This book provides a refreshing perspective on the description, study
and representation of consonant clusters in Polish. What are the sources
of phonotactic complexity? What properties or principles motivate the
phonological structure of initial and final consonant clusters? In
answering these questions, a necessary turning point consists in
investigating sequences of consonants at their most basic level, namely
in terms of phonological features. The analysis is exploratory: it leads
to discovering prevalent feature patterns in clusters from which new
phonotactic generalizations are derived.
A recurring theme in the book is that phonological features vary in
weight depending on (1) their distribution in a cluster, (2) their
position in a word, and (3) language domain. Positional feature weight
reflects the relative importance of place, manner and voice features
(e.g. coronal, dorsal, strident, continuant) in constructing cluster
inventories, minimizing cognitive effort, facilitating production and
triggering specific casual speech processes. Feature weights give rise
to previously unidentified positional preferences. Rankings of features
and preferences are a testing ground for principles of sonority,
contrast, clarity of perception and ease of articulation.
This volume addresses practitioners in the field seeking new methods of
phonotactic modelling and approaches to complexity, as well as students
interested in an overview of current research directions in the study of
consonant clusters. Sequences of consonants in Polish are certainly
among the most remarkable ones that readers will ever encounter in their
linguistic explorations. In this volume, they will come to realise that
hundreds of unusually long, odd-looking, sonority-violating,
morphologically complex and infrequent clusters are in fact
well-motivated and structured according to well-defined tactic patterns
of features.
