AKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, the loving and merciful. The greatest gratitude goes to Allah
SWT, for his blessing so that I could finish writing this assignment.

I would like to give my gratitude, respect, and appreciation to all people whose
support, advice, and help gave me a great spirit to finish this assignment:

1. My beloved family, for their endless love, care, support, and patience. Throughout
my life, they have been and still assist me in my life phases.

2. Ifan Iskandar, Spd. as the English Phonetics and Phonology lecturer and
motivator.

3. My friends in 08 Dik A Reg who always give me spirit for doing this assignment.

For those people above and those I cannot mention their names, may Allah bless and
reward them. Finally, this assignment is not the perfect one, but I hope it would be beneficial
to those who interested in this field of study.

Jakarta, June 2009

Desy Pamungkas Sari

 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of The Study

In Indonesia English is a foreign language. It is normally not spoken on daily basis,
except in limited circles, such as foreign institutions (foreign companies and agencies),
English educational institutions, and some bilingual schools. It is very seldom used in
personal domains, such family life or friendship. However, for long English has been adopted
as the most important foreign language because of its strategic functions in the international
communication. But, the teaching of English in Indonesia has been characterized with
massive failure. Many factors can be attributed for the fact, such as poor learning facilities,
poor English syllabi, and incompetent teachers. It is not surprising that the English spoken by
Indonesian speakers is characterized with deviation in all linguistic levels, including
phonology.

Accordingly, the English spoken by Indonesians can cause understanding problems in the
following areas: (1) fortis/lenis distinction for final obstruents, (2) lax and tense distinction
for vowels, (3) replacements of palato-alveolar fricatives /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ and also the voiced
alveolar fricative /z/ with /s/, (4) consonant cluster re-arrangement or simplification, and (5)
different stress assignment. Their accent will be distinctively recognized because they
produce a different pronunciation. The differences will be seen clearly through features of
vowels, consonants, and diphthongs. I would like to discuss about consonant cluster which is
part of segmental phonemes. It should be noticed that, like in English, certain sequences of
double consonants are acceptable in Indonesia. Words like try and sleep are observed in
Indonesian languages. But, there are not all sequences double consonants are observed in
Indonesian languages.

Because of that, the writer interests with consonant cluster. She will try to discuss about
consonant cluster, especially about why Indonesian people difficult pronounce English consonant
cluster.
1.2 Purpose
The purpose of its paper is to increase our knowledge, and hopefully it can be useful for
anyone who interest in this topic. Besides that, the purpose of its paper is to complete the writer’s
assignment of English Phonetics and Phonology.

1.3 Writing Method

The writer use literature method by reading from references which related with its process of
writing.
 CHAPTER II

CONTENT

2.1 What is consonant and consonant cluster?

Consonant is sound which is produced with the airstream obstructed by the organ of
speech. In linguistics, a consonant cluster is a series of consonants, occurring at the beginning
or end of a syllable and pronounced together without any intervening vowels. It is also called
consonant sequence.

2.2 Consonant clusters crosslinguistically

Many languages do not permit consonant clusters at all. Maori and Pirahã, for
instance, don't permit any two consecutive consonants in a word. Japanese is almost as strict,
but it allows clusters of consonant plus /j/ as in Tokyo, the name of the capital city. Across a
syllable boundary, it also allows a cluster of a nasal consonant plus another consonant, as in
Honshū (the name of the largest island) and tempura. A great many of the languages of the
world are more restrictive than English in terms of consonant clusters; almost every Malayo-
Polynesian language permits either one-term clusters or slight variations on a theme.
Tahitian, Fijian, Samoan and Hawaiian are all of this sort. Standard Arabic does not permit
initial consonant clusters, or more than two consecutive consonants in other positions; neither
do most other Semitic languages. Khmer, as do most Mon-Khmer languages permits only
initial consonant clusters with up to three consonants in a row per syllable. Finnish has initial
consonant clusters natively only on South-Western dialects and on foreign loans, and only
clusters of three inside the word are allowed. But, Indonesia only have few consonant cluster.
2.3 Consonant cluster in English

In English, for example, the groups /spl/ and /ts/ are consonant clusters in the word
splits. The longest possible cluster in English is three consonant sounds at the
start, such as 'splash', and four at the end, as in ‘twelfths’, ‘bursts’ and ‘glimpsed’.

