CHAPTER 2:

ARTICULATORY PHONETICS
Position of sounds
Systems for determining location of sounds
Singletons (one phoneme) and Clusters (two or more phonemes)

• Word level
• Initial, medial, final
• Imprecision of medial position due to complexity of word
• Syllable level
• Initiate or terminate syllable
• Inconsistency in syllable boundaries for typical speakers and individuals with
speech sound disorders
• Vowel nuclei: location of consonant relative to vowel nuclei
• Vowel is sole determiner of location: system does not use word level or syllable
level descriptions
• Prevocalic: consonant(s) before a vowel
• Postvocalic: consonant(s) after a vowel
• Intervocalic: consonant(s) between two vowels
Consonants relative to nuclei

• Prevocalic
• Occur before a vowel
• Singleton or clusters
• Intervocalic
• Occur between two
vowels C
• Singleton or clusters
• Postvocalic
• Occur after a vowel
• Singleton or clusters
Syllable Structure
‘plant’ has a single CCVCC syllable
Onset: any consonants preceding the vowel
Rhyme/rime: all phonemes from the vowel to the end of the syllable

Rhyme/rime:
• Nucleus: typically the vowel (or a syllabic consonant)
• Coda: any consonants following the nucleus

http://clas.mq.edu.au/speech/phonetics/phonology/syllable/syll_structure.html
General Rules of Syllable Structure
• All syllables have a rhyme.
• Rhyme is the vowel (or syllabic consonant)
• Onset: all segments prior to the nucleus (peak)
• Open (unchecked) syllable: syllables with only an onset and
rhyme (no coda), (e.g., V, CV, CCV, CCCV.)
• Closed (checked) syllable: syllables that contain a coda (e.g.,
VC, CVC, etc.)
• Some syllables may only have a rhyme (no onset) (e.g., V, VC,
VCC, etc.)
• General rules for syllable boundaries
• Depends on HOW it was said
• Must follow English phonotactics
Syllable Types
Syllable types in English:

•V “a”
• CV “ma”
• VC “it”
• CVC “hit”
• CCVC “spin”
• CCCVC “strip”
• CCCVCCC “strengths”
• CVCCCC “sixths”
Tasks

• Identify ten multisyllabic words or short phrases said (e.g.,

ice cream; baseball)
• Transcribe the word and mark syllable boundaries using a
“.” at each syllable boundary
• [kæn.dɫ] -> /kæn.dəl/
• [e͡ɪ.prɪ.cɔt]
• Identify the onset, rhyme, nucleus, and coda
• Identify which sounds occur in prevocalic, intervocalic,
and post-vocalic positions
Syllable complexity and ease of production from easier to harder

Based on these principles,

create a list of 10 words
from easy to hard of
syllable structures for
someone who is practicing
their T sound at syllable
onset.