Why Can English Words Begin with “tl”?
Well, we could just say that this is a special rule of English, but that would only restate the problem. We still would want to find out what the underlying reason is. But, if we have the concept of syllables, then there is a possible solution. As we noted earlier, is perfectly acceptable in words like atlantic and hitlist. It is also possible to state that, in each such case, the and are conceivable part of two separate syllables: • Atlantic • hitlist In a hypothetical word such as [tlap], there is only one syllable, and both and are part of that one syllable. So, perhaps the rule is that a combination can’t be in the same syllable. Such an explanation is only possible if syllables exist as phonological entities. On the next page, there is discussion about the parts of syllables.
