Practice question · Estimate
What is the maximum number of consonants an English syllable onset may contain?
Estimate on a scale from 1 consonant (1) to 6 consonants (6).
Hints
- Consider strong, splash and scream.
- Three.
Show the answer
3 (answers within ±0.5 count)
Why
Three, and only in one shape: /s/, a voiceless plosive, an approximant. Codas run to four in words like sixths, which makes the coda the more permissive side of the syllable, though speakers simplify those clusters routinely in ordinary speech.
Practise Transcription and Connected Speech
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Languages I is free to start.
More questions on Transcription and Connected Speech
- English allows exactly one shape of three-consonant onset: /s/, then a voiceless plosive, then an…
- Connected speech alters citation forms through systematic phonological processes rather than sloppy…
- Intrusive r results from speakers generalising the rule that /r/ is pronounced before a vowel.
- How is an English syllable structured, and what does it permit? Select every true statement.
- Sort each transcription decision by whether it belongs to a BROAD or a NARROW transcription.
- Complete the account of the syllable and connected speech.
- Match each syllable constituent or process to its description.
- A speaker who pronounces every word in its full citation form is easier to understand than one who uses…