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Three-consonant sequences65To summarise briefly, in this section we have analysed Polish threeconsonantclusters at the left-edge of the word. The general conclusionwe arrive at here is that the vast majority of such sequences can be analysedwithout burdening the grammar with additional mechanisms. Quitethe contrary, three-consonant clusters can be accounted for by means ofindependently motivated mechanisms, i.e. Proper Government and InfrasegmentalGovernment, which are exploited in the analysis of varioustwo-consonant clusters. However, there are also some problematicforms, e.g. mg³a — mgie³, which cannot be described by regular phonology,at least not in the Strict CV model. Such forms force us to postulatetwo independent representations.Three-consonant clusters are possible in Polish due to the fact thatin this language the initial CV unit is inactive, hence it does not need tobe governed. In this situation both PG and IG have a chance to occurgiving rise to such complex consonant sequences. By contrast, in English,or more generally in most of the Indo-European languages, theinitial CV unit is active and requires a governor. In this situation onlyone mechanism is available, i.e. IG, which is responsible for #TR clustersonly.In the section that follows we shall focus our discussion on the lastgroup of three-consonant sequences, known in the literature as trappedsonorants.3.3. Trapped consonants and transparencyto voice assimilationThis section examines the problem of three-consonant clusters where asonorant is flanked by two consonants, the so-called trapped sonorants. 17The analysis starts with a brief presentation of the complexity of theproblem and a short discussion of some earlier accounts. Then a comparisonof syllabic consonants in other Slavic languages, like Czech, Slovakand Serbo-Croatian, with their trapped cognates in Polish is drawn. InChapter Three we shall return to the problem of syllabic consonants,this time in English and German.Although discussion concerning the status of syllabic consonants hasnever been absent from the Government Phonology model (Harris 1994,17In the following discussion I also analyse cases of post-obstruent word-final sonorants,e.g. wia[tr] ‘wind’, which I call word-final trapped sonorants.5 Polish...