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Gradience in Sonority Sequencing: Evidence From German and Russian
Rowena Garcia1,2,3, Ludger Paschen2,4, Natalie Boll-Avetisyan1
1University of Potsdam, Germany.
Language and Speech
|August 13, 2026
Summary
The sonority sequencing principle (SSP) is gradient, meaning consonant clusters with greater sonority differences are more frequent in German and Russian. This holds true even for clusters that appear to violate the SSP, especially those starting with sibilants.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Phonology
- Computational Linguistics
Background:
- The Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) describes a common pattern in syllable structure where syllable components increase in sonority towards the nucleus.
- Languages exhibit varying degrees of adherence to the SSP, with some allowing violations, particularly in sibilant-initial clusters.
- Empirical investigation is needed to determine if the SSP operates as a gradient principle, influencing linguistic patterns quantitatively.
Purpose of the Study:
- To empirically test the gradient nature of the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP).
- To investigate the relationship between sonority difference in word-initial consonant clusters and their frequency/attestedness in German and Russian.
- To examine the role of sibilant-initial clusters in potential deviations from the SSP.
Main Methods:
- Corpus-based lexical statistics were employed to analyze word-initial consonant clusters.
- Study 1 assessed the type frequency of clusters based on sonority difference.
- Study 2 evaluated the probability of cluster attestedness in relation to sonority difference.
Main Results:
- A positive correlation was found between sonority difference and type frequency for non-sibilant-initial clusters in both German and Russian.
- A positive correlation was observed between sonority difference and the probability of cluster attestedness for both sibilant-initial and non-sibilant-initial clusters in both languages.
- The findings suggest the SSP is gradient and quantitatively observable, even in languages with SSP violations.
Conclusions:
- The Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) demonstrates a gradient behavior, influencing the frequency and attestedness of consonant clusters.
- The study provides empirical evidence supporting the gradient nature of the SSP across different languages, including those with violations.
- Sibilant-initial clusters warrant special consideration in analyses of the SSP due to their unique behavior.
