Abstract
This paper shows how preferability measures can help to explain the cross-linguistic distribution of consonant clusters, their acquisition, as well as aspects of their diachronic development. Phonological preferability is measured in terms of cluster size and Net Auditory Distance, which interact with morphological complexity and frequency. Predictions derived from the preferability of clusters are tested against the evidence of language specific phonotactics, language use, language acquisition, psycholinguistic processing, and language change.
Acknowledgements
I thank the reviewers and the editors for insightful and constructive comments and my colleague dr Jarek Weckwerth for editorial help. I thank Paulina Zydorowicz, Paula Orzechowska, Michał Jankowski and Alona Kononenko for contributing to the creation of the tables.
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