Syllable division

There are 4 types of syllable

STRUCTURAL ASPECT

In English syllable is formed:

- by any vowel (monophthong or diphthong) alone or in the combination with one or more consonants,eg.:/ɑ:/, /hi:/;

- by a word final sonorant /m, ņ, ļ/ immediately preceded by a noise consonant and post tonic,eg.:/ˈrɪ-ðm/, /ˈgɑ:-dņ/.

Note: /m, n, l/ may loose their syllabic character when they occur in the middle of the word before a vowel,eg.:/ˈlɪs-nɪŋ/, /sænd/

- open CV

-closed VC

- covered CV(C)

- uncovered V(C)

The fundamental type is closed cvc. Due to the member arrangement the structure of the syllable varies

- v - occurs alone

- cccvcc

- cvccccc

cvc - the most frequent pattern, as to the member of syllable it can vary from 1 to 8 (unintelligibility -/ˌʌnɪntəlɪʤəˈbɪlɪtɪ/ - vcvccvcvcvcvcvcv).

The consonant /ŋ / never begins the syllable and /w/ never ends the syllable such clusters as / mh, sr, sʃ, fs, hr, stl, spw/ can't occur initially either.

The sounds /w, r, j/ despite their strong vocalic characteristics, function as consonants.

The sounds /l, m, n/ normally function as consonants before a vowel, but in unstressed final position when preceded by a noise consonant they are syllabic.

The part of phonetics that deals with the aspect of syllable division is called phonotactics. Phonotactic possibilities of a language determine the rules of syllable division. As the phoneticians point out, in the English language the problem of syllable division exists in case of intervocalic consonants and their clusters.

When there is one intervocalic consonant the rules are following:

1. The English long monophthongs, diphthongs and unstressed short vowels always occur in a phonetically open syllables, when they are separated from a following syllabic sound by only one consonant,eg.:/ˈmi:-tɪŋ/, /ˈɑ:-mɪ/, /ˈɔ:-dɪ-nə-rɪ/, /ˈvɔɪ-sɪz/.

2. A short stressed vowel in the same position (when separated from a following syllabic sound by only one consonant) always occurs in a closed syllable,eg.:

/ˈsɪt-ɪ/, /ˈspæn-ɪʃ/, /ˈfæm-ɪ-lɪ/.

When there are clusters it is necessary take into consideration that some clusters cannot happen at the beginning of the syllable. Such clusters should be broken by syllabic boundary. Eg.: agree /ə-ˈgri:/, abrupt /ə-ˈbrʌpt/, admire /ədˈ-maɪə/.

In case when the number of intervocalic consonants is 3 or more as in the word “extra” there several variants of syllabic division: /ˈek-strə/, //ˈeks-trə /, //ˈekst-rə /.

In some cases we may take into consideration the morphemic structure of words. Eg.: standing consists of two syllables, on phonetic grounds /ˈstæn-dɪŋ/, on grammatical grounds /ˈstænd-ɪŋ/.

These are phonetic syllables, syllables consisting of actually pronounced speech sounds. These phonetic syllables should be not confused with the open and closed syllables in writing. Division of words into syllables in writing is based on morphological principles. The part of the word, which is separated, should be either a prefix, or a suffix, or a root.

Undivided – un-di-vid-ed

Utterance – utter-ance

Smiling – smil-ing, but puzzling –puzz-ling

It is not an easy matter to describe syllable. Some linguists consider syllable as a purely articulatory unit which lacks any functions. But majority threats the syllable as a smallest pronounceable unit which can perform some linguistic functions.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11