Initial Consonant Cluster Word Lists

bl- br- cl- cr- dr- fl- fr- gl- gr- pl- pr-

sc- sk- sl- sm- sn- sp- squ- st- str- sw- tr-

Table 2.3.1

Final Consonant Cluster Word Lists

-ct -ft -lb to -lt -mp -nd -ng

-nk -nt -pt -sk -sp -st

Table 2.3.2

2.4 Consonant cluster reduction

In phonology and historical linguistics, cluster reduction is the simplification of

consonant clusters in certain environments or over time. In some dialects of English, certain
historical consonant clusters reduce to single consonants at the ends of words. For example,
word friend, /nd/ reduces to /n/, /ˈfrɛn/.

2.4.1 H-cluster reductions

The h-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the
history of English involving consonant clusters beginning with /h/ that have lost the /h/ in
certain varieties of English

• The wine-whine merger is the merger of /ʍ/ or /hw/ (spelt wh) with /w/.
 • The hole-whole merger is the replacement of /ʍ/ with /h/ before the vowels /oː/
and /uː/.
• The yew-hew merger is a process that causes the cluster /hj/ to be reduced to /j/.
• The hl-cluster, hr-cluster and hn-cluster reductions are three reductions that
occurred in Middle English that caused the consonant clusters /hl/, /hr/ and /hn/ to
be reduced to /l/, /r/, and /n/. For example, Old English hlāf, hring and hnutu
became loaf, ring and nut in Modern English.

2.4.2 Y-cluster reductions

• Yod-dropping is the elision of the sound [j].

• Yod-coalescence changes the clusters [dj], [tj], [sj] and [zj] into [dʒ], [tʃ], [ʃ] and
[ʒ] respectively.

2.4.3 S-cluster reduction

• S-cluster reduction is the dropping of /s/ from the initial consonant clusters with
voiceless plosives (environments /sp/, /st/, and /sk(ʷ)/). After the initial /s/ is
removed, the plosive is aspirated in the new word-initial environment, resulting in
pronunciations such as:

spit → 'pit ([spɪt] → [pʰɪt])

stomach → 'tomach (['stɐmək] → ['tʰɐmək])
spend → 'pen ([spɛnd] → [pʰɛn]) (also affected by final consonant cluster reduction)
squeeze → 'queeze ([skʷiːz] → [kʰʷiz])

2.4.4 Other initial cluster reductions

• The rap-wrap merger is a reduction that causes the historical initial cluster /wr/ to
be reduced to /r/.
• The not-knot merger is a reduction that causes the historical initial cluster /kn/ to
be reduced to /n/.
• The nome-gnome merger is a reduction that causes the historical initial cluster
/ɡn/ to be reduced to /n/.

2.5 English consonant cluster spoken by Indonesian

The English spoken by Indonesians can cause understanding problems in consonant

cluster re-arrangement or simplification area. In terms of pronunciation, many Indonesians
have trouble pronouncing consonant clusters (3 or more consonants together is a word), as
these clusters do not occur in Bahasa Indonesia. The rolling of the letter 'r' is another common
issue, but not one which causes any kind of strain for the listener.

Consonants are peripheral elements of a syllable. A syllable absolutely requires a

