The CVX Theory of Syllable. A Single-Slot Analysis of the Initial Consonant Clusters in English and in Slovak

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the research verifying the proposed universal nature of the CVX theory of syllables. The character of the word-initial clusters in English and in Slovak has been evaluated in terms of three basic concepts of the so-called morphological approach to syllable structure as introduced by Duanmu (2009). The data indicates that while in English all onset clusters form a complex sound or can be explained by morphology, in Slovak the number of possible word-initial clusters is much higher, their structure is more heterogeneous and not all of them can be accounted for by morphology.