phonology syllables

8/14/2019 Phonology Syllables

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Syllables Most of us have an intuitive feeling

about syllables

No doubt about the number of

syllables in the majority of words. However, there is no agreed upon

definition for the term syllable.

Difficult to state an objectivephonetic procedure for locating thenumber of syllables in a word or aphrase.



Syllables

So what can we agree on? We can agree that a syllable is

made up of three parts:

One: The Nucleus, which is the “core” of the syllable.

It‟s the vowel if there is one.Otherwise, the nucleus is madeup of a syllabic consonant.



Syllables

All syllables have a nucleus, butmay or may not have otherconstituents.

Two: The Onset , which is madeup of all of the consonantsbefore the nucleus.

Three: The Coda, which iseverything after the nucleus.



Syllables

Another thing that we canagree on is the differencebetween open vs. closed syllables.

Closed syllables end in a

consonant.Open syllables end in vowel.



Syllables

Currently, the most popularapproach to defining thesyllable is in terms of thePhonological Approach,which appeals to the notion

of PhonotacticConstraints.



Syllables

In every language, there arerestrictions on the kinds ofsounds and sound sequences

possible in different positionsin words (particularly at the

beginning and the end ofwords).



Syllables

These restrictions can beformulated in terms of rulesstating which sound sequences

are possible in a language andwhich are not.

Languages generally prefer CV,

but some languages allow asyllable to begin with more thanone consonant.



Syllables

English has a wide variety ofsyllable types:

V oh

VC at

VCC ask

VCCC asked



Syllables

CV noCVC not

CVCC rampCVCCC ramps



Syllables

CCV flewCCVC flute

CCVCC flutesCCVCCC crafts



Syllables

CCCV spreeCCCVC spleen

CCCVCC strengthCCCVCCC strengths



Syllables

Other languages don‟t havesuch a large number ofsyllable structures.



Syllables

HebrewCV

CVCCVCC (only at end of word)



Syllables

JapaneseV

CVCVC



Syllables

HawaiianV

CV



Syllables

IndonesianV

VCCV

CVC



Syllables

English allows any consonant tooccur word-initial, except for []and [ŋ] (except in borrowed words,

such as „Jacques‟ or „Nguyen‟; nonative English word begins withthem).

A large number of two consonantcombinations occur, with a stop or africative being followed by a liquid orglide:



Syllables

[br] bring[gl] glean

[my] music[kw] quick



Syllables

[r] three[fl] fly

[hy] humor[sw] sweet



Syllables

In addition, [s] can also be followedby voiceless and nasal stops (stay,small) and by [f] and [v] in a smallnumber of borrowed words (sphere,svelte).

[] (esh) can be followed by a nasalstop or a liquid, but only [r] (esh r)

is a cluster native to English(shrink).



Suprasegmental Features

So far we have studied thecharacteristics of thesegments of speech

But speech sounds may alsohave suprasegmental features

“Riding on the top of othersegmental features”




For example:“You got an A on the test”

You can make this sentencesound like a statement -

Or a question.




Intonation also helps markthe boundaries of a syntacticunit.

For example:“You got an A on the test, a C

on the homework, and a B onthe quiz”




ToneIn many languages, the pitchat which the syllables in a

word are pronounced canmake a difference in theword‟s meaning.

Such languages are calledtone languages.




Languages include: Thai,Chinese dialects, Vietnamese,the Bantu languages of Africasuch as Zulu, Luganda, andShona, other African languageslike Yoruba and Igbo, and Northand South American Indian

languages like Apache, Navajo,Kiowa, and Mazotec.




So:mā (high level) „mother‟

má (low rising) „hemp‟ mă (low falling rising) „horse‟

mà (high falling) „scold‟




Two types of tonal languages:Register tone languages

Contain only register, or level,

tones such as high, mid, low.

Contour tone languages

Contain gliding tones as well asregister tones.




StressProperty of syllables, notindividual segments.

Stressed syllable moreprominent than an

unstressed syllable.But this is relative.




What is important is that thestressed syllable is perceived to be produced with greater

effort.

English uses several stress

levels, as illustrated by theword photography .




In this word, the secondsyllable is most prominent – primary stress.

The final syllable is nextmost prominent – secondarystress.

The other syllables areunstressed – tertiary stress.




Suprasegmental features aredifficult to transcribe becausethey are „superimposed‟ on

the other features.

phonology syllables

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