we call meetingconsonant the grouping of consonants, in sequence, in the word, being part of the same syllable or not. Consonant clusters have ratings: can be pure (also called perfect) or disjoint (also called imperfect).
Read more: Classification of words by number of syllables
Types of consonant clusters
The pure consonant clusters are the ones that stay in the same syllable, being inseparable. It is very common for pure consonant clusters to end in -l or in -r. See the examples:
- bluse → blu - sa
- readvro → read – vrO
- pract → prto - to
already the disjoint consonant clusters are the ones that stay in different syllables, being separated:
- barco → bar – çO
- Thedvogado → ad – vthe - ga - of the
- discthe → dis – çO
- andstThentand → ands – tTheno – tand
It is quite common for the same word to have pure and disjoint consonant clusters:
- badntra → mano – trThe
- prrile upntand → prrile upno – tand
It is worth highlighting the special case of the letter x when she has -cs or -ks sound, indicating a phonetic consonant cluster:
- OKxi
- omnix
- Thexyoma
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Observation: It is important to remember that a consonant can't be alone at syllabic separation, that is, if the consonant cluster appears at the beginning of the word, it will never be separated. In the case of the digraph-pn, we have different separations for the words apnhey and pnme because of that:
- Thepnhey → TheP – nohey
- pnme → pnme
See more: Five Grammatical Mistakes No One Could Make
Consonant meeting x digraph
You digraphs are the job of two letters to graph only one phoneme. They differ from the consonant cluster because of the sound: the consonant cluster always has the sound of the two (or more) consonants that are together, while the digraph represents only one sound. Furthermore, a digraph can be composed of two consonants or a consonant and a vowel. The digraphs are:
ch - lh - nh - sc - sc - xc - xs - rr - ss - qu - gu
See the examples:
grThelhThe: gr = consonant cluster, as we have the sound of -g it's from -r.
lh = digraph, as the two letters represent a single sound.
Guilhandrmand: Gui = digraph, as the two letters represent only one sound.
lh = digraph, as the two letters represent only one sound.
rm = consonant cluster, as we have the sound of -r it's from -m.
badyesOrrThe: yes = consonant cluster, as we have the sound of -s it's from -m.
rr = digraph, as the two letters represent only one sound.
Heads up: the digraphs “gu” and “qu” precede only the vowels “e” and “i”. It is not possible to make digraphs with “a”, “o” and “u”, because in “gua” and “guo” the two vowels will have sound, and “guu” is not a standard construction of the Portuguese language.
Consonant meeting vs. vowel meeting
O vowel encounter occurs when two or more vowels appear together, in sequence, in the word. The vowel encounters are classified into tritongos, diphthongs or gaps, depending on the syllabic separation (same syllable or different syllables). Note the different encounters in the following words:
- rhivo = meeting between vowels -u and -i.
- pluntilhey = meeting between consonants -P and -l and between the vowels -and, -i and -The.
- herehuhto the = digraph with the letters -n and -H and meeting between the vowels -ã and -O.
- andxprandssohs = meeting between consonants -x, -P and -r, digraph with the letters -s and -s and meeting between the vowels -õ and -and.
By Guilherme Viana
Portuguese teacher
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
VIANA, William. "Consonant cluster"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/encontro-consonantal.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2021.
