syllable

HongKongShueYanUniversity

StudentName:___SammarKwok(072030)_

NameofLecturer:___JophineYam_______

Courcodeandtitle:ENG380.001

Titleofassignment:SyllableStructureandPhonotacticConstraintsof

English

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Date:20November2009

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SyllableStructureandPhonotactic

ConstraintsofEnglish

Introduction

SyllablestructureandPhonotacticconstraintsinEnglisharetwoimportantunits.

FormostcondlanguagelearnersofEnglish,whoarenotspecialidinLinguistics,

ifyouaskthemwhatisanEnglishsyllable?Theyprobablydonotknowhowto

define,buttheycangiveyoumanyexamplesbycountingfingerswhilespeaking

crucialasitmanifeststheimportantroleofsyllablein

therhythmandnaturalnessofspeech(Roach,2000,p.67).Andalsoitis

tscannotunderstandstressinwords

isasyllable?Asyllableisaunitofsoundor

pronunciationwhichislargerthanasinglesound,likeaphoneme,andsmallerthan

aword(Yam,2009).Forinstance,"are"/a:/hasonlyonesyllable;"beautiful"

/bju:təfəl/getsthreesyllables."lecture"/lekʃə/hastwosyllables,etc.

Ontheotherhand,PhonotacticConstraintsofEnglishiswithtantamount

importanceassyllablestructure.

"Alllanguagesconstructtheirownwordsfromafinitetof

uethatinalllanguagesthereareconstraints

onthewayinwhichthephonemescanbearrangedtoform

onstraintsaresometimesknownasphonotactic

orphonemequenceconstraintsandtheyverelylimitthenumber

ofsyllablesthatwouldbetheoreticallypossibleifphonemescould

becombinedinanunconstrainedway."(Cox&Harrington,2009.)

Inotherwords,phonotacticsarealimitedtofrulesorrestrictionswhichgovern

t

mples,

English,Japane,German,French,andDutch,heless,myattemptis

Iamgoing

toelaboratemythesisintofurtherdevelopment.

EnglishSyllableStructure

AsIhavementioned,asyllableisaunitofsoundorpronunciationthatlargerthan

asinglesound,wewanttoanalythesyllable

structureofEnglish,e

Ont,Coda,Peak(nucleus),pre-initial,initial,post-initial,pre-final,finaland

post-final.

Ont,anontisthepositionprecedingthevowel,

example,"good"/gud/,theconsonant/g/eallowsme

antsofEnglishare

phonemeslike/p/,/b/,/t/,/d/,/k/,/ɡ/,/m/,/n/,/ŋ/,/f/,/v/,/θ/,/ð/,/s/,/

z/,/l/,/j/,/tʃ/,elsarephonemeslike/i/,/e/,/ʌ/,/æ/,/ɔ/,/

u/,/ei/,/au/,/ou/,/eiə/,/aiə/,etc.

Coda,isthepositionfollowingthevowel(peak)tance,"bit"/

bit/,/t/isthecodaposition.

Peak,"feel"/fi:l/,the

vowel/i:/atpeakistheobligatoryelementina

syllableexceptinthecawhereasyllableconsonantisprentinasyllable.

Normally,peakpositionofasyllablemakesthesyllableasvoicedorsonorant.

Withoutapeaktoformasyllable,therewillbevoicelessorsilentifasyllableonly

/pt/,itcannotberegardedasasyllableasitvoiceless.

r,thereisoneexception,syllableconsonants.A

syllabicconsonantisaconsonantclusterwithoutapeakbutstillcanmakeasyllable

mple,"bottle"/bɔtl/,theconsonantclusterinthecoda

position/tl/iswithoutapeakorvowel,butitstillsoundsthatwithavowelas/toul/(Yam,

2009).

Pre-initialisusuallythephoneme/s/inconsonantclusters,forexample,"string"/

striŋ/and"smoke"/smouk/,theconsonant/s/intheontpositionofthetwo

wordsisregardedasapre-initial.

Initialisusuallythefirstconsonantintheontpositionorcondconsonantinthe

ontinaclusterwhenitfollowsa/s/,forinstance,"student"/t/isinitial.

