The Sonority Sequencing Principle in the Affricate Clusters in the Simplex Words in Comparison with the Affricate Sequences at the Boundary of Compounding

Abstract

.Traditionally it is thought that the organization of components in a syllable and among syllables follows the sonority principles. The sonority factor not only restricts the ordering of phonological units at the syllable level, but also influences the word domain and determines the type of sequences present at the boundary of syllables. The purpose of this study is to investigate the rate of violation of affricate clusters and sequences through the sonority sequencing principle. In order to answer this question, (15446) compound and derivative-compound words for sequence and (14336) simplex words for cluster have been collected from Persian dictionaries and the phonological information related to each word was extracted. The results indicated that: A: The affricates frequency as a second member in the cluster is (5.7) times more than that of the first member and in the sequence is (2.3) times more than the first member. B: The frequency of negative sonority scope in the cluster is (82%) and in the sequence (74%). Also, the violation of the SSP in the cluster is (18%) and in the sequence (26%). C: All the violations of the SSP in clusters in the simplex words are related to the loan words..

Keywords

• affricate consonant
• compound word
• simplex word
• cluster
• sequence
• sonority sequencing principle (ssp)