Lecture 6

The Syllable
 Terms
expiratory [ɪksˈpaɪərətəri] – экспираторный, выдыхательный
sonority [səˈnɒrɪti] – звучность, сонорность
sonorous [səˈnɔːrəs] – сонорный, голосной, полнозвучный
onset [ˈɒnsɛt] – инициаль, начальный согласный
rhyme [raɪm] - рифма
coda[ˈkəʊdə] – финаль, конечный согласный слога
nucleus [ˈnjuːklɪəs] – ядро, вершина (слога)
nuclei [ˈnjuːklɪaɪ] - ядра
syllabic [sɪˈlæbɪk] - слоговый
intervocalic [ˌɪntəvəʊˈkælɪk] - интервокальный
constitutive [ˈkɒnstɪtjuːtɪv] – образующий, конституирующий
close juncture [kləʊs] [ˈʤʌŋkʧə] – закрытый стык
open juncture [ˈəʊpən] [ˈʤʌŋkʧə] – открытый стык
 Plan
I. The nature of the syllable
II.The general structure of the syllable
III.Syllable formation
IV.Types of syllable
V.Syllable division
VI.The functional aspect of the syllable
VII.Division of words into syllables in writing
I. The nature of the syllable
Definition. The syllable is a minimum pronounceable unit of speech in which sounds tend* to
group themselves**.

The syllable may be:

• a single word (chair [ʧeə]),
• a part of a word (English ['ɪŋɡlɪʃ]), including roots and affixes
• a part of the grammatical form of a word (later ['leɪ-tə]).

*Note 1. “Tend” means “have a tendency”, that is, a syllable is not always a group, it can be
represented by a sound, but usually in English it is a cluster of sounds.

**Note 2. The exact definition of the syllable is hard to give, as the nature of the syllable can be
viewed from various perspectives, and there are different theories explaining what a syllable is.
See next slide.
 Theories of the syllable:
• the expiratory theory (experimentally proved by R.H. Stetson): there are as many
syllables in a word as there are expiration pulses

• the sonority theory (O. Jespersen): Sounds are grouped around the most sonorous ones,
i.e. vowels (& sometimes sonorants) which form the peak of sonority in a syllable (because
the vocal tract is less obstructed) . One peak of sonority is separated from another peaks by
sounds of lower sonority i.e. consonants (the vocal tract is more obstructed). This distance
between the 2 points of lower sonority is a syllable.

• the theory of muscular tension (was sketched by L.V. Sherba and modified by V.A.
Vasilyev): a syllable is characterized by variations in muscular tension. The energy of
articulation increases at the beginning of a syllable reaches its maximum with the vowel (or
the sonant) & decreases towards the end of the syllable. So, a syllable is an arc of muscular
tension. There are as many syllables in a word as there are maxima of muscular tension in it.

• loudness theory (worked by N.I. Zhinkin, connected with the previous theory): the
centre of a syllable is the syllable forming phoneme. There are as many syllables as there are
“arcs of loudness” (softer-louder-softer).
III. The general structure of the syllable:
The syllable consists of two parts:
1. The onset
2. The rhyme
 nucleus (NB!!! The plural is nuclei – the ending pronounced as “I”).
 coda
eg. BIG
a) B – onset (not always present)
IG – rhyme
I – nucleus (always present)
G- coda (not always present)

b) DAY – has the onset but has no coda (In diphthogs, the nucleus is also the main sound that
comes before the glide)
c) EAT – has the coda but no onset

d) I – only the nucleus

A group of consonants at the onset and coda are called cluster

E.G. screens
[scr] – cluster
[nz] – cluster
 III. Syllable formation
- The syllabic sounds are usually vowels, i.e. they are found at the
nucleus of the syllable
- The non-syllabic sounds are usually consonants, i.e. they are found at
the onset or the coda.
- However sonorants [n], [l] can be syllabic in the unstressed final
position, preceded by a noise consonant, as in garden, mountain, little
- The words with the sonorant [m] (blossom, rhythm) are more often
pronounced with the neutral vowel (['blɒsəm], ['rɪðəm]).

Note 1. Syllabic sonorants are indicated by [¸] placed beneath the

symbol.
Note 2 . 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]).
 IV. Types of syllables
In English, there are four (4) types of the syllable :
 
1) covered open, CV (no)
2) uncovered closed VC (on)
3) covered closed CVC (man) – fundamental, also CCVC
4) uncovered open V (awe)

Note 1. C stands for “consonant’, V stands for ‘vowel’

 
Note 2. Covered is rendered as “прикрытый”, uncovered – “неприкрытый”
 
Note 3. English language has developed the closed type of syllable as the fundamental one
while in Russian it is the open type.
 
Note 4. In teaching English phonetics, a different classification of types of syllable is used.

Note 5. The number of syllables in English 1-8 (“unintelligibility” - longest)

 V. Syllable division
In English dictionaries boundaries between syllables are sometimes marked
by a dot   [ˈkiː.pə] (D. Jones, English Pronunciation Dictionary; Cambridge
Dictionary) or a hyphen: [ˈkē-pər] (Webster)
 
While the phonemic structure of a language is studies by phonology, the
syllabic structure is studied by phonotactics, which determines rules, or
patterns, of sounds clustering.
 