Post-initialistheconsonantfollowtheinitialinacluster,forexample,"try"/trai/,

"quick"/kwik/and"slay"/slei/,/r/,/w/,/l/arethepost-initials.

Pre-finalisaconsonantprecedesafinalconsonantinacluster,forexample,"bank

"/bæŋk/,/ŋ/precedes/k/isapre-final;and"bond"/bɔnd/,/n/isa

pre-final.

Finalisaconsonantprecededbyapre-finalinacluster,herearesomeexamples,"

but"/bʌt/,/t/isafinalconsonant;"contrast"/kəntræst/,/t/isafinal

consonant.

Post-finalisaconsonantfollowsafinalconsonantinacluster,forinstance,"helped

"/helpt/,/t/isapost-final;"twelfth"/twelfθ/,/θ/isalsoapost-final.

SyllabletypeinEnglish,therearetwomaintypesofsyllable,includingtype1,open

1syllableisasyllablewithoutacoda,for

instance,V,CV(V,herestandsforvowel,andCstandsforconsonant).Like"or"

/ɔ:/,"are"/a:/,"eye"/ai/,"bee"/bi:/"she"/ʃi:/,"key"/ki:/and"

more"/mɔ:/.Type2syllableisasyllablewithcoda,forexample,VC,

"it"/it/,"odd"/ɔd/,"eight"/eit/,"but"/bʌt/,"gas"/gæs/and"run"/

rʌn/(Yam,2009).

stoneistheminimalsyllable

imal

syllablestructureofEnglishisV,mple"eye"/ai

/and"are"/a:/.ThemaximalsyllablestructureofEnglishisCCCVCCCC,it

containsthreeconsonantsintheontposition,onevowelinthepeakandfour

tance,"spree"/spri:/,"splay"/splei/,"

sixths"/siksθs/,and"prompts"/prɔmpts/.(Yam,2009).

Themaximalontprincipleisaboutconsonantsshouldbeorganidintotheont

ofasyllableexceptwhentheconsonantclusterviolatesthephonotacticsofEnglish.

Inanotherword,whenformanEnglishword,weshouldmaximizetheont

otatthesametimeforgetthephonotacticsofEnglish

thatthereonlyallowsthemaximalthreeconsonantsintheontpositionandshort

mple,

"extra"/ekstrə/,,,

,ststructureemstobethebest.

However,itisnotacceptedinEnglishasitviolatestheprincipleofEnglish

phonotacticsthatonlyamaximumofthreeconsonantsshouldbeallowedintothe

rd,

onlythecondoneisthebestasitdoesnotbreakstherulesofEnglishPhonotactics

anditmaximizestheontposition(Yam,2009).

PhonotacticConstraintsofEnglish

PhonotacticsofEnglishisaratherkeyelementintheproductionofEnglishwords

avenifweknowallthespeechsoundsandspellingsofEnglish,withoutthe

knowledgeofphonotacticconstraints,

borrowedwordsfromotherlanguagesaretheexceptions(Phonemesinthehistory

ofalanguage).

TherearesomeexamplesofthephonotacticsofEnglish:

1.)ethat

thefirstconsonantofthe3consonantsintheontpositioncanonlybethe

consonant/s/,thecondhastobe/p,t,k/,andthethirdhastobean

approximant/w,j,r,l/.Forexample,"splayed"/spl/,"strayed"/str/,"spew"/

spj/,"stewed"/stj/,"skewed"/skj/,"squish"/skw/,"squawk"/skw/and"

squeal"/skw/.Andnotethatwhenthethirdconsonantis/w/,thenthefirsttwo

mustbe/sk/(Cox&Harrington,2009).

2.)Theremustnotbemorethan4consonantsinthecodaposition

3.)consonant/ŋ/isneverallowedintheontpositionandcannotbeprecededby

longvowelsordiphthongs,forexample,thereare"long"/lɔŋ/,"fang"/fæŋ/

and"sing"/siŋ/.ButtherewillbeneverarealEnglishwordbeginswitha

consonant/ŋ/intheontpositionand/ŋ/onlyhasbeenprecededbyshortvowels.

4.)/h/neverappearsinthecodaposition,forinstance,"he"/hi:/,"hey"/hei/

and"hesitate"/heziteit/.Consonant/h/willonlyappearintheontpositionbut

notcodaposition.

