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The syllable

The syllable. Phonetics II Marga Vinagre. 1. Syllable. Syllable: is a unit of pronunciation typically larger than a single sound and smaller than a word. Consider the following examples: “ card ” /k  : d/ includes one syllable composed of a vowel

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The syllable

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  1. The syllable Phonetics II Marga Vinagre

  2. 1. Syllable • Syllable: is a unit of pronunciation typically larger than a single sound and smaller than a word. • Consider the following examples: • “card” /k:d/ includes one syllable composed of a vowel /a:/ and preceding and following consonants /k, d/. • “car” /k:/ includes one syllable composed of a vowel /a:/ and a preceding consonant /k/. • “is” /z/ includes one syllable composed of a vowel // and a following consonant /z/. • “are” /:/ includes one syllable (a minimum syllable) composed of the vowel /:/. • Accordingly, syllable s must include a vowel, may have consonants preceding and following that vowel. • The different possibilities of the structure of a syllable can be represented as follows: (C) V (C)

  3. 2.Syllable Structure: Technically, a syllable: • must have a centre (called peak or nucleus) which is a vowel • could have an onset (which is the initial part of the syllable) that consists of either one or more consonants. • could have a coda (which is the final part of the syllable) that consists of either one or more consonants. • the nucleus and the coda form the rhyme/ rime.

  4. 2.Syllable Structure:

  5. Provide examples of rhyming words. E.g. see bee me tea seat sit sat car horn cut ear hair tour buy pay boy

  6. Provide examples of rhyming words. E.g. see bee me tea seat, heat eat, feet, beat, sit, it, fit, hit sat, at, bat, hat car, are, bar, tar horn, torn, morn cut, hut, butt, but ear, clear, dear, near, year, fear, beer, tier, pier hair, chair fair, hair, pair, bare, dare, share, square, hare, bear, pear, there tour, poor, sure, moor buy, die, lie, tie, by, dry, cry, my, fly, try, why pay, day, may, way, hey, weigh, they boy, joy, toy, buoy

  7. Draw a tree diagram for each of the following words to show their syllabic structures. • Dream • Cream • Car • Card • It • Or • Bright

  8. 3. Syllable Nature: • A syllable can be defined both phonetically and phonologically. • Phonetically: a syllable consists of a centre which has little or no obstruction of airflow and which sounds loud. Before and after this centre there might be greater obstruction of air flow and less loud sound. • E.g. - minimum syllables  ‘are’ /:/ , ‘or’ /:/  consist of a single vowel in isolation, preceded and followed by silence. • -syllables with onset + peak (i.e.) have more than just silence preceding the centre of the syllable  ‘bar’ /b:/,‘key’ /ki:/,‘more’ /m:/ • -syllables with peak+ coda ‘am’ /m/, ‘ought’ /:t/, ‘ease’ /i:z/ • -syllables with onset+peak+coda  ‘run’ /rn/, ‘sat’ /st/, ‘fill’ /fl/

  9. 3. Syllable Nature: • Phonologically: a syllable is a unit that involves possible combinations of English phonemes. • There are three possibilities of sound patterns : a- permitted patterns: train b- impossible patterns: rtain c- possible/non-existant: tream • The distribution of sounds in sound patterns is not arbitrary, but follows some constraints called phonotactics. • Phonotactics: the set of constraints on the permissible combination of sounds in a language, which is part of speaker’s phonological knowledge.

  10. 4. Phonotactics: • In a syllable-initial position: • - it is allowed to begin with a vowel, or with one, two or three consonants. • - no syllable begins with more than three consonants. • In a syllable-final position: • - a syllable can end with a vowel, or with one, two, three or four consonants. • - no syllable ends with more than four consonants.

  11. 4. Phonotactics: The syllable onset: • If the syllable begins with a vowel, it has a zero onset as in‘am’ /m/; ‘ease’ /i:z/. • If a syllable begins with one consonant, the initial consonant can be any consonant phoneme except // ( is rare). Examples: ‘key’ /ki:/; ‘kick’ /kk/. • If a syllable begins with two or three consonants, such a sequence of consonants is called a consonant cluster. Examples: ‘play, stay, street, split, etc’.

  12. 4. Phonotactics: Consonant clusters in theonset: • Initial two-consonant clusters are of two types: • Composed of (/s/ + one of a small set of consonants) • (pre-initial + initial) • Examples: ‘stay, spoon, skin, small, snow, sleep, swim, etc’.

