The First in a Series of Occasional Linguistics Quizzes

The fact that native Spanish speakers have difficulty pronouncing the English word "skate" indicates that English and Spanish______

a. are prescriptive languages.
b. have different phonotactic constraints.
c. are nearly impossible to learn.
d. are not rule governed.

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The First in a Series of Occasional Linguistics Quizzes - Answer

The correct answer to the First in a Series of Occasional Linguistics Quizzes is b.

English and Spanish have different phonotactic constraints.

While the /sk/ consonant cluster is perfectly acceptable to English speakers and is not usually even given a second thought, the cluster is not a psychological reality to Spanish speakers. Because Spanish speakers do not recognize the cluster, their phonotactic constraints do not allow the /sk/ cluster to appear in the same syllable. The result is Spanish speakers will insert the vowel /e/ before the cluster which forms another syllable and breaks apart the /sk/cluster.

English
/sket/

Spanish
/es ket/