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132 Bogus clusters, syllabic consonants and vowel syncope. . .and taking over its duties. Finally, the sonorant is not able to spread toa neighbouring position and hence faces decomposition or lenition, losingmanner or place elements.4.3. English syllabic consonants4.3.1. IntroductionIn this section we focus our discussion on syllabic consonants in English.We introduced the basic facts and pinpointed some problems concerningthe appearance of syllabic consonants in the language in section2.1 above. In what follows we shall address the questions raisedin that section and offer a unified solution to the phenomenon in question.It will be pointed out that syllabic consonants arise in response to a positionalweakness as predicted by Scheer (2003). Since, however, syllabicconsonants are possible not only before empty nuclei but also before realisedvowels, it will be claimed that syllabic consonants appear in the intervocalicposition, that is, after schwa and before a nucleus, be it empty orrealised. As the discussion unfolds, it will become evident that lexically presentnuclei are never properly governed and vowel syncope is always theresult of the expansionist behaviour of sonorants.4.3.2. In search of a unified context for syllabic consonantsThe preceding section has been devoted to German homorganic clustersof the obstruent plus nasal type, with some reference to English nasalplus obstruent clusters. Since partial geminates, especially those appearingin progressive nasal assimilation, are intimately connected with syllabicconsonants, the latter phenomenon has also been discussed. Havingintroduced Scheer’s (2003) proposal to explain partial geminates inGerman, we are in a position to address the questions raised at the endof section 2.1 above. Namely, what is the precise context and the trigger