5.)Shortvowelslike/e/,/i/,/u/,/ʌ/,/æ/and/ɔ/willneverappearinopen

syllableattheendofaword,forinstance,"he"/hi:/,"she"/ʃi:/,"bar"/ba:/

and"do"/du:/,theendofallthewordsarealllongvowels.

6.)/r,w,l/

instance,"Write"/rait/,"wretch"/retʃ/,"wrinkle"/riŋkl/and"wright"/

rait/,although/w/and/r/areinthesameclusters,theydonotpronounceatthe

sametime,theyarepronouncedonlyas/r/(Cox&Harrington,2009).

7.)Infinalpositiononly/l/canoccurbeforenon-syllabic/m/and/n/.For

instance,"palm",/pa:m/,"calm"/ka:m/,here/l/doesnotpronounceandit

canprecede/m/as/m/isanon-syllabicconsonant."apple"/æpl/,"bottle"

/bɔtl/and"shuffle"/ʃʌfl/,here/l/combineswithotherconsonanttoform

,normally,/l/canonlyoccurbeofrenon-syllabic/m/and

/n/at"finale"/fina:li/isanitalian

wordthatitallowsconsonant/l/toappearbeforeshortvowel/i/(Cox&

Harrington,2009).

8.)Nasalconsonantscannotoccurasthecondconsonantinword-initialconsonant

clustersunlessthefirstconsonantis/s/,forexample,"snow"/snou/and"snap"

/snæp/,andnotethat"knot"isallowedinEnglishonlyasitsspelling,butnotits

pronunciation,itpronounces/nɔt/,andtheletter"k"doesnotmakeasingle

sound(Cox&Harrington,2009).

TheSonorityScale

Thesonorityscaleis"alistofphoneticgmentsshowingtherelativeresonanceof

ownas:Thescaleof

consonantalstrength"(SILInternational,2004).Thescalehelpsustoanalyand

explainhowsyllablesareorganidinEnglishandusuallyassistsinfiguringout

whetherawordisEnglishornot(TheImportanceofSegmentalSonorityforthe

SyllableStructure).NotethatnotalltheEnglishwordscantestastherearealways

esomeinstancesthatcanmanifesttheu

ofsonorityscale:

1.)"plain"/plein/isarealEnglishwordasitfitstothesonorityscale.

2.)"street"/stri:t/isalsoarealEnglishwordasitdoesnotviolatesonorityscale.

3.)"kstar"/ksta:/isnotarealEnglishwordasitviolatesthesonorityscale.

4.)Todefinewhether"Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis"isan

Englishwordornot,mthebelow,wecan

knowthatitisarealwordofEnglish.

Conclusion

Toconclude,Ihavediscusdthesignificantimportanceofsyllablestructureand

eequallycriticalandactiveingoverningthe

constructionofEnglishwords,analysingandexplainingtherulesofEnglish,

cre

cancreatenowordswithoutthespecialidknowledgeofsyllablestructureand

timportantly,learningtounderstandwhatis

syllablestructureandphonotacticsofEnglishhelpscondlanguagelearnersof

Englishlikeustoimproveandenhanceournaturalandprecipronunciationof

hisnotourinnateability,weareunabletospeak

mtospeakwith

naturalnessandprecinessofEnglish,viastudyingandexploringthedomainsof

syllablestructureandPhonotacticsisaproperway.

References

Cox,F.&Harrington,J.(2009).lable

vedNovember20,2009from

/phonetics/phonology/syllable/syll_

vedNovember21,2009from

/vajda/ling201/test2materials/

Roach,P.(2000).EnglishPhoneticsandPhonology:APracticalCour(2nded).UK:

CambridgeUniversityPress.

SILInternational.(2004).vedNovember21,2009

from

/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsTheSonorityScale.

htm

Wikipedia.(2009).ved

November22,2009from

/wiki/Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Yam,J.(2009).TheSyllableStructureofEnglish.

7:

beyondtheSegmental:vedNovember22,2009

from

/gview?a=v&q=cache:9xmVPPSVEcUJ:/filo

logie/mateescu/pdf/+the+importance+of+sonority+scale&hl=zh-TW&gl=tw&

sig=AFQjCNETrsOKkUSySrqP1InMavm7AqwhZQ