vowel or at least a syllabic sound, like syllabic sonorants [m] and [n] or syllabic liquids [l]
and [r]. Consonants, if present in a syllable, can be in front of the syllabic sound (technically
termed as the nucleus or peak), where they constitute (parts of) the onset. They can be also
after the syllabic sound, where they are (parts of) the coda.
English phonology permits three consonants functioning as an onset of a syllable as
long as the first is /s/ while the second is any of the voiceless stops /p, t, k/ and the third is
any of the four approximants /l, r, w, j/. Thus, in English we have words like scream,
structure, spring, split, squeeze, and stew.
Indonesian, however, accepts only two consonants in an onset position. Furthermore,
the consonant /s/ is originally never part of a consonant cluster in an onset position unless the
following consonant is a liquid. As a result, speakers of Indonesian might have difficulty in
pronouncing those words. Between the first and the second consonants there might be a
vowel insertion. The word star might be pronounced [scta:] where the schwa sound (ə) is
introduced.
It should also be noticed that, like in English, certain sequences of double consonants
are acceptable in Indonesian, while other sequences are not. Words like try and sleep are no
problems for most Indonesians because the sequences /tr/ and /sl/ are observed in Indonesian
languages. However, the sequences /sk/ and /st/, which are abundant in English vocabulary,
are not observed in Indonesian languages. Thus, words like school and still are reinterpreted
as two syllables by Indonesian speakers.
Similarly, consonant clusters in the coda position are very frequent in English. Two
different consonants are abundant because the plural morpheme and the past tense morpheme
in English might take only one consonant sound: a voiceless consonant takes [s] for the plural
morpheme and [t] for its past morpheme, while a voiced consonant takes [z] for the plural
and [d] for the past morpheme. This type of final consonant cluster is a problem for many
speakers of Indonesian. As a result, the plural or tense marker is often absent in their speech.
Indonesians might be aware that the suffixes are needed and in their mental words they might
appear but the suffixes might fail to appear in their spoken language. Thus, while in the
written language, suffixes might not be a serious problem, but they are so when English is
spoken.
 Some speakers also solve their difficulty in pronouncing the past suffix by producing
spelling pronunciation. Words like warned and asked are pronounced as [wƆrncd] and
[askcd]. This strategy is almost effective for adjectivized past participles as observed in the
adjectives learned and burned as well as verbs ended with alveolar stops such as wanted and
responded. We have to notice, however, that in standard English the pronounced vowel of the
suffix is not a schwa but an [Ι].
Worse still, in English syllables a coda might five consonants consecutively. Such a
coda, however, requires the following condition: the first consonant must be + sonorant, the
second + consonantal, the third and fourth – sonorant, + coronal, and the fifth – sonorant, -
coronal. Speakers of Indonesian have difficulties in pronouncing words like wasps and
contexts. Their solution is different from that of onset clusters. No vowel insertion takes
place. Instead, the later consonants are usually not pronounced, as also observed in the
suffixation mentioned in the previous paragraph. For the words in the examples we might
hear [wƆs] and [khƆntek]. The third word [wƆʧ] presents a difficulty for Indonesian
speakers because in Indonesian languages the sound [ʧ] does not happen in a coda position.

2.5.1 How to solve this problem

• involving tricky adjustments in place and manner of articulation.

• simplify strings of three consonants through elision (missing out one of them)
• simplify strings of three consonants through assimilation (changing a consonant
phoneme so that the manner of articulation is more similar throughout the consonant
cluster).
 CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

Indonesian also has consonant cluster, but not more than double consonants sequences
and only has few consonant cluster because speakers of Indonesian might have difficulty in
pronouncing consonant cluster. They might insert vowel between the first and the second
consonants. Sometimes, in words which only have one syllable, they often pronounce it as
two syllables. But, you can do tricky adjustments in place and manner of articulation.
Managing this juggling act can be a little easier if you are taught to recognize ways in which
native speakers simplify strings of three consonants through elission or assimilation. Do it
succesfully makes connected speech more fluent to listen to. Practice at this will make it less
obvious that English is not your native language.
 REFERENCES

Roach, Peter. 2000. English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge.

Trask, R.L. 1996. A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology. Routledge: New York.

http://aimjakarta.blogspot.com/2007/09/problems-with-learning-english-commonly.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_consonants

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/knowledge-wiki/consonant-cluster

egcathyw@polyu.edu.hk
http://www.usd.ac.id/06/publ_dosen/phenomena/feb07/alip.pdf
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………………….…

TABLE OF CONTENT………………………………………………………………..…..

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1Background…………………………………………………………..…………
1.2Purpose……………………………………………………………………..…..
1.3 Method…………………………………...……………………………………..
CHAPTER II CONTENTS

2.1 What is consonant and consonant cluster?……………………………………..

2.2 Consonant clusters crosslinguistically………………………………………….

2.3 Consonant cluster in English………………………..........................................

2.3.1 Table of initial consonant cluster…………………………………….

2.3.2 Table of final consonant cluster…………………………...................

2.4 Consonant cluster reduction.................................................................................

2.4.1 H-cluster reduction..............................................................................

2.4.2 Y-cluster reduction..............................................................................

2.4.3 S-cluster reduction...............................................................................

2.4.4 Other initial cluster reduction..............................................................

2.5 English consonant cluster spoken by Indonesian................................................

2.5.1 How to solve this problem

CHAPTER III CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………….

REFERENCES