Syllables PDF

CHAPTER 5 Syllable 5.1. The Phenomenon of the Syllable. 5.2. Syllable Formation. 5.3. Syllable Division. 5.4. Functional Aspect of the Syllable. 5.5. Graphic Characteristics of the Syllable. 5.1. THE PHENOMENON OF THE SYLLABLE M.A. Sokolova points out that speech can be broken into minimal pronoun...

CHAPTER 5 Syllable 5.1. The Phenomenon of the Syllable. 5.2. Syllable Formation. 5.3. Syllable Division. 5.4. Functional Aspect of the Syllable. 5.5. Graphic Characteristics of the Syllable. 5.1. THE PHENOMENON OF THE SYLLABLE M.A. Sokolova points out that speech can be broken into minimal pronounceable units into which sounds show a tendency to group themselves. These smallest phonetic groups are called syllables. As syllables are the smallest pronounceable units, they can form language units of greater magnitude, i.e. morphemes, words, phrases and sentences. Each of these units is characterized by a certain syllabic structure. According to J. Kenyon the syllable is one or more speech sounds forming a single uninterrupted unit of utterance, which may be a whole word, or a commonly recognized and separable subdivision of a word. The 67 syllable can be a single word (chair [ʧeə]), a part of a word (English ['ɪŋɡlɪʃ]), a part of the grammatical form of a word (later ['leɪ-tə]). The study of the syllable has for a long time occupied an important place in linguistics as a field of theoretical investigation. A considerable amount of experimental work has been done but the problem of the syllable is still an open question in linguistics and phonetics. The syllable is a complicated phenomenon and it can be studied on four levels: acoustic, articulatory, auditory and functional. Acoustically the syllable is characterized by the force of utterance, pitch of the voice and length. On the auditory level the syllable is the smallest unit of perception. The articulatory energy which constitutes the syllable results from the combined action of the power, vibrator, resonator and obstructor mechanisms. Phonologically the syllable is regarded and defined in terms of its structural and functional properties. The fact that the syllable can be approached from different points of view gave rise to a number of theories: the so-called expiratory theory (experimentally proved by R.H. Stetson); the sonority theory (O. Jespersen); the theory of muscular tension (was sketched by L.V. Sherba and modified by V.A. Vasilyev); the loudness theory (worked by N.I. Zhinkin). The expiratory theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are expiration pulses. The sonority theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are peaks of prominence or sonority. Two points of lower sonority constitute the beginning and the end of one syllable. This theory helps to establish the number of syllables in a word. The loudness theory states that the centre of a syllable is the syllable forming phoneme. There are as many syllables as there are “arcs of 68 loudness” and the point of syllable division corresponds to the moment when the arc of loudness begins or ends. The syllable can also be viewed in connection with its graphic representation. Syllables in writing are called syllabographs and are closely connected with the morphemic structure of words. Syllables are characterized by some variation in the force of utterance. So they can be classified according to their accentual weight. From this point of view, syllables may be stressed and unstressed. The syllabic structure of words has two aspects which are inseparable from each other: syllable formation and syllable division (or syllable separation). 5.2. SYLLABLE FORMATION A syllable is a speech unit consisting of a sound (V) or a sound sequence (VC, CS) one of which is heard to be more prominent than the others. The most prominent sound being the peak of the syllable is called syllabic. Only syllabic sounds are capable of forming syllables. Syllabic sounds are generally vowels and sonorants (in English). The latter become syllabic when they are joined to a preceding noise consonant. Among syllabic sonorants we find [l, n] and less commonly [m]. Syllabic sonorants are indicated by [¸] placed beneath the symbol: apple ['æpļ], trouble ['trʌbļ]. A word consisting of only one vowel sound represents a separate syllable (I [aɪ], are [ɑː]). In the case of a diphthong the peak of the syllable is formed by its nucleus. 69 Many words in English such as parcel, level, person can be pronounced with the neutral vowel before the sonorant thus making it non-syllabic (['pɑːs(ə)l], ['lev(ə)l], ['pɜːs(ə)n]). In all these words the second prominent sound or the peak is formed by [ə] corresponding to some vowel letter in an unstressed position before the sonorant. Moreover, some words in English not having any vowel-letter before the final sonorant may also be pronounced in both ways (puzzle ['pʌzl] - ['pʌzəl]). On the other hand, many words having a vowel-letter before the final sonorant may be pronounced without the neutral vowel, whereby the sonorant is syllabic (garden ['ɡɑːdn], lesson ['lesn]). The words with the sonorant [m] blossom, rhythm are more often pronounced with the neutral vowel (['blɒsəm], ['rɪðəm]). So if a sonorant is preceded by a vowel sound it loses its syllabic character and the syllable is formed by the vowel. In English there are four types of the syllable: 1) CV covered open (no) 2) VC uncovered closed (on) 3) CVC covered closed (man) 4) V uncovered open (awe) It is necessary to point out that due to its structure the English language has developed the closed type of syllable as the fundamental one while in Russian it is the open type that forms the basis of syllable formation. As to the number of syllables in the English word it can vary from one to eight. 