Other Evidence

Observe the following data from English:

• Atlantic
• Atlanta
• hitlist
• potlatch

In each of these examples, there is a sequence in the middle of a word.

However, in English, there is no way to begin a word with the sequence . So, words like *tlap, *tling, etc. are not possible words of English.

Using the idea of syllables, can you explain why?

The next section will discuss a possible solution.