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The Principle Theories on Syllable




Speech can be broken into minimal uttered units, where sounds show a tendency to cluster or group themselves. These smallest phonetic groups are generally given the name of syllables. Being the smallest pronounceable units, the syllables form language units of greater magnitude that is morphemes, words and phrases. Each of these units is characterized by a certain syllabic structure. Thus, we may say that a meaningful language unit has two aspects: syllable formation and syllable division which form a dialectical unity.

A syllable is a speech unit consisting of a sound or a sound sequence one of which is heard to be more prominent than the others. The most prominent sound being the peak or the nucleus of a syllable is called syllabic. Syllabic sounds are generally vowels and sonorants (when joined to a preceding consonant).

The syllable can be studied on four levels: acoustic, articulatory, auditory and functional. On the articulatory level, we could start with the so-called expiratory theory of R.H. Stetson. For him expiration in speech is a pulsation process and each syllable corresponds to a single expiration, so the number of syllables in an utterance is determined by a number of expirations.

Another theory is put forward by O. Jesperson. It is called the sonority theory. According to it, each sound is characterized by a certain degree of sonority which is understood as acoustic property of a sound that determines its perception, so the most sonorous sounds tend to form the centre of the syllable and the least sonorous- the marginal segments.

Prof. L.V. Scerba used theory of muscular tension and the three types of consonants theory. He explained the phenomenon of syllable formation by muscular tension impulses. The energy increases within the range of prevocalic consonants and then decreases within the range of postvocalic consonants. Each impulse has its strongest point – the peak of prominence and its weakest point – the valley of prominence. Valleys of prominence correspond to points of syllabic division. The end of one syllable and the beginning of the next can be defined by determining the type of consonants which take part in forming the syllables.

Consonants may be of 3 types:

1. Initially strong

2. Finally strong

3. Geminate (or double)

That is to say, consonants may be pronounced in 3 different ways:

1. The beginning of a consonant may be more energetic, while the end may be weaker (initially strong consonant); i t, u s, oa th, a dd

2. The beginning of a consonant may be weak and its end - more energetic (finally strong consonant); m ay, t ea, n ew

3. A consonant may be pronounced in such a way that both the beginning and the end are energetic with a weakening of muscular tension in the middle. Acoustically, they give the impression of two consonants; pe nkn ife, wha t t ime, mi dd ay meal.

The more energetic part of a consonant is attached to a vowel, so that initially strong consonants occur at the end of close syllable, while finally strong consonants occur at the beginning of a syllable.

Prof. N.I. Zhinkin of Moscow proclaimed his “loudness theory ”, which is based upon a series of experiments that were originally meant to determine the nature of Russian word stress and sentence stress. Syllables are due to a rise and fall in loudness and not to breath puffs or anything else. Every phoneme possesses a specific loudness which manifests itself when sounds are pronounced in sequences. Loudness depends on the amplitude of sound waves, while sonority depends on the degree of noise and musical sound in a phoneme.

There exist a great number of other theories, such as F. de Saussure’ theory, A. Rosetti’s, Hala’s. The problem is still under discussion.

 

However, the majority of linguists treat the syllable as the smallest pronounceable unit which can reveal some linguistic function. So, a syllable is a chain of phonemes of varying length; it is constructed on the basis of contrast of its constituents, which is usually the vowel- consonant type; the nucleus of a syllable is a vowel, the presence of consonants is optional; the distribution of phonemes in the syllabic structure follows the rules which are specific enough for a particular language.

Syllable formation in English is based on the phonological opposition vowel- consonant. Vowels are usually syllabic while consonants are not, with the exception of [l], [m], [n], which are syllabic in some cases [garden].

The other aspect of the dialectical unity is syllable division. The linguistic importance of syllable division in different languages is in finding typology of syllables and syllabic structure of meaningful units of a language that is morphemes and words.

There are two functions of the syllable.

1. The constitutive function. It lies in the ability to be a part of a word or a word itself.

2. The distinctive function. The syllable is characterized by its ability to differentiate words and word-forms.

 

 




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