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Chapter 5

The document discusses syllables and syllable structure. Some key points include: 1. A syllable is a unit of speech sounds that explains language rhythm and is a basic unit of speech organization. 2. Syllables can be open, closed, light, heavy, weak or strong depending on features like presence of coda or stress. 3. The onset of a syllable can contain 0-3 consonants depending on phonotactic constraints and sonority principles governing sound combinations. 4. There are rules for dividing words into syllables involving features like consonant number, prefixes/suffixes, and treating diphthongs as single units.

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330 views7 pages

Chapter 5

The document discusses syllables and syllable structure. Some key points include: 1. A syllable is a unit of speech sounds that explains language rhythm and is a basic unit of speech organization. 2. Syllables can be open, closed, light, heavy, weak or strong depending on features like presence of coda or stress. 3. The onset of a syllable can contain 0-3 consonants depending on phonotactic constraints and sonority principles governing sound combinations. 4. There are rules for dividing words into syllables involving features like consonant number, prefixes/suffixes, and treating diphthongs as single units.

Uploaded by

HimaAboElmajd
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The syllable

Suprasegmental
)units above the phoneme(
The syllable
.Units above the phoneme
A syllable is a well-organized unit of speech sounds. It explains how
rhythm works in a language. It is a unit of organization for a sequence
of speech sounds. Syllables are often considered the building blocks of
.work

.English words may start with Vowel or consonant*

.Plant \plænt\: it has only one syllable because there is only one vowel

.The number of vowels tells me the number of syllables in the word *

Nucleus may be consonant in the syllabic cases only. So, it dosen't *


.come as a normal consonant
:Types of words according to their number of syllables
.A monosyllabic word: it has one syllable-1
.A disyllable word: it has two syllables-2
.A trisyllable word: it has three syllables-3
.A polysyllable word: it has more than three syllables-4

.Syllabification: The separation of a word into syllable


Ambisyllabiaty: A sounds that is intervocalic between two syllables it
.will be regarded as belonging to both syllables

\e.g. hurry \hʌrɪ


It is a wrong division. \\hʌr\ɪ
It is a wrong division.\\hʌ\rɪ
The correct division of the syllables that we have to consider the \r\ *
.as intervocalic; that means it will be part of both syllables
.hʌr\rɪ\ It is a correct division\

:Syllables types
.open syllable: it has no coda-1
.closed syllable: it has coda-2
light syllable: The rime is not branching; it is made of one unit. It has-3
one lax short vowel. The only vowel that occupies a light syllable is
.shwa light syllable are unstressed
heavy syllable: it has a syllable whose Rime or nucleus is branched -4
:into two unit
.\the rime is branched into a nucleus and a coda like the word \get*
.\the nucleus is branching and there is no coda such as \pleɪ*

Weak versus Strong: According to the presence or absence of


:stress there are two types of syllables
.If the syllable is unstressed it is called a weak (unstressed) syllable-1
.\e.g. at \ ət
.If the syllable is stressed it is called a strong (stressed) syllable-2
.\e.g. get \get

:with respect to stress; words in English are divided into two types *
content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs). If they -1
are monosyllabic words they are always stressed therefore they make
strong syllables. If they are disyllabic (with two syllables) or
polysyllabic (with three or more syllables, one syllable of these words
(usually the heavy syllable) will always be stressed and therefore will be
.strong

Function words (determiners, auxiliaries, pronouns, preposition,-2


:and conjunction). Have two forms
A weak form: it is unstressed, its vowel is reduced to shwa and *
sometimes the consonant before the vowel is deleted and the whole
.word is contracted to the word before
:A strong form*
.If it is at the beginning .1
.If it is at the end .2
.If it is in contrasted .3
.If it is cited or quoted .4
.If the purpose is to emphasis .5

Phonotactics: The constraints on the permissible sequence and


.combinations of phonemes within syllable
.CV , CCV , CCCV
Sonority Hierarchy: The distribution of sounds in syllable is
.governed by a universal law know as Sonority Hierarchy
A Sonorant sound is characterized by its loudness and the ability to *
be pronoun with varying degrees of tones, and varying degrees of length
.of time
.Sonorant sounds: Vowels, glides, liquids, and nasal
Non-sonorant (obstruent) consonant: fricatives, affricates, and stop

The sonorant sounds in a syllable are going to be nearer to the nucleus


in a syllable and the non-sonorant are far away from the nucleus
.\e.g. \trend

Short Vowels: occur only in closed syllables with the exception of the
schwa which can occur in both open syllable such as (farmer, sofa, ago)
and closed syllable such as (conduct, chairman).

Long vowels and Diphthongs :


Long vowels and diphthongs occur in both open syllables such as in
(sea, car, fur, stay, cry, how) and closed syllables such as in (meat, girl,
food, crowd, hide, void).

Phonotactics of the of the onset: 


There are four possibilities for the number of consonant in the onset:

1)Zero Consonant:
The onset can be empty with not consonant as in the following examples: in, on,
at, up, and, or, art, eat.
2) One initial consonant.
3) Initial 2-consonant cluster: 
*Sonorant + Sonorant 
Nasal + Glide = muse 
          -----
*Obstruent + Sonorant 
-Stop + liquid = pray
-Fricative + liquid = free
-stop + glide = twin
-Fricative + glide =few
         -----
*Obstruent + Obstruent
/s/ + stop = spy
/s/ + Fricative = sphere 
4) Initial 3-consonant cluster 
                   /I/
          /p/      Splash
/s/ +  /t/ + --------
         /k/     Sclerosis
                /r/
          /p/     Spry
/s/ +  /t/ +  street
         /k/      Scream 
              /w/
          /p/   --------
/s/ +  /t/ + --------
         /k/     Square 
              /j/
          /p/    Spew
/s/ +  /t/ +  stew
         /k/      Skewer

Syllable Division
.International rules to divide the syllables

.Split up the word that has 2 middle consonants .1


.e.g. bas\ket
.Usually divide up before a single middle consonant .2
.e.g. o\pen
.Divide before the consonant before an {le} .3
.e.g. a\ble , fum\ble , ru\bble
.Divide off the prefixes and suffixes from any complex or compound word .4
.e.g. teach\er , pre\paid , sport\scar
.If I have two letters that are pronounced as a single sound don’t split them up .5
.e.g. le\sson
If you have more than one vowel in a word distribute them in separate .6
.syllables
.e.g. u\nit , med\al
In case a word has a vowel team (diphthong or triphthong) don't split it in the .7
.middle (cut before it or after it)
.\e.g. burrow \bʌr\rəʊ

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