P/S: Troubling Consonant Clusters

Dear readers,

Have you tried saying grasp, crisp and hasp in quick succession? If you happen to say them as they’re meant to be pronounced, congratulations to you. However, there are cases where these words come out sounding like graps, crips and haps. And if you fall into this latter category, you are not alone provided you’re living in  Malaysia. The reason for the inversion of the two consonant clusters from sp to ps could be due to ease in pronunciation.

Having said that, consonant clusters like st or sk do not follow the inversion rule. I notice that in colloquial Malaysian English, words like blast, fist, bask and dusk follow a different rule namely the dropping of the last consonant. Hence these words sound like blas, fis, bas and dus. Any idea why blats, fits, bats and duks are almost unheard of? If you do, please let me know.

Regards,
Higgins

P/S: Do mind your ps and sp nonetheless.