Syllable as a phonetic and phonological unit.
Functions of syllable.
Types of syllable.
Syllable formation theories.
Phonotactics as a branch of phonology.
Phonotactic possibilities of English.
Syllable as a phonetic and phonological unit
Syllable is the smallest unit, into which the speech continuum is divided. It is the smallest pronunciation and perceptible unit since, as is known, in connected speechsoundsare not pronounced separately; it is practically impossible to draw articulatory boundaries between them. Boundaries between the sounds in a syllable are not clearly marked. On the contrary, boundaries between syllables are marked by the alternation of increases and decreases in articulatory tension. So the syllable is the smallest pronunciation unit; it is also the smallest perceptible unit. The syllable is a fundamentally important unit both in phonetics and in phonology.
As a phonetic unit
As a phonological unit
The syllable can be formed
According to their accentual weight
The linguistic unit of syllable length is mora, which is equal to the duration of a short vowel sound or a syllable.
There are several theories of syllable formation:
(1) the most ancient theory states
(2) the expiratory, or chest-pulse, or pressure theory states
(3) the sonority theory or the prominence theory, created by the Danish phonetician O.Jespersen, states
This theory fails to explain the mechanism of syllable division, e.g. star / stA:/.
The scale of sonority:
(4) the muscular tension, or articulatory energy, or arc of loudness theory, is based on L.V.Shcherba’s statement
Functions of syllable. Syllable performs several functions:
(1) constitutive
(2) distinctive
(3) identificatory or recognіtive
Due to the distinctive importance of syllable division,
There are two types of juncture:
1) оpen
2) close
| Open juncture a) A "n ice °house || /@ naIs haUs/ b) a °nation Ç /@ neISn/ c) "Joy °sleeps Ç /dZOI sli:ps/ d) a "grey °tabby Ç /@ greI t{bI/ e) a "Greek °spy Ç /@ gri:k spaI/ f) "John ™said Å that "all "men could °come Ç /dZQn sed D@t O:l men k@d kVm/ g) I èscream! Ç /aI èskri:m/ h) I "saw her °race Ç /aI "sO: h3· reIs/ i) How strained j) White shoes k) that stuff l) the waiter cut it m) the night-rate n) pets enter o) stopped aching p) known aim q) called Annie r) clocks tops s) missed a night t) after eight u) her ace v) under age w) clear air | Close juncture an °ice-house Ç /@n °aIshaUs / an Asian Ç /@n eISn/ "Joyce °leaps Ç /dZOIs li:ps/ a "great °abbey Ç /@ greIt {bI/ a "Greek’s °pie Ç /@ gri:ks paI/ "John ™said Å the "tall "men could °come Ç /dZQn sed D@ tO:l men k@d kVm/ Ice cream /aIs èskri:m/ I "saw her °ace Ç /aI "sO: h3·r eIs/ house trained why choose that’s tough the way to cut it the nitrate Pets centre Stop taking No name Call Danny Clock stops Mr Knite After rate Her race Under rage Clear rare |
Phonotactics /|f@Un@U|t{ktIks/ as the branch of phonetics studies the rules according to which the sounds are combined in connected speech in a certain language. As is known languages do not allow phonemes to appear in any order. English does not exploit
As to the consonants, one can come across the following constraints:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
J.D.O’Connor noted that final clusters are more complex in English than initial ones since they express grammatical meanings of plurality, tense, ordinal number, e.g. /-ksts/ as in texts, /-kst/ as in mixed, /-mpst/ as in glimpsed, /-ksT/ as in sixth, /-NTs/ as in strengths /.
According to their position in the phonetic structure of a word clusters can be divided into:
1)
2)
3)
In English prevocalic clusters the largest number of consonants is three:
| /spl/ – splash | /str/ – straw | /skl/ – sklent |
| /spr/ – spray | /skr/ – scream | |
| /spj/ – spume | /stj/ – student | /skj/ – skua |
| /skw/ – square |
The clusters / spl /, / spr /, /str/, /skw/ are used most frequently, the others less so.
Certain initial and final sequences
e.g. /sl-/: sly, slick, slothenly, slothful, sluggard, sluggish, sloppy, slipshod, slime, slither, slug, etc,
/sn-/: sniff, sneer, snigger, sneak, snivel, snob, snotty, snide, sniffle,
/kr-/: crash, crack evoke, as a rule, unpleasant associations;
/fl-/ associates with quick and light movement: fly, flash, flame, flap, flip, flee, flit;
/gl-/ associates with: 1) static (unmovable) light, e.g.: glow, glimmer, glare, gloat; 2) obscure light, e.g.: gleam, glitter, glisten, 3) dusky light, e.g.: gloaming;
/tr-/ associates with speed;
/gr-/ associates with grumbling;
/br-, fr-, gr, pr-, r- / are typical of minor texts,
while phonestemes /bl-, fl-, gl-, pl-/ characterize major texts;
/br-/ is associated with noise and mess.
Final consonantal clusters, for instance,
1) /-mp/ associates with awkwardness and clumsiness as well as with large blunt shapes, e.g.: bump, lump, hump, rump, mump(s), clump;
2) a whole family of such words muddle, fumble, straddle, cuddle, fiddle, buckle (vb.), struggle, wriggle are associated with clumsy, awkward or difficult action because they all end with a plosive and a syllabic /l/.
The assumption has been made that
:
e.g. gleam, glister, glitter, glare, glow, glance.
Most phonotactic analyses are based on the syllable since phonotactic possibilities of English phonemes, predetermine the rules of syllable division:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(Information to be used). The syllable is made to play a lot of different roles in language description: in phonology we often use the syllable as the basic framework for describing how vowels and consonants can combine in a particular language, and most of the time it does not seem to matter that we use the same unit to be the thing that we count when we are looking for beats in verse or rhythmical speech.
Traditionally, the syllable has also been viewed as an articulatory unit consisting (in its ideal form) of a movement from a relatively closed vocal tract to a relatively open vocal tract and back to a relatively closed one.
Not surprisingly, this multiple use of the syllable does not always work, and there are languages where we need to use different units for different purposes.
In Japanese, for example, it is possible to construct syllables that are combinations of vowels and consonants: it is often pointed out that Japanese favours a CV (Consonant-Vowel) syllable structure. Certainly we can divide Japanese speech into such syllables, but if Japanese speakers are asked to count the number of beats they hear in an utterance the answer is likely to be rather different from what an English speaker would expect: it appears that Japanese speakers count something other than phonological syllables.
To English speakers, for example, the word 'Nippon ' appears to have two beats, but for Japanese speakers it has four: the word is divided into units of time as follows: ni | p | po | n. Since the term syllable is needed for other purposes, the term mora has been adopted for a unit of timing, so we can say that there are four morae in the word 'Nippon'.