70 5.3. SYLLABLE DIVISION It is not difficult to count how many syllables a word contains by noticing the peaks or the most prominent sounds in it, but it is not generally easy to determine precisely the syllable boundary. Sometimes the beginning of a syllable is marked by a stress (create [krɪ'eɪt]). In other cases, the transition from one vowel sound to another indicates the separation of syllables (seeing ['siːɪŋ]). But there are cases when it is almost impossible to determine the syllable boundary (extra ['ek-strə] - ['eks-trə]). Syllable division rules can be defined as follows: 1) An intervocalic consonant tends to belong to the following syllabic sound when it is preceded by a long vowel or a diphthong, as they are always free (unchecked) at the end and there is no need to close the syllable (music ['mjuː-zɪk]). In case of a short stressed vowel followed by a consonant there are two viewpoints concerning the syllable boundary. (a) the intervocalic consonant belongs to the short vowel preceding it (pity ['pɪt-ɪ]); (b) the syllable boundary goes through the consonant (pity ['pɪtɪ]). In this case the sound [t] belongs structurally both to the preceding and the following vowels. 2) When two vowels are separated from each other by two consonants the point of syllable division is often conditioned by whether this cluster occurs at the beginning of English words or not. If it does, the 71 point of syllable division is before the cluster; if it does not, the syllabic boundary is between the consonants (agree - [ə'-ɡriː], admit [əd'-mɪt]). 3) English diphthongs are unisyllabic, they consist of one vowel phoneme, English triphthongs are disyllabic, because they consist of two vowel phonemes (science ['saɪ - əns]). 5.4. FUNCTIONAL ASPECT OF THE SYLLABLE The syllable performs three functions: constitutive, distinctive, identificatory. They are closely connected. 1. Constitutive function. Syllables constitute words, phrases and sentences. The phrase- and sentence-constitutive function of the syllable manifests itself indirectly. 2. Distinctive function. The syllable is characterized by its ability to differentiate words and word-forms. 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 [ə'neɪm] – an aim [ən'eɪm], ice cream ['aɪs 'kri:m] – I scream [aɪ 'skri:m]. The distinctive function of the syllable boundary makes it possible to introduce the term “juncture”. Close juncture occurs between sounds within one syllable (a name, I scream): in the first example the close juncture is between [n] and [eɪ], in the second – between [s] and [k]. Open juncture occurs between two syllables. If to mark open juncture with / + /, then in the examples under study it will occur between a + name, I + scream. 72 3. Identificatory (recognitive) 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 pea stalks (стебли гороха) – peace talks (мирные переговоры). 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 syllable boundary. 5.5. GRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYLLABLE Parts of orthographic and phonetic syllables do not always coincide so 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 part of a word, which is separated, should be either a prefix, or a suffix, or a root: be-fore, un-divided, utter-ance. However, if there are two or three consonants before -ing, these consonants can be separated in writing: gras-ping, puz-zling. Words can be divided in writing according to their syllabic structure (un-kind-li-ness) or they can also be divided according to their meaning (spot-light). The following rules can help with dividing a word in writing: − never divide a word within a syllable; − never divide a suffix of two syllables such as -able, -ably, -fully; 73 − 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; − never divide a word so that one of the parts is a single letter; − never divide a word of one syllable; − never divide a word of less than five letters. The system of syllable formation and syllable division in Russian has some peculiarities in contrast with English. In Russian the single intervocalic consonant between two phonetic syllables belongs to the next vowel, in English it tends to belong to the preceding one. In the system of the Russian language all consonants can begin a syllable, while in English there is an exception - [ŋ]. In Russian open syllables occur three times more often than closed ones. There are some restrictions on the possible consonant clusters in English and in Russian. Final clusters in English are much more complex than initial ones. The structure of the Russian syllable is characterized by more complex and numerous initial clusters. Questions: 1. What is the syllable? 2. What theories of syllable formation do you know? 3. What do you know about syllable formation? 4. What sonorous sounds are syllabic? 5. When does a sonorant lose its syllabic character? 6. What types of the syllable are there in English? 7. What types of syllables are the most widely spread in English and in Russian? 74 8. What do you know about syllable division? 9. What functions does the syllable perform? 10. What are the rules of dividing a word in writing? Give definitions of the following phonetic terms: syllabic sounds, syllable, syllable pattern, syllobograph. Exercises: 1. Give syllabic structural patterns of the following words: pat, fact, lifts, plan, go, stay, eat, spray, asks, screams, students, split, flint, stamps, do, spy, pit. 2. Give syllabic structural patterns of the following words and arrange them into columns according to the type of syllabic structure: write, pay, act, blur, err, orphan, mortal, sector. 3. Divide these words into phonetic syllables and give their syllabic structural patterns: table, curtain, chaos, poet, paying, sewing, eyelid, murmur, border, April, about, pretty, along, wide, let, bit, army, finger, mixture, question, funny, petty, money, city, measles, cotton, little, pardon, season, hundred, writer, meeting, voices, housing, seeing, writing, music, skating, naturally, topic, measure, agree, abrupt, admire, maker, raging, lately, later, tired, teacher, former, learning, paper, owner, fighter, ago, elect, idea, admit. 4. Arrange these words into three columns according to the type of syllable structure: (a) closed uncovered, (b) closed covered, (c) open covered: 75