Beyond and behind the tables-a reply to Michael Bulley. Delving deeper into the phonology of non-occurring possible words of English
Résumé
In a recent article in English Today, Michael Bulley (2012: 35) presents 'the permutations for monosyllables in common use in standard British English having the phonetic pattern: single consonant + short vowel + single consonant', using the OED as his source for data. While acknowledging the usefulness of Bulley's tables for pedagogical purposes, I wish to offer a very distinct answer to the question why certain words are missing from the contemporary English lexicon although they could have occurred as possible words.