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The Syllable

The document discusses the syllable, including its definition, functions, structure, and theories of formation. Some key points: - A syllable is a group of sounds pronounced together and is the smallest unit of perception for a listener. - Syllables have constitutive, distinctive, and identificatory functions in language. - Syllable structure can be open, closed, onset-covered, or coda-covered. Principles of sonority determine syllable construction. - Theories of syllable formation include chest pulse, relative sonority, and muscular tension approaches. - Rules guide phonetic and written syllable division in English. Affricates cannot be split, and morphological principles apply to written

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Izabeth Figueroa Valverde
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3K views22 pages

The Syllable

The document discusses the syllable, including its definition, functions, structure, and theories of formation. Some key points: - A syllable is a group of sounds pronounced together and is the smallest unit of perception for a listener. - Syllables have constitutive, distinctive, and identificatory functions in language. - Syllable structure can be open, closed, onset-covered, or coda-covered. Principles of sonority determine syllable construction. - Theories of syllable formation include chest pulse, relative sonority, and muscular tension approaches. - Rules guide phonetic and written syllable division in English. Affricates cannot be split, and morphological principles apply to written

Uploaded by

Izabeth Figueroa Valverde
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The syllable

1.1 The syllable as an integral part of the Word. Types of syllable in English. 1.2 The syllable formation theories. 1.3 Basic rules of syllabification in English. 1.4 Division into syllables in writing.

Definition

The syllable is a group of sounds that are pronounced together [Wells 2000:758].

The problem of the syllabic structure of words has two aspects: 1) syllable formation 2) syllable division/separation Articulatorily, the syllable is the minimal articulatory unit of the utterance. Auditorily, the syllable is the smallest unit of perception: the listener identifies the whole of the syllable and after that the sounds which it contains. Phonologically it is a structural unit which consists of a sequence of one or some phonemes of a language in numbers and arrangements permitted by the given language

Functions

1. The constitutive function : syllables constitute words: through the combination of their stress- loudness, duration-length, pitch-tone. 2. The distinctive function : the difference in the place of a syllabic boundary differentiates the meanings of the words and phrases: e.g. a 'name anaim; my 'train - might 'rain The identificatory function : the listener can understand the exact meaning of the utterance only when the correct syllabic boundary is perceived: e.g. peace talks - pea stalks

Syllable structure

1) by any vowel alone or in combination with one or more consonants - not more than 4 following it e.g. : are / : / we / w i :/ it / t / sixths /s ks / 2)by a word final sonorants / n / , / m /, / l/ immediately preceded by a consonant: e.g. rhythm /' r m /; garden /'g : . d n / [Examples are taken from: EPD 1997].

Syllable structure

The English sonorants /w/, /j/ are never syllabic as they are always syllable-initial.

Every English syllable has a centre or peak ,onset and coda e.g. : cat , light

Syllable structure

Placement of VOWELS Placement of CONSONANTS


open: the V is at the end , such a S is Covered at the beginning: the C is at articulated with the opening of the the beginning of the syllable : e.g. tie mouth by the end :

e.g. they , wri-ter


closed : which end in C ,at the end of Covered at the end: the C is at the end of a S: such a S the mouth is closed: e.g.

hun-dred , hat

e.g. on

1. Fully open

4 structural types of syllables


V ore, or CVC fat CCVC place CVCC fact CCCVCC street CVCCC facts CVCCCC sixths

2.Fully closed (V between C)

3. Covered at the beginning ( one C or a sequence of C precede a V

Ccv

cv

4. Covered at the end


syllable)

VC on (one C or more complete the VCCC

VCC act acts

Syllable classification

tre meninitial medial antepenultimate penultimate ultimate pretonic posttonic

dous final tonic

The syllable formation theories


1. The first theory in chronological order is the chest pulse /breath puff 2. The second in chronological order comes the relative sonority theory/ the prominence theory .

The syllable formation theories


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Low vowels (a: ) High vowels (i:, i....) Semivowels ( j, w ) Liquids ( l, r ) Nasals (m, n, ) Fricatives(voiced v, z, ) Fricatives (voiceless) ( f, 0, s ) Oral stops (voiced) (b, d, g) Oral stops (voiceless) (p, t, k).

The syllable formation theories

3. The muscular tensin theory was put forward by the French linguist Michaelle Grammont and supported and further developed by the Russian linguist Lev V. Scherba. Consonants may be pronounced: (1) initially strong (2)finally strong (3) and geminate or double

Syllabification
The division of a word into syllables is called syllabification [Wells 2000 :xix phonetic syllable divisions must be such as to avoid (as far as possible) creating consonant clusters which are not found in words in isolation .Wells 2000

Rules of phonetic (spoken) syllable divisin LPD-2000

1. A syllable boundary is found wherever there is a word boundary, and also coincides with the morphological boundary between elements in a compound: displace /,dis 'pleis/ become /bi 'k m/ CVC-CSVC CV-CVS countless /'kaunt.les/ hardware /'ha:d.we / CVSC-SVC CVC-SV

Rules of phonetic (spoken) syllable divisin LPD-2000


2. Consonants are syllabified with whichever of the two adjacent vowels is more strongly stressed e.g.farmer/'fa:m. / agenda / d e n d . /. It they are both unstressed, it goes with the leftward one e.g. cinema /'sin m /. delicious /di li s /, deliberate /dlb. r.t,

Rules of phonetic (spoken) syllable divisin LPD-2000

3. The English diphthongs are unisyllabic, they make one vowel phoneme, while the so-called triphthongs are disyllabic, because they consist of a diphthong+the neutral vowel/schwa: table science flower CV-CS CV-VSC CSV-V

Rules of phonetic (spoken) syllable divisin LPD-2000

4. The English affricates / t , d / cannot be split: catching / k t i /

Guidelines for syllabification of syllabic consonants


L , n, r /n l / suddenly /' s d n l i /. Distant /'dist n t/. /'dist nt/. threatening / ret n i / / ret bottle /'bot . l /, cycle /'saik. l /. London /l n dn /

ni /

bridle people luggage militant scissors tired disorientation

bridle people luggage militant scissors tired disorientation

bra.d l pi:.pl l g. ml..tnt, sz.z ta.d ds .ri.nte.n

Division into syllables in writing

Syllables in writing are also called syllabographs

morphological principle which demands that the part of a word which is separated should be either a prefix, or a suffx or a root (morphograph), e.g. pic - ture ['pik t ]. Compound words can be divided according to their meaning: hot -dog; spot-light

Division into syllables in writing


A suffx of TWO syllables such as -ABLE, -ABLY, -FULL cannot be divided in writing, If there are two or three consonants before -ING, these consonants may be separated in writing: gras-ping, puz-zling.

Division into syllables in writing

A word of ONE phonetic syllable, a word of less than FIVE letters cannot be divided into syllabographgs, e.g. piece [pi:s], time [taim].

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