This paper analyzes two specific instances of English consonant-cluster production among native Arabic speakers of English. We analyze the onset cluster /pl/ and the coda cluster /ŋz/. These clusters are of interest because the first segment in each cluster does not exist in Arabic but the second is shared by both Arabic and English. Five Arabic-speaking subjects were selected based on a number of shared features, including a shared city of origin, beginning their acquisition of English after

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... e critical period, and having spent no more than one year in an English-speaking environment at the time of the recordings. The findings give us the opportunity to assess the participants' pronunciations of these clusters in light of the two syllable phonotactic constraints: Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP) and the Minimal Sonority Distance Parameter (MSDP). Other issues investigated have to do with the segmental transfer hierarchy and ranking. Introduction One of the central focuses of contemporary phonology is the principles guiding the organization of individual segments into clusters. This is particularly important in L2 phonology because phonotactic constraints vary from one language to another. Therefore, learning to speak an L2 is also learning to produce its clusters even when some are different from the L1 of the speaker. This paper examines two English clusters [pl] and [ŋz] that do not have their equivalents in Arabic. Their production patterns are analyzed and discussed with respect to their overall impact on intelligibility. However, prior to investigating the Arabic-accented pronunciation of these clusters, we must provide a quick overview of phonotactic constraints on onset and coda clusters in Arabic. This background information will allow us to explore further the pronunciation issues that the participants in our study face when producing English words that contain [pl] in the onset and [ŋz] in the coda.