Syllable

Theories of syl formation and syl division.

There are different points of view on syllable formation which are the following.

1.The most ANCIENT THEORY states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. It doesn’t explain the boundary of syllables.

2.The EXPIRATORY THEORY states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are expiration pulses. The borderline between the syllables is the moment of the weakest expiration. This theory is inconsistent because it is quite possible to pronounce several syllables in one articulatory effort or expiration, e.g. seeing.

3.The SONORITY THEORY states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are peaks of prominence or sonority.

О. Jespersen established the scale of sonority of sounds, that is, the scale of their inherent prominence. According to this scale the most so­norous are back vowels (low, mid, high), then go semi-vowels and sonorants, then — voiced and voiceless consonants.

The "arc of loudness" is based on L.V. Shcherba's statement that the centre of a syllable is the syllable forming phoneme. Sounds which precede or follow it constitute a chain, or an arc, which is weak in the beginning and in the end and strong in the middle. If a syllable consists of a vowel, its strength increases in the begin­ning, reaches the maximum of loudness and then, gradually decreases.

In terms of the "arc of loudness" theory there are as many syllables in a word as there are "arcs of loudness" and the point of syllable division corresponds to the moment, when the arc of loudness begins or ends, that is: initially weak consonants begin a syllable, finally weak end it. For exam­ple, the word mistake consists of two arcs of loudness in which /m/ and /t/ are finally strong consonants and /s/ and /k/ are finally weak, /s/ consti­tutes the end of "the arc of loudness", /t/ constitutes the beginning.

SYLLABIC BOUNDARY.

1. In affixal words the syllabic boundary coincides with the morpho­logical boundary: dis-place, be-come, un-able, count-less.

2. In words with CVCV structure the syllabic boundary is after the accented vowel: farmer, city, table.

3. In words of CVC structure the syllabic boundary is after the intervocal consonant, which terminates accented syllable.

4. In words of CVS, VS structure the syllabic boundary is after the ntervocal sonorant: inn-er,cin-em-a, en-em-y.

5.English diphthongs are unisyllabic, they consist of one vowel pho­neme, English triphthongs are disyllabic, because they consist of two vowel phonemes.

The syllable as a unit is difficult to define, though native speakers of a language are usually able to state how many syllables there are in a particular word. According to J. Kenyon the syllable is one or more speech sound, forming a single uninterrupted unit of utterance. The syllable can be a single word: hair, a part of a word: table, a part of the grammatical form of a word: disable.

The syllable can be analyzed from the acoustic and auditory, articulatory and functional points of view. Acoustically and auditorily the syllable is characterized by the force of utterance, or accent, pitch of the voice, sonority and length. Auditorily the syllabic is the smallest unit of perception. A syllable can be formed by a vowel: (V); by a vowel and a consonant: (VC); by a consonant and a sonorant (CS).

V — types of syllable called uncovered open,

VC — types of syllable called uncovered closed,

CVC — types of syllable called covered closed,

CV — types of syllable called covered open,

G. P. Torsuyev suggests a differentiation of the following Russian types of syllabic structures:V type- fully open, CVC type-fully closed, CV type- initially covered, VC type- finally covered. The structure of English and Russian syl-s is similar.

The peak of the syl is formed by a vow or a sonorant. The cons which precede the peak and follow it are called slopes. The cons[h] never begins, [w] never terminates the syl. Syllable-forming sonorants in the combinations of the CS type are terminal /m, n, l/.

The combinability of syl forming sonorance is the following: [l] combines with all con-s exept [Ө,ð]. The sound [n] combines with all cons exept [m,h, n]. [m] combines only with [s,z,p, Ө,ð]

The distribution of consonants in the syllables of the CSC type is characterized by the following features: initial consonants may be repre­sented by the peak sonorants may be represented by /n, m, l/; final consonants are repre­sented by

The distribution of consonants in the syllables of the CSCC type is characterized by the following features: the initial consonant may be rep­resented by The peak of syllable is repre­sented by the sonorants [n,l], they are immediately followed by /t, d, s/; final consonants are represented by

The syllables of the CSVSCC type: entrants /'entrЭnts/, emigrants /'emigrЭnts/, minstrels /'minstrЭls/, hydrants /'haidrЭnts/ can be pro­nounced without (V)|— CSSCC type.

Дата добавления: 2015-05-31