syllable and syllabification

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SYLLABLE & SYLLABIFICATION

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SYLLABLE: DEFINITIONS

The concept of syllable is a unit at a higher level than that of the phoneme or sound segment, yet distinct from that of the word or morpheme (Gimson,1975:51) .

A syllable is plainly a unit of sound that is larger than a single segment and usually smaller than a word, but it is not always easy to define the number of syllables in a word or to identify where one ends and the next begins (Crystal,2006:71).

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

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SYLLABLE:PHONETIC vs PHONOLOGICAL GROUNDS

Phonetically syllables “are usually described as consisting of a centre which has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and after that centre (…) there will be greater obstruction to airflow and/or less loud sound” (Roach, 2000: 70). In the monosyllable (one-syllable word) cat /kæt/, the vowel /æ/ is the “centre” at which little obstruction takes place, whereas we have complete obstruction to the airflow for the surrounding plosives /k/ and /t/.

Phonologically, this involves the possible combinations of English phonemes (or phonotactics). Laver (1994: 114) defines the phonological syllable as “a complex unit made up of nuclear and marginal elements”. Nuclear elements are the vowels or syllabic segments; marginal elements are the consonants or non-syllabic segments. In the syllable paint /peɪnt/, the diphthong /eɪ/ is the nuclear element, while initial consonant /p/ and the final cluster /nt/ are marginal elements. Tuesday, April 11, 202

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PROMINENCE THEORY

Attempts have been made to provide physiological, acoustic or auditory explanations and definitions of the syllable. According to the prominence theory, for example, which is based mainly on auditory judgements, the number of syllables in a word is determined by the number of peaks of prominence. In the word entertaining /ˌentəˈteɪnɪŋ/ the peaks of prominence are represented by the vowels /e ə eɪ ɪ/. However, this theory does not help much in discussions of syllable division.


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CHEST PULSE THEORY

The chest pulse theory discusses the syllable in the context of muscular activities and lung movements in the process of speech. Experiments have shown that the number of chest pulses, accompanied by increase of air pressure can determine the number of syllables produced (Gimson, 1975: 56), thus allowing to associate the number of syllables with the number of chest pulses. This approach, however, cannot account for cases when two vowels occur one after the other – for example in words like being /ˈbi:ɪŋ/ or playing /ˈpleɪɪŋ/ the second chest pulse might be almost irrelevant and thus lead erroneously to the conclusion that such English words consist of one syllable only.


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SONORITY THEORY

Another approach is presented by sonority theory according to which the pulses of pulmonic air stream in speech “correspond to peaks in sonority” (Collins & Meer,2008:283). The sonority of a speech sound is discussed as “its relative loudness compared to other sounds” and each syllable corresponds to a peak in the flow rate of pulmonic air. Thus nuclear elements, or syllabic segments can be described as intrinsically more sonorous than marginal, or non-syllabic elements.

Speech sounds can be ranked in terms of their intrinsic sonority according to a sonority scale. According to the sonority hierarchy sounds are organized as follows, from the least to the greatest: voiceless obstruents, voiced obstruents, nasals, liquids, glides, and vowels.


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SYLLABLE STRUCTURE The syllable (conventionally

marked as small Greek sigma: σ) has two immediate constituents (it “branches” into two elements, to put it in another way) – the Onset (O), which includes any consonants that precede the nuclear element (the vowel), and the Rhyme (R), which subsumes the nuclear element (the vowel) as well as any marginal elements (consonants) that might follow it. The Rhyme (R), in turn, further branches into Peak (P), also known as Nucleus (N), and Coda (Co). The Peak (Nucleus), as the designation suggests, represents the “nuclear” or most sonorous element in a syllable. The Coda includes all consonants that follow the Peak in a syllable. Syllable structure may be represented graphically by means of a “tree diagram” or “immediate constituent structure”.


