Syllable Structure

Sonority Hierarchy

•The sonority hierarchy refers the ordering of

speech sounds from highest amplitude to lowest
amplitude. Vowels are the most sonorous (e.g.
/ɑ/, /e/) whilst voiceless plosive consonants are
the least sonorous (e.g. /p/, /t/, /k/).
Sonority scale
• The simplified hierarchy looks like the following with the most
sonorous sounds on the left:
• Vowels > Glides > Liquids > Nasals > Fricatives > Affricates > Plosives
• Glides include /j/ and /w/ as in ‘you’ and ‘want’ respectively.
• Liquids include /l/ and /r/.
• Nasals include /m/ and /n/.
• Fricatives include /s/, /z/, /f/ and /v/.
• Affricates include /tʃ/ as in ‘church’.
Maximal Onset Principle
•The Maximal Onset Principle is a principle
determining underlying syllable division. It states
that intervocalic (between two
vowels) consonants are maximally assigned to
the onsets of syllables.