D

The Japanese are remarkable when it comes to loanwords and translating foreign words. Negi Springfield, from Mahou Sensei Negima *is bricked for yet another MSN reference* is Nipponised as Negi Supuringufirudo. That's a mouthful if I ever saw one.

Just had to throw that out there. ^_^

I don't think it's that much of a mouthful. It is roughly pronounced "Springufieldo" due to the altered tempo, and is written 「スプリングフィルド」。

And wait, isn't it "nipponized"? :o

I probably sound mean saying all this at you. x<

Needle said:

I think the Japanese just wanted a language that flowed, you know?

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it's possible, but that's the sort of thing that you'd expect from someone inventing a language, not a language evolving. :S

Needle said:

Remember they also have "ng" and anything that starts with an "n" as available consonant sounds.

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Yes - the incorporates nasal consonants, of which "ng" is one. ^^

Needle said:

And wait, isn't it "nipponized"? :o

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It's -ise in some parts of the world, so they're both correct.

No, it doesn't sound mean. I'm quite happy to be corrected, and as Citrinin said, we in NZ use the -ise ending.

It isn't that we created phonotactics, it's just that...it happened. Let us take Latin for example. If you isolate the Latin speaking groups over many centuries, their language will start to change. And it has, into Spanish, French, and German.

Wow, I'm the only one who answered your question.