Vowels and consonants typically do not act alone; they show a tendency to cluster or group. These smallest phonetic groups are generally given the name of syllables. Being the smallest pronounceable units, syllables form morphemes, words and phrases. Each of these units is characterized by a certain syllabic structure. Thus a meaningful language unit phonetically may be considered from the point of view of syllable formation and syllable division.
A syllable is a minimal unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds, acting as a unit of rhythm. Rhythm in its turn is the perceived regularity of prominent units of speech. It is stated in terms of such patterns as stressed vs. unstressed syllables (English) or short vs. long (Latin). (Rhythm is understood by speakers as the use of stressed syllables which occur at regular intervals in the stream of speech). So a syllable connects sound and rhythmic structures.
A syllable is a complicated phenomenon and like a speech sound it can be studied on four levels - articulatory, acoustic, auditory and functional.
Acoustically and auditory the syllable is characterized by the force of utterance, or accent, pitch of the voice, sonority and length.
Auditory the syllable is the smallest unit of perception: the listener identifies the whole of the syllable and only after that the sounds contained.
The articulotary energy which constitutes the syllable results from the combined action of the power, vibrator, resonator and obstructer mechanism.
Phonologically the syllable is regarded and defined in terms of its structural and functional properties.
The complexity of the phenomenon gave rise to many attempts to identify a syllable and its boundaries.
The most ancient theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. This theory is primitive and insufficient since it does not take into consideration consonants which also can form syllables in some languages, neither does it explain the boundary of syllables.
The so-called expiratory (chest pulse or pressure) theory was suggested by R.H. Stetson. This theory is based on the assumption that expiration in speech is a pulsating process and each syllable should correspond to a single expiration. So the number of syllables in an utterance is determined by the number of expirations made in the production of the utterance. The main objection to the theory is the following: in a phrase a number of words and consequently a number of syllables can be pronounced with a single expiration, e.g. in adjacent syllables when two vowels co-occur (seeing, doing). This fact makes the validity of the theory doubtful. (articulatory approach).
Another theory of a syllable put forward by O. Jespersen is generally called the sonority theory (or prominence theory). According to O. Jespersen, each sound is characterized by a certain degree of sonority which is understood as acoustic property of a sound that determines its perceptibility. According to this sound property a ranking of speech sounds could be established:
<the least sonorous>
voiceless plosives à voiced fricatives àvoiced plosives à voiced fricatives à sonorants à close vowels àopen vowels
<the most sonorous>
Sounds are grouped around the most sonorous ones, which form the peaks of sonority in a syllable. Two points of lower sonority constitute the beginning and the end of one syllable.
Melt & metal: in the first word [e] is the most sonorous sound, the only peak of sonority, it is a one-syllable word. In the word metal there are two peaks of sonority [e,l], it is a two-syllable word. (sudden, пятница). (auditory approach)
According to V.A. Vassilyev the most serious drawback of this theory is that it fails to explain the actual mechanism of syllable formation and syllable division, because it does not state to which syllable the weak sound at the boundary of two syllables belongs. In such words as master, should the syllable division be ma-ster, mas-ter, or mast-er? We are left with this problem, even though in each case the relative sonority of the sounds is the same.
Further experimental work aimed at description of the syllable resulted in lots of other theories. However, the question of articulatory mechanism of syllable is still an open question in phonetics. We might suppose that this mechanism is similar in all languages and could be regarded as phonetic universal.
In Russian linguistics there has been adopted the theory of syllable by LV Shcherba. It is called the theory of muscular tension. In most languages there is the syllabic phoneme in the centre of the syllable which is usually a vowel phoneme or, in some languages, a sonorant. The phonemes preceding or following the syllabic peak are called marginal (slopes). The tenseness of articulation increases within the range of prevocalic consonants and then decreases within the range of postvocalic consonants.
Russian linguist and psychologist N.I. Zhinkin has suggested the so-called loudness theory which seems to combine both production and perception levels. The experiments carried out by N.I. Zhinkin showed that the arc of loudness of perception level is formed due to variations of the volume of the pharyngeal passage which is modified by contractions of its walls. The narrowing of the passage and the increase in muscular tension which results from it reinforce the actual loudness of a vowel thus forming the peak of the syllable. So the syllable is the arc оf loudness which correlates with the arc of articulatory effort on the speed production level since variations in loudness are due to the work of all speech mechanisms. (mistake: It consists of two arcs of loudness in which [m, t] are finally strong consonants and [s, k] are finally weak. [s] constitutes the end of the arc of loudness, [t] constitutes the beginning.)
It is perfectly obvious that no phonetician has succeeded so far in giving an adequate explanation of what the syllable is. The difficulties seem to arise from the various possibilities of approach to the unit. There exist two points of view:
1. Sоme linguists consider the syllable to be a purely articulatory unit which lacks any functional value. This point of view is defended on the ground that the boundaries of syllables do not always coincide with those of morphemes.
2. However the majority of linguists treat the syllable as the smallest pronounceable unit which can reveal some linguistic function.