The syllable division (the division of a word or utterance into syllables) is
vowel-based – the number of syllables corresponds to the number of
vowels. The problem is syllable boundary, i.e. where exactly one syllable
ends and another one starts.
Here the followings rules apply:
1) An intervocalic consonant belongs to the preceding vowel
(graphically) if it is a stressed short vowel, as such vowel is
checked, i.e. can’t be used without a consonant
( /ˈmæt.ə/, /ˈkʌn.ɪŋ/, topic /ˈtɒp.ɪk/,  measure /ˈmeʒ.ər/).
Note. Experiments, however, have shown that the syllable
boundary goes through the consonant – it’s distributed
between the following and the preceding vowels. (Important
for teaching – transition from vowel to consonant in English
must be very close, you shouldn’t separate them unlike in
Russian: compare “ле-то” and “lett-er”, “ка-тер” and “cutt-
er”. Also important for song-writing).
2) 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], /ˈmiː.tə/)
3 ) In vowel clusters, the boundary
between syllables is at the point of
transition from one vowel sound to
another:  [ˈpriː.æm.bəl]
4) English diphthongs are unisyllabic, they
consist of one vowel phoneme
5) English triphthongs may be monosyllabic or
disyllabic; consult a dictionary (e.g. Cambridge):
Fire /faɪə/  
Science /ˈsaɪ.əns/
  Liar /ˈlaɪ.ə/
 Layer /ˈleɪ.ə/ - English Pronouncing
Dictionary/ˈleɪə/
Flower UK  /flaʊə/ US  /ˈflaʊ.ɚ/
6) When two vowels are separated from each other by 2
consonants the boundary is determined by whether this
cluster can occur at the beginning of English words (at
the initial position) or not. If it does, the boundary is
before the cluster; if it does not, the syllabic boundary is
between the consonants (agree - [ə'-ɡriː], abrupt [ə
ˈbrʌpt] (cp. green, break, ), BUT admit [əd'-mɪt], answer
 [ˈɑːn.sər] (no words beginning with dm, ns).
7) In compound words the morphological
structure determines the boundary: mousetrap
[ˈmaʊs.træp]
8) The beginning of a syllable may be
marked by the stress: create [krɪ'eɪt].
9) Division of more complicated sound
clusters is based on native speakers’ intuition
regarding articulation efforts : extra
/ˈek.strə/
 VI. The functional aspect of the syllable
The syllable performs 3 functions:
1) constitutive,
2) distinctive
3) identificatory
 The constitutive function
Syllables can be a part of a word
(English), a word form (smarter) or a
word itself (smart). (Indirectly they can
make up phrases and utterances)
 Distinctive function
The syllable can help differentiate a) words (word-forms), b) phrases, and c) utterances.

a) WORDS (articulatory efforts help to distinguish between words)

Nitrate /ˈnaɪ.treɪt/
Night-rate /ˈnaɪt.reɪt/
 
e.g. there is such allophonic difference as the degree of aspiration of [t] sound – it is greater in the first
member of opposition than in the second, etc.

Note. The so-called “close juncture” occurs between [t] and [r] in /ˈnaɪ.treɪt/, where both belong to the
same syllable; open juncture occurs between [t] and [r] in /ˈnaɪt.reɪt/, i.e. marks the division into two
syllables

b) PHRASES (articulatory efforts help to distinguish between phrases)

peace talks - pea stalks (aspiration of [p] in the first case)
a name [ə'neɪm] – an aim [ən'eɪm]
ice cream ['aɪs 'kri:m] – I scream [aɪ 'skri:m]
an ice house - a nice house

 c) UTTERANCES (articulatory efforts help to distinguish between sentences)

I saw her eyes. - I saw her rise.

I saw the meat. - I saw them eat.
 The identificatory function (close to the distinctive one)
The listener can understand the exact meaning of the utterance only if the
syllabic boundary is correct. Shifting of the syllabic boundary can causes
misunderstanding on the part of the listener:
Plum pie - Plump eye
 
 VII. Division of words into syllables in writing
(syllabographs).
Principles:

A) the morphological principle - 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;
B) words can be divided in writing according to their syllabic structure (un-
kind-li-ness) or according to their meaning (spot-light);
C) never divide a word within a syllable;
D) never divide a suffix of two syllables such as -able, -ably, -fully;
E) 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;
F) never divide a word so that one of the parts is a single letter;
G) never divide a word of one syllable;
H) never divide a word of less than five letters.
QUESTIONS TO THE SEMINAR
 QUESTIONS TO THE SEMINAR

• 1. What is the syllable?

• 2. What theories of syllable formation do you know?
• 3. What phonemes are syllable-forming?
• 4. What types of the syllable are there in English?
• 5. What types of syllables are the most widely spread
in English and in Russian?
• 6. What are some rules of syllable division?
• 7. What functions does the syllable perform?
 QUESTIONS TO THE SEMINAR
TASK 1.
Divide these words into phonetic syllables:
• 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
 QUESTIONS TO THE SEMINAR
TASK 2.
• Transcribe the following words, show the point of syllable
division in each of them by putting a bar (hyphen) between the
syllables and define each type of syllable:
(1) covered open, CV (no)
2) uncovered closed VC (on)
3) covered closed CVC (man) – fundamental, also CCVC
4) uncovered open V (awe)

reading, ready, standing, nature, picture, brightly, finish, many,

pity, putting, pupil, flower, during, Mary, marry, starry, merry
 QUESTIONS TO THE SEMINAR

Task 3.
Mark with / + / open juncture in the examples
below. Turn them into examples with close
juncture:
• a name for it, a black tie, gray day, keep
sticking, my train, a nice house, it swings