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140 Bogus clusters, syllabic consonants and vowel syncope. . .never appears between the consonants of the word-initial cluster. Evenif PG were the real trigger of the vowel syncope, it would be difficultor downright impossible to ban the application of this mechanism in theword-initial position. The general conclusion emerging from the GP analysisis that the schwa between an obstruent and the following sonorantdisappears for two independent reasons. The schwa either disappearsand makes room for the sonorant to spread (syllabic consonant), or is properlygoverned and hence syncopated (vowel syncope).The Proper Government solution offered in GP is not available in thepresent analysis simply because we have suggested that English vowelsdo not function as proper governors. In other words, they are not able togovern other nuclear positions unless the latter are lexically empty. Inconsequence the sonorant following a vowel syncope site appears in thesame weak position as the syllabic consonant, that is, it is governed andlicensed. This let us claim that an essential prerequisite of vowel syncope isthe syllabic consonant. 23 To put it differently, the syncopated schwa is notproperly governed; it is displaced by the following sonorant. This solutionis further confirmed by Harris (1994) who points out that vowel syncopehas an intermediate variant containing a syllabic consonant, e.g. opera[ ® p®r«] > [ ® pr«], especially [I ® speS®li] > [I ® speSli], personal [ ® päÉs ®n«l] > [ ® päÉsn«l].The conclusion drawn from the discussion above is that the first stepto vowel syncope is sonorant syllabicity. Crucially, this analysis is possibleon condition that the nuclear position occupied by the left branch of thesonorant can be properly governed. Our stand is that in English vowelsare not allowed to govern nuclear positions occupied by lexically presentvowels but they are able to govern nuclei which host the left branch of thesonorant. Thus, it follows that the sonorant displaces the schwa only to begoverned by the following vowel, and this situation is illustrated in (30).(30) a. first step — syllabic [®r] b. second step — syncopeGvt. PGCV|C|pVCV|«CV|C|pVCV|««®r«rLic.Lic.23I agree with Piotr Ruszkiewicz that vowel syncope and syllabic consonants aretwo independent configurations from which a particular speaker can choose. What ismeant here by “an essential prerequisite” is that vowel syncope is possible only becausethe sonorants have the ability to spread and dock onto a nuclear position.