Trying to define the syllable from the articulatory point of view we may talk about universals. When we mean the functional aspect of the syllable it should be defined with the reference to the structure of one particular language.
The definition of the syllable from the functional point of view tends to single out the following features of the syllable:
a) a syllable is a chain of phonemes of varying length;
b) a syllable is constructed on the basis of contrast of its constituents (which is usually of vowel - consonant type);
c) the nucleus of a syllable is a vowel, the presence of consonants is optional; there are no languages in which vowels are not used as syllable nuclei, however, there are languages in which this function is sometimes performed by consonants;
d) the distribution of phonemes in the syllabic structure follows the rules which are specific enough for a particular language.
2. The structure and functions of syllables in English
Syllable formation in English is based on the phonological opposition vowel - consonant. Vowels are usually syllabic while consonants are not with the exceptions of [l], [m], [n], which become syllabic in a final position proceeded by a noise consonant: bottle [bσtl], bottom [bσtm], button [b/\tn] and [r] (in those accents which pronounce [r]) perhaps [præps].
The structure of English syllables can be summarized as follows:
• Many syllables have one or more consonants preceding the nucleus. These make up the syllable onset: me, so, plow.
• Many syllables have one or more consonants, following the nucleus (peak, crest). They make up the syllable coda. They are traditionally known as closed syllables: cat, jump.
• The combination of nucleus and coda has a special significance, making up the rhyme of a syllable.
The English language has developed the closed type of a syllable as the fundamental one while in Russian it is the open type that forms the basis of syllable formation.
The other aspect of this component is syllable division. The problem of syllable division in case of intervocalic consonants and their clusters, like in such words as city, extra, standing and others.
Let us consider the first word ['sit.i]. There exist two possibilities:
a) the point of syllable division is after the intervocalic consonant:
b) the point of syllable division is inside the consonant.
In both cases the first syllable remains closed because the short vowel should remain checked. The results of instrumental analysis show that the point of syllable division in such words is inside the intervocalic consonant. EPD indicates the point of division after the consonant.
The second case. There are two syllables in the word extra but where should the boundary between them fall?
1) [e - kstrə]. It is unlike that people would opt for a division between [e] and [kstrə] because there are no syllables in English which begin with consonant sequence [kstr].
2) Similarly, a division between [ekstr] and [ə] would be unnatural.
3) [ek - strə], [eks - trə], [ekst - rə] are possible. People usually prefer either of the first two options here, but there is no obvious way of deciding between them.
In some cases we may take into account the morphemic structure of words. For example, standing consists of two syllables; on phonetic grounds [stæn - diŋ). On grammatical grounds [stænd - iŋ].
The syllable as a phonological unit performs three functions: constitutive, distinctive, and identificatory. They are closely connected
The first is the constitutive function. It lies in its ability to be a part of a word itself. The syllables form language units of greater magnitude that is words, morphemes, and utterances. In this respect two things should be emphasized. First, the syllable is the unit within which the relations between distinctive features of phonemes and their acoustic correlates are revealed. Second, within a syllable (or syllables) prosodic characteristics of speech are realized, which form the stress pattern of a word and the intonation structure of an utterance. Thus, the syllable is a specific minimal structure of both segmental and suprasegmental features.
The other function is distinctive one. In this respect the syllable is characterized by its ability to differentiate words and word-forms. The following minimal pair illustrates the word distinctive function in the syllabic: nitrate — night-rate. There are rather many combinations in English distinguished from each other by means of the difference of the place of the syllabic boundary: an aim - a name; an ice house - a nice house, etc. Sometimes the difference in syllable division may be the basic ground for differentiation in such pairs as I saw her rise.- I saw her eyes; I saw the meat — I saw them eat.
The identificatory function is conditioned by the pronunciation of the speaker. The listener can understand the exact meaning of the utterance only if s/he perceives the correct syllabic boundary: pea stalks – peace talks; my train – might rain.
3. Brief Comparison of English and Russian Systems of Syllable Formation and Division.
1) Similar syllabic structural types can be found.
2) In both languages the single intervocal consonant between two phonetic syllables belongs to the next vowel: morning [mo:-niŋ] – мо-ре; cozy [kou-zi]- воляю
3) All consonants may begin the syllable in English with the exception of [ŋ]. In Russian all consonants may begin the syllable.
4) In Russian the initial clusters are more complex (вдрызг). In English the final clusters are more complex (texts, strengths, twelfths).
5) English diphthongs belong to one syllable, triphthongs may be divided into two parts.
The conclusion: Thus, the syllable is a specific minimal structure of both segmental and suprasegmental features. It is a minimal unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds, acting as a unit of rhythm. Rhythm in its turn is the perceived regularity of prominent units of speech. It is stated in terms of such patterns as stressed vs. unstressed syllables (English) or short vs. long (Latin). So a syllable connects sound and rhythmic structures, because rhythm depends upon the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. And rhythm is the pivot of such a complex phenomenon as intonation (suprasegmental unit). (Rhythm is understood by speakers as the use of stressed syllables which occur at regular intervals in the stream of speech). So a syllable connects sound and rhythmic structures.
.png)
.png)
