In linguistics, a consonant cluster (or consonant blend) is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups /spl/ and /ts/ are consonant clusters in the word splits.
Some linguists argue that the term can only be properly applied to those consonant clusters that occur within one syllable. Others contend that the concept is more useful when it includes consonant sequences across syllable boundaries. According to the former definition, the longest consonant clusters in the word extra would be /ks/ and /tr/, whereas the latter allows /kstr/. The German word Angstschweiß (/aŋstʃvaɪs/; "fear sweat") is another good example, with a cluster of five consonants: /ŋstʃv/.
Read more about Consonant Cluster: Phonotactics, Loanwords, English
Famous quotes containing the word cluster:
“The power to guess the unseen from the seen, to trace the implications of things, to judge the whole piece by the pattern, the condition of feeling life in general so completely that you are well on your way to knowing any particular corner of it—this cluster of gifts may almost be said to constitute experience.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)