Reconstructing the Sonority Hierarchy

Combinations of segments in a language are subject to co-occurrence restrictions. This paper focuses on phonotactic constraints that govern the formation of word-initial consonant clusters in German. A description of the inventory of clusters results in scales of phonotactic preferability and a novel approach to a ranking of onset clusters. A set of structural preferences for clusters can be established empirically and expressed by individual scales, which can be seen as constituent parts of sonority. Since scales are generalizations for categories of size, place and manner of articulation as well as voicing, we argue that they provide a more insightful description of clusters than the frequently used measure of sonority.