  13. 4. Phonotactics: Consonant clusters in theonset: • Initial two-consonant clusters: • Composed of (one of a set of fifteen consonants + /l, r, w, j/). • (initial + post- initial) • Examples: ‘fly, green, three, twin, pride, blind, try, quick, swim’.

  14. 4. Phonotactics: Consonant clusters in theonset: • Initial three-consonant clusters are: • Composed of (/s/ + voiceless stop + approximant) • (pre-initial + initial + post-initial) • Examples: ‘splash, spread, string, screen, squeeze, etc’ • S +

  15. 4. Phonotactics: The syllable coda: • If the syllable ends with a vowel, it has a zero coda as in‘car’ /k:/; ‘see’ /si:/. • If a syllable ends with one consonant, the final consonant can be any consonant phoneme except /h, r, w, j/. Examples: ‘at’ /t/; ‘kick’ /kk/, ‘catch’ /kt/, ‘seen’ /si:n/. • If a syllable ends with two, three or four consonants, such a sequence of consonants is called a consonant cluster. There is a possibility of up to four consonants at the end of the word. Examples: ‘books, six, bank, banks, prompts, etc’.

  16. 4. Phonotactics: Consonant clusters in thecoda: • Final two-consonant clusters: • Examples: ‘help, bank, edge, belt, blind, books, six etc’. • In final three-consonant clusters: (pre-final, final, post-final consonants) -Pre-final consonants: m, n, , l, s (this last one in a:sk) -Post-final consonants: s, z, t, d, 

  17. 4. Phonotactics: Consonant clusters in thecoda: • Final three-consonant clusters: • Examples: ‘helped, seconds, fifths, etc’.

  18. 4. Phonotactics: Consonant clusters in thecoda: • Final four-consonant clusters: • Examples: ‘prompts, sixths, etc’.

  19. Thus, the English syllable has the maximum phonological structure:

  20. 5. Syllabification • A word consisting of one syllable (like tip) is referred to as amonosyllable. • A word consisting of two syllables (like monkey) is called adisyllable. • A word consisting of three syllables (such as interpret) is called atrisyllable. • A word consisting of more than three syllables (such as intelligence) is called apolysyllable. • The term ‘polysyllable’ is often used to describe words of two syllables or more. So, the words, “monkey, interpret, intelligence” can be called polysyllabic. • - Sometimes syllables are marked off from each other by a period [.]. • E.g. /tp/ /m.ki/ /n.t:.prt/ • Sometimes the symbols C and V (standing for Consonant and Vowel, respectively) are used to show syllabic structure. • E.g. "interpret " /n.t:.prt/ is VC.CV.CCVC.

  21. 6. Strong and Weak Syllables • Polysyllabic English words include strong and weak syllables. • Let’s consider the word “father” /f:./; “happy” /h.pi/. Strong syllables can be distinguished from weak syllables in terms of three aspects: 1. Phonetic characteristics 2. Stress 3. The peak of the syllable

  22. 6. Strong and Weak Syllables 1. Phonetic characteristics The vowel in a weak syllableis short. E.g. in the word ‘father’ /f :./: the second syllable, which is weak, includes the vowel // which is shorter and less loud than /:/ in the first (and strong) syllable. 2. Stress Strong syllables are stressed and weak syllables are unstressed. E.g. in the word ‘father’ /f :./: the first syllable /f :/ is stressed while the second syllable is unstressed / /.

  23. 3. The peak of the syllable The peak of the syllable determines if the syllable is weak or strong. Weak syllables include: • // with or without a coda, E.g. ‘father’ /f:.  / ‘sharpen’ /:.pn/ • /i:/ and /u:/ with no coda, E.g. ‘happy’ /h.pi/ ‘carry’ /k.ri/ • or syllabic consonants like /l, n/ (with no vowels). E.g. ‘bottle’ [b.tļ]; ‘button’ [b.tņ], ** Syllabic consonant is a consonant which either forms a syllable on its own, or is the nucleus of a syllable. Nasals and laterals are syllabic at the end of a word when come immediately after an obstruent (stops, fricatives, and affricates)

  24. Underline the weak syllables in the following words: • Intimate /n.t.mt/ • Panel /p.nļ/ • Molar /m.l/ • Carrot/k.rt/ • Potato /p.te.t/ • Catty /k.ti/ • Happen /h.pn/

  25. Underline the weak syllables in the following words: • Intimate / n.t.mt/ • Panel /p.nl/ • Molar /m.l/ • Carrot/k.rt/ • Potato /p.te.t / • Catty /k.ti/ • Happen /h.pn/

  26. Wikispace Phonetics II UAM http://phoneticsiiuam.wikispaces.com/

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