consonant (C1): Can be any consonant, including a liquid (). Second consonant (C2): If and only if the first consonant is a stop or a voiceless labiodental fricative , a second consonant, either or , is permitted. The onset is nonexistent. is prohibited as an onset cluster in most of Peninsular Spanish, while sequences such as in 'athlete' are usually treated as an onset cluster in Latin America and the Canaries. Nucleus Semivowel (S1) Vowel (V) Semivowel (S2) Coda First consonant (C3): Can be any consonant except , or . Second consonant (C4): Always in native Spanish words. Other consonants, except , and , are tolerated as long as they are less sonorous than the first consonant in the coda, such as in or the Catalan last name , though sometimes the final element is deleted in colloquial speech. A coda of two consonants never appears in words inherited from Vulgar Latin. Medial codas assimilate place features of the following onsets and are often stressed. Maximal onsets include transporte , flaco , clave . Maximal nuclei include buey , Uruguay . Maximal codas include instalar , perspectiva . In many dialects, a coda cannot be more than one consonant (one of n, r, l or s) in informal speech. Realizations like , , are very common, and in many cases, they are allowed even in formal speech. Epenthesis Because of the phonotactic constraints, an epenthetic is inserted before word-initial clusters beginning with (e.g. escribir 'to write') but not word-internally (transcribir 'to transcribe'), thereby moving the initial to a separate syllable. The epenthetic is pronounced even when it is not reflected in spelling (e.g. the surname of Carlos Slim is pronounced ). While Spanish words undergo word-initial epenthesis, cognates in Latin and Italian do not: Lat. status ('state') ~ It. stato ~ Sp. estado Lat. splendidus ('splendid') ~ It. splendido ~ Sp. espléndido Fr. slave ('Slav') ~ It. slavo ~ Sp. eslavo In addition, Spanish adopts foreign words starting with pre-nasalized consonants with an epenthetic . , a prominent last name from Equatorial Guinea, is pronounced as . When adapting word-final complex codas that show rising sonority, an epenthetic is inserted between the two consonants. For example, is typically pronounced . Occasionally Spanish speakers are faced with onset clusters containing elements of equal or near-equal sonority, such as (a German last name, common in parts of South America). Assimilated borrowings usually