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MINIMAL SYLLABLE

In the case of cat /kæt/, the Onset, Peak and Coda each consists of one segment: the consonant (C) /k/ occupies the Onset, the vowel (V) /æ/ – the Peak, and the consonant /t/ is the Coda of this syllable. However, there are syllables in English where either or both marginal elements (i.e. O and/or Co) are absent – only the Peak is an obligatory element in all languages, and in English both the Onset and the Coda are optional. Onset Peak Coda

sea /si:/ /s/ /i:/ Ø

on /ɒn/ Ø /ɒ/ /n/

eye /aɪ/ Ø /aɪ/ Ø


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SYLLABLE: OBLIGATORY AND OPTIONAL PARTS

Syllable structure is language specific (Katamba,1989:155).

Parts Description Optionality

Onset Initial segment of a syllable Optional

Rhyme Core of a syllable, consisting of a nucleus and coda (see below)

Obligatory

Nucleus Central segment of a syllable Obligatory

Coda Closing segment of a syllable Optional


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SYLLABLES FROM I TO TWELFTHS

Some syllables are just vowels. There are monosyllables that have a much more complex structure in terms of possible consonants (C) and vowels (V) that can go together, such as [twais] twice (CCVC), [list] list (CVCC), [strikt] strict (CCCVCC), [twelfθs] twelfths (CCVCCCC) . The last example, with the maximum number of final consonants allowed in English, is morphologically complex: twelve + th + s (see Lodge,2009:117f).


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SYLLABLE BRANCHING Many phonologists envisag BRANCHING

,HIERARCHICAL syllable structure. Katamba (1989:153f) presented a revamped version of MULTI-TIERED PHONOLOGICAL THEORY. The syllable consists of Onset, Peak and Coda each may further be branched into two C- or V-constituents respectively. Then we speak about branching or complex Onsets etc. The English syllable drowned /draʊnd/ is an example in which all three elements branch.

As can be seen from the diagram, diphthongs are treated as branching Peaks – each element of the diphthong occupies a single V-slot. The case is quite similar with “long vowels”: in terms of syllable structure, they are interpreted as sequences of two identical V-elements – /i:/ is represented as V1 = [i] + V2 = [i], and /ɑ: ɔ: ɜ: u:/ are [ɑ+ɑ, ɔ+ɔ, ɜ+ɜ, u+u], respectively.Tuesday, April 11, 2023

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CLOSED AND OPEN SYLLABLES Syllables ending in a consonant, e.g. cat /kæt/, it /ɪt/,

eat /i:t/, are traditionally known as closed syllables, whereas those ending in a vowel, as in sea /si:/ or eye /aɪ/, are called open. In terms of syllable structure, in closed syllables the Coda is present, i.e. we have a branching Rhyme, while open ones have non-branching Rhymes – the Coda element is absent. Syllable Onset is irrelevant to this distinction.

Recent phonological theories move to tackle this issue under syllable WEIGHT. Syllables are heavy when the rhyme is branched to contain (1) a long vowel or a diphthong, optionally followed by one or more consonants, as in tea or (2)a short vowel followed at least by one consonant ,as in ten. Light syllables are those with no branched rhymes containing a short vowel alone or a coda of no more than short consonant , as in a or pa. Light syllable are termed in phonological length as a mora whereas heavy syllables are being greater than one mora.


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SYLLABIFICATION

Syllabification or syllabication is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written. In some languages, the spoken syllables are also the basis of syllabification in writing. However, possibly due to the weak correspondence between sounds and letters in the spelling of modern English, written syllabification in English is based mostly on etymological or morphological instead of phonetic principles. For example, it is not possible to syllabify "learning" as lear--ning according to the correct syllabification of the living language.


SYLLABLE DIVISION There are still

problems with phonetic description . Most speakers of English feel that ‘going’ /gǝuɪῃ/ consists of two syllables: Roach (2000:77) states that most speakers could decide on phonetic grounds that the /u/ in the middle is the dividing point between the two syllables, since the articulation is slightly closer to obstructing airflow than the vowel next to it.

