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130 Bogus clusters, syllabic consonants and vowel syncope. . .place of articulation of the obstruent. This situation is illustrated in (23)where (U) stands for velarity and a, b, g represent some melodic elementsof the internal make-up of [g].(23)CVCVCVCV|||vAÉaU®NPbgThe general conclusion drawn from Scheer’s (2003) analysis is thatthe formation of syllabic consonants does not depend on the status of theschwa. Conversely, syllabic consonants arise in response to the weakposition they happen to appear in. In order to survive the sonorantspreads and replaces the schwa.As has already been mentioned in the course of our previous discussion,progressive nasal assimilation is blocked when a vowel initial suffixis added to forms ending in obstruent plus nasal clusters. The relevantdata were illustrated under (6) above. Very briefly, the same clustercan be realised in three different ways, for example, the cluster [gn] inWagen ‘carriage’, can be separated by a schwa [vA†g«n], can appear withoutthe schwa but with a syllabic and homorganic nasal [vA†g®N] or can beproduced with the devoiced obstruent when followed by a suffix [vA†kn-Œ].The explanation of the former two forms has already been presented, i.e.the nasal displaces the preceding schwa and docks on to the place elementof the obstruent. On the other hand, the latter form is interestingfor at least two reasons. First, the nasal is neither syllabic nor homorganicbut the schwa is dropped. Second, the obstruent undergoes devoicing.Scheer (2003) claims that it is the presence of the suffix vowel whichis responsible for the latter situation. Note that in this context the situationof the nasal is radically changed, that is, it is licensed but ungovernedwhich is a typical strong position (24).(24) PGC|vVCAÉVC|kV«C +|nV|ŒLic.