• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.201-222
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to investigate /l/-deletion in lC clusters which are composed of a lateral followed by consonants at syllable-final position in English. For this, I have analyzed /l/-deletion in words depending on conditions and theoretical analyses such as Sonority Sequencing Generalization, Cluster Simplification, Complex sounds and merger, and Feature Geometry, but they didn't offer a very satisfactory explanation to the phenomenon. Therefore, I adopted a historical approach in order to determine the cause and origin of /l/-deletion in lC clusters, and then as a phonological analysis tool, I relied on the constraints and their ranking in Optimal Theory framework for explaining /l/-deletion in the clusters more consistently. As a result, I can explain the phenomenon more explicitly than from the above mentioned analyses.