Another difficulty can be seen in ‘extra’ /ekstrǝ/. One problem is that by some definitions the /s/ in the middle , between /k/ and /t/, would be counted as a syllable, which most English speakers would reject. The most controversial issue relates to where the two syllables are to be divided:

i- /e-kstrǝ/ ii- /ek-strǝ/ iii- /eks-trǝ/ iv- /ekst-rǝ/ v- /ekstr- ǝ/


MINIMUM ONSETS PRINCIPLE

This principle states that where two syllables are to be divided , any consonants between them should be attached to the right-hand syllable, not the left as far as possible within the restrictions governing syllable onsets and codes. This principle will reject the first and fifth options of ‘extra’, leaving us with the other three ones (ii, iii, and iv). Roach (2000:78) ,under the maximum onsets rule ,chooses (ii) /ek-strǝ/. Thus, the syllable is the basic phonotactic unit following particular phonotactic rules or morpheme structure conditions (Katamba,1989:164f).

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STRONG AND WEAK SYLLABLES

Any syllable with a vowel (except /ǝ,ɪ,u/)as its peak or nucleus is strong .If the vowel is short, then the strong syllable will always have a coda as well ,as in seat /si:t/ and in /ɪn/. Strong syllables are stressed.

A weak syllable can only have one of a very small number of possible peaks as in ‘postman’ /pǝustmǝn/. At the end of a word, we may have a weak syllable ending with a vowel (i.e., with no coda) , as in ‘better’/betǝ/, ‘happy’ /hæpɪ/ ,and ‘thank you’ /θæῃk ju/. We also find weak syllables in word-final position with a coda if the vowel is /ǝ/, as in ‘open’ /ǝupǝn/. Weak syllables are unstressed.


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AMBISYLLABIC

When one consonant stands between vowels and it is difficult to assign the consonant to one syllable or the other ,as in ‘better’ /betǝ/ or ‘carry’/kæri/. Roach (2000:78) states that the consonant belongs to both syllables. Phonologists used the term ambisyllabic for a consonant in this situation.


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SYLLABIC CONSONANTS

A consonant is syllabic when (l) ,(r ),or a nasal) stands as the peak of the syllable instead of the vowel. It is usual to indicate that a consonant is syllabic by means of a small vertical mark ( = ), as in :

Cattle /kætḷ/ Happen /hæpṇ/ and sometimes /hæpṃ/ Broken key /brǝukŋ ki:/ Hungary /hʌŋɡŗɪ/


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MORPHEME BOUNDARY CONDITION

Morpheme boundaries such as those between the elements of a compound normally the /p/ of fee-paying to remain initial in the second syllable, so that there is no pre-fortis clipping of the /iː/ (compare deep). The same applies in reprint (n.) /ˈriː.prɪnt/ (compare reaper /ˈriːp.ə/) and presuppose /ˌpriː.sə.ˈpəʊz/ (compare priest). There is pre-fortis clipping of the /aɪ/ in hyphen /ˈhaɪf.ən/, but not of that in high-faluting /ˌhaɪ.fə.ˈluːt.ɪŋ/. We need the following as a condition on the main principle:

In polymorphemic words, consonants belong to the syllable appropriate to the morpheme of which they form a part. This applies only to synchronic, psychologically real morphemes.


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EQUALLY-GRADED SYLLABLES

The only cases in English where immediately adjacent syllables have equal grade are those involving weak vowels. They are governed by the principle:

Where adjacent syllables are of equal grade, consonants are (again subject to stated conditions) syllabified with the leftward syllable.

The /t/ allophones in carpeting /ˈkɑːp.ɪt.ɪŋ/, covetous /ˈkʌv.ɪt.əs/ and purity /ˈpjʊər.ət.ɪ/ make this clear.


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PHONOTACTIC CONSTRAINTS

The main syllabification principle does not operate in such a way as to lead to consonant clusters which are phonotactically ill-formed, according to the phonotactic constraints (Wells,1990:76):

Phonotactic constraints on syllable structure (as established with reference to monosyllables) are not violated.

This means, for example, that timber is syllabified as /ˈtɪm.bə/, since /mb/ is not a possible final cluster: /b/ cannot be captured into the stressed syllable. Similarly, anger is /ˈæŋ.gə/, at least in RP. But tender is /ˈtend.ə/, /nd/ being a permitted cluster . Notice how neatly this fits with permitted initial clusters: tumbler /ˈtʌm.blə/, English /ˈɪŋ.glɪʃ/.


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