Unit 7.1
Consonant clusters
Introduction
Form
The most common consonant clusters are:
| Uppercase | Lowercase | Phonetic transcription |
| BL, BR | bl, br, | /bl/, /br/ |
| CL, CR | cl, cr | /kl/, /kr/ |
| DR | dr | /dr/ |
| FL, FR | fl, fr | /fl/, /fr/ |
| GL,GR | gl, gr | /gl/, /gr/ |
| PL, PR | pl, pr | /pl/, /pr/ |
| SC, SK, SL, SM, SN, SP, ST, SW | sc, sh, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw | /sk/, /sk/, /sl/, /sm/, /sn/, /sp/, /st/, /w/ |
| TR, TW | tr, tw | /tr/, /tw/ |
Example
bl: cable
cl: cluster
tr: tree
st: coast
pr: apricot
Use
A consonant cluster is a combination of two or more consonants together, without a vowel between them, that are part of the same syllable.
Consonant clusters can be produced in a lot of ways, some of which are:
- nasal + stop – /læmp/
- nasal + fricative- /sɛvənθ/
- nasal + affricate – /lʌntʃ/
- fricative + stop /best/
Perhaps at first they are difficult to pronounce for students due to the cluster of two consonant sounds. It usually happens when sk- at the beginning of the word, as in ski (/skiː/, not /eskiː/.)
Summary
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Consonant clusters may be difficult to pronounce for some students, because they consist of two or more consonants together.
Pay attention to pronounce them correctly and not to add any vowel sounds to them. For example, we pronounce the word ski as /skiː/, not /eskiː/.
Exercises
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