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Shortcomings of the Sonority Sequencing Principle29(4) C 2l r w p t k m nC 1a. p + + – – – – – –t – + + – – – – –k + + + – – – – –b + + – – – – – –d – + + – – – – –g + + + – – – – –f + + – – – – – –T – + + – – – – –b. s + – + + + + + +In the previous section we placed English in the group of languages whichallow only rising-sonority clusters word-initially (#TR). The data in (4a)confirm this preliminary classification. Thus, a typical word-initial clusterin English is comprised of an obstruent followed by a sonorant. Inother words, the first position is occupied by a plosive or a fricative, whilethe second one by a sonorant. Note that a cluster with the oppositeorder of consonants can never begin a word in English; *[rt-], *[lg-] or*[wd-] are totally ruled out from the language. Furthermore, it must benoted that some of the potential combinations of a plosive and a sonorantare banned. Firstly, the sonorant is never nasal. There are no sequencesof the *[tm-], *[pn-], *[gN-] type attested in the language. Secondly,while the velar plosives can precede almost any of the available sonorants,i.e. [l r w], the remaining classes of plosives are much more constrained.Thus, after the coronals [t d] the liquid [l] is impossible, similarlyafter the labials [p b], the labio-velar semivowel [w] is not admitted.17 It must be clarified that the liquid which is disallowed after coronalsis itself coronal, while after the labial plosive it is the labial semivowelthat is not possible. The most problematic sequences, however, arethose represented in (4b). They violate the constraint on the increasingsonorityprofile in initial clusters. In addition, they are peculiar in thatthey are the only examples of three-consonant sequences. 18 Puttingaside the problem of /sC/ sequences, a general constraint on the wordinitialconsonant clusters in English can be formulated — they consist of17As was pointed out to me by Piotr Ruszkiewicz, word-initial [gl] and [kl] clustersare sometimes replaced by homorganic [dl] and [tl] ones in contemporary English.Moreover, there is a number of borrowings from Welsh which contain a homorganic [Tl-]cluster, alternating with [hl-], e.g. Lleyn [TliÉn] ~ [hliÉn]. In the present study, such formsare regarded as marginal.18The peculiar behaviour of /s/ in consonant clusters was discussed in a cross-linguisticanalysis by K aye (1992).