Georgian, a South Caucasian language belonging to the Kartvelian family, is characterised by the ability of its consonants to combine in extensive clusters. Among the possible combinations are a series of two-member clusters which are argued to behave phonologically as single segments (Tschenkeli 1958, Vogt 1958, 1971, Aronson 1982, 1991, Deprez 1988 and others). They are known as ‘harmonic’ clusters, because the laryngeal quality is constant across the cluster. Its two members are both voiced ([dg bg dγ bγ]), both aspirated ([thkh tshkh thχ tshχ]) or both ejective ([t'k' ts'k' p'k' t'q' ts'q']). They can occur either word-initially or in word-medial position. Harmonic clusters do not contrast with identical sequences of segments, except for sequences formed at the junction of two words. There is no evidence that across word boundaries harmonic clusters are derived by some sort of restructuring.The purpose of the present study is to review the phonological arguments brought in the literature in favour of treating harmonic clusters as single segments, and to look for acoustic evidence that would motivate the distinction made between harmonic clusters behaving as single segments, on the one hand, and simple sequences of consonants, on the other hand. The study uses phonetic data to address the issue of phonological representation. If the difference between a harmonic cluster and a simple sequence of segments is present in the phonology, then it should ideally also be visible in the acoustic signal, for example in the presence or absence of a release burst, or in timing differences, as suggested by previous studies of complex vs. simple segments in various languages (Maddieson & Ladefoged 1989, Maddieson 1989, 1990). The results show that the treatment of Georgian harmonic clusters as complex segments is not supported by the acoustic data.The paper is organised as follows: § 2 presents the phonological behaviour of consonant clusters Georgian harmonic clusters: phonetic cues to phonological representation | Phonology | Cambridge Core Search Institution Login Search Hostname: page-component-66d9dcfd78-hxhx9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-08-08T21:00:36.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false Home > Journals > Phonology > Volume 15 Issue 2 > Georgian harmonic clusters: phonetic cues to phonological... English Français Phonology Article contents Abstract Footnotes Georgian harmonic clusters: phonetic cues to phonological representation Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 November 2002 Ioana Chitoran Show author details Ioana Chitoran Affiliation: Dartmouth College Article Metrics Article contents Abstract Footnotes Get access Share Cite Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window] Abstract Georgian, a South Caucasian language belonging to the Kartvelian family, is characterised by the ability of its consonants to combine in extensive clusters. There is no evidence that across word boundaries harmonic clusters are derived by some sort of restructuring. The purpose of the present study is to review the phonological arguments brought in the literature in favour of treating harmonic clusters as single segments, and to look for acoustic evidence that would motivate the distinction made between harmonic clusters behaving as single segments, on the one hand, and simple sequences of consonants, on the other hand. The study uses phonetic data to address the issue of phonological representation. If the difference between a harmonic cluster and a simple sequence of segments is present in the phonology, then it should ideally also be visible in the acoustic signal, for example in the presence or absence of a release The paper is organised as follows: § 2 presents the phonological behaviour of consonant clusters in Georgian, § 3 reviews phonetic evidence for complex segments, and spells out the predictions made by the present study. The acoustic study is described in § 4, followed by the presentation and discussion of results in § 5. The conclusions and areas for further study are presented in § 6. Information Type Research Article Information Phonology , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , December 1998 , pp. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply. Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service. Georgian harmonic clusters: phonetic cues to phonological representation Volume 15, Issue 2 Ioana Chitoran (a1) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675798003558 Your Kindle email address Please provide your Kindle email. @free.kindle.com @kindle.com ( service fees apply ) Available formats PDF Please select a format to save. Georgian harmonic clusters: phonetic cues to phonological representation Volume 15, Issue 2 Ioana Chitoran (a1) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675798003558 Available formats PDF Please select a format to save. By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services Please confirm that you accept the terms of use. Cancel Save × Save article to Google Drive To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive . Georgian harmonic clusters: phonetic cues to phonological representation Volume 15, Issue 2 Ioana Chitoran (a1) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675798003558 Available formats PDF Please select a format to save. By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services Please confirm that you accept the terms of use.