Phonological and psycholinguistic studies confirm that word-initial consonant clusters /tl/ and /dl/ are absent from native English phonotactics, leading English speakers to perceive or assimilate them as other clusters.
The claim states that word-initial consonant clusters /tl/ and /dl/ are phonotactically absent in native English words. Papers [3] and [6] directly support this by stating that English disallows these word-initial clusters, categorizing them as phonotactically illegal. No papers refute this claim. Therefore, the balance verdict is SUPPORTED.