The muscular tension or the articulatory effort theory

A syllable is characterised by variations in muscular tension. The energy of articulation increases at the beginning of the syllable reaches its maximum within a vowel sound and decreases towards the end of the syllable.

The syllable is defined as an arc of artificial tension. The boundary is determined by lowest articulatory energy. There are as many syllables as there are max of muscular tension.

Consonants within a syllable are characterised by different distribution of muscular tension.

Scherba advanced the theory about 3 types of consonants:

- finally strong (initially weak). The end of the syllable is more energetic. They occur at the beginning of the syllable /si:/ - cv

- finally weak (initially strong). The beginning is more energetic, the end is weaker. It occurs at the end of the syllable. /at/ - vc

- double peak. The beginning and the end are energetic, while the middle is weak. It occurs at the junction of the words or morphemes: what time /wɒtaɪm/, unknown /ʌnəʊn/. Acoustically they produce an effect of 2 consonants.

5. Loudness theory. It was worked out by N.I.Zhinkin. It took into consideration Scherba's statement about peaks. It takes into consideration both levels production and perception. Syllable is an arc of loudness.

The peak of the syllable is louder and higher in pitch than the slopes. Zhinkin proved that the organ which is responsible for the variation of loudness is pharynx. There are as many syllables in a word as there are arcs of loudness.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11