UNIVERSIDAD ESPECIALIZADA DE LAS AMERICAS
Facultad de Educación Especial y Pedagogía
Escuela de Pedagogía
Bachelor Degree in English Language Teaching
Subject
Phonology
CONSONANT CLUSTER
Presented by:
Rafael Morales
Professor:
Nelson Martínez
November 25th, 2022

Index
1. Definition
2. Why do we learn about consonant clusters?
3. Why are correct consonant clusters
important for clear English?
4. Examples

Consonant Cluster
Is a group of consonants with no
vowels between them.
In English consonants are found to be
clustered in word initial, medial and
word final positions.

Example of Consonant Cluster.
With 2 Consonant
/bl/ /sk/ /pt/
black desk helped
With 3 Consonant
/str/ /sks/ /kst/
string tasks sixty
With 4 Consonant
/ksts/ /mpst/
texts glimpsed

Consonant
Clusters
Word Initial
Clusters
They are: One of
/p,t,k,b,d,g,m,n,l,α, f, v, h, l/
+ one of /l, r, w, j/. as for
example: play, prey, cry, dry,
view, etc.
Word Final
Clusters
/s/ + one of /p, t , k, f, m, n,
l , w, j/. As for
example, speak, sky, stick,
snail, swim, skim, Shrine,
snakes, sticks, sphere, stair,
skeet, slope, snow, etc.
Word Medial
Clusters
Intra-syllabic consonant
cluster
Inter-syllabic cluster
movement /vm/,
description /skr/
import /mp/
blackboard /kb/
extra /kstr/

Why do we learn about consonant clusters?
There are two main reasons why consonant
clusters are an important thing to be aware
of.
Consonant clusters
are an important
teaching point is
for those who are
learning English as
a foreign language.
Consonant
clusters are
important for
early readers.

Why are correct consonant clusters important
for clear English?
There are a 3 main reasons why
pronouncing consonant clusters correctly is
so important for speaking clear English that
people can understand easily.
Consonant
Clusters Are
Everywhere
Consonant
Clusters
Distinguish
Between Words
Consonant
Clusters Are
Needed For
Grammar

Examples
Initial Clusters
• /s/ + consonant (=cc)
• Stay
• Sky
• Small
• Snack
• Slow
• Sphere /sf/
Final Clusters
• ask
• Last
• Went
• Round
• Books
• Help