Graphic Characteristics of the Syllable

Constitutive Function

Functional Characteristics of the Syllable

Thesyllable as a phonological unit performs three functions: constituitive, distinctive, identificatory. They are closely connected.

Syllablesconstitute words, phrases and sentences through the combination of their prosodic features: loudness — stress, pitch — tone, duration — length and tempo. Syllables may be stressed, unstressed, high, mid, low, rising, falling, long, short. All these prosodic features constitute the stress pattern of words, tonal and rhythmic structure of an utterance, help to perform distinctive variations on the syllabic level.

2. Distinctive and Differentiatory Function

If we compare the words: lightening (освещение) and lightning (мол­ния), we may observe that their syllabicity is the only minimal, distinc­tive feature: /'laıtnıŋ vs. 'laıt n ıŋ/.

It is an example of the word-distinctive function of the syllable.

There are rather many combinations in English distinguished from each other by means of the difference in the place of the syllabic boundary: a name — an aim, ice cream — / scream, we loan — we'll own: /ə 'neım/ — /ən 'eım/, /'aıs'kri:m/ — /aı 'skri:m/, /wı 'əun/ — /wıl 'əun/.

The distinctive, differentiatory function of the syllabic boundary makes it possible to introduce the term "juncture". Close juncture or conjunc­ture occurs between sounds within one syllable, e.g. a name, I scream: in the first example the close juncture is between /n/ and /eı/, in the se­cond — between /s/ and /k/. Open juncture, disjuncture or internal open juncture occurs between two syllables. If we mark open juncture with /+/ then in our examples it will occur between a +name, I + scream. Ameri­can scientists H.A. Gleason, L.S. Harris and K. Pike consider the open juncture a separate segmental phoneme. They include /+/ into the inven­tory of phonemes as a separate differentiatory unit.

3. Identificatory Function

This function is conditioned by the pronunciation of the speaker. The listener can understand the exact meaning of the utterance only if he perceives the correct syllabic boundary — "syllabodisjuncture", e.g.pea stalks (стебли гороха) — peace talks (мирные переговоры); my train (мой поезд) — might rain (возможен дождь).

The existence of such pairs demands special attention to teaching not only the correct pronunciation of sounds but also the observation of the correct place for syllabodisjuncture.

The auditory image of a syllable can be shown in transcription: un­known /˛ Λ n-'nəun/, liner /'laın-ə/, maker /'meık-ə/. Parts of orthographic and phonetic syllables do not always coincide. E.g.

Word	Phonetic syllables	Syllabographs
table	/'teıb-^əl/	ta-ble
laden	/'leıd-^ən/	la-den
Spanish	/'spæn-ıς/	Span-ish

It is very important to observe correct syllable division when necessity arises to divide a word in writing. Division of words into syllables in writing (syllabographs) is based on morphological principles. The mor­phological principle of word division in orthography demands that the partof a word, which is separated, should be either a prefix, or a suffix, or a root (morphograph): un-divided, utter-ance, pun-ish, be-fore.

However, if there are two or three consonants before -ing, these consonants may be separated in writing, e.g. gras-ping, puz-zling.

Words can be divided in writing according to their syllabic structure, e.g. un-kind-li-ness. They can also be divided according to their meaning e.g. spot-light.

There are six rules to help with dividing a word in writing:

1) Never divide a word within a syllable.

2)Never divide an ending (a suffix) of two syllables such as -able,
-ably, -fully.

3) With the exception of-ly, never divide a word so that an ending of two letters such as -ed, -er, -ic begins the next line.

4) Never divide a word so that one of the parts is a single letter.

5) Never divide a word of one syllable.

6) Never divide a word of less than five letters.

If we compare the system of syllable division and syllable formation
in Russian and in English, we can draw the following conclusions:

1) Similar syllabic structural types can be found in both languages.

2) In Russian the single intervocal consonant between two phonetic syllablesbelongs to the next vowel; in English — to the preceding one.

morning/mo:n-ıŋ/ — мо-ре city /sıt-i/ — си-ти

cozy /kouz-i/ — во-ля pity /pıt-i/ — Пе-ти

occasion /ə'-kеı3-^ən/ — во-ло-ком

Ther is a tendency in the Russian language to accomplish syllable division before a sound of minimal sonority, e. g. тол-па, мор-ской, коь-ки, боч-ка, etc.

3) All consonants may begin a syllable in English, the only exception is the sound /ŋ/. In the system of the Russian language all consonants may begin a syllable (ы — initial is an exception).

4) The structure of the Russian syllable is characterized by more com­plex initial clusters. The structure of the English syllable is characterized by more complex final clusters.

5) Initial CCCC type clusters constitute syllables only in Russian.

6) Russian words of foreign origin with the suffixes -ция, -ия, corre­sponding to English words with the suffixes -tion, -y, have one extra syllable: революция — revolution, тенденция — tendency.

7) English diphthongs belong to one syllable, triphthongs may be di­vided into two parts.

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