Syllable. Syllable division. Syllable formation

Speech sounds are integral constituent parts of a larger and higher phonetic unit known as the syllable. It is the shortest articulatory unit consisting of 1 or more phonemes unified by a tonal element and capable of bearing tone and stress. The tonal element is the syllabic impulse produced by a vowel or by a sonorous consonant: [m, n, l, r, ᵹ].

Syllables may consist of a single vowel sound I [ai], are [a:]. Syllables consisting of 2 or more speech sounds are usually formed by vowels, as in all [ͻ:l] sea [si:] or by sonorous continuants, as in “rhythm” [ri ðm], title [taitl].

From the point of view of syllable division syllables are classified as “open”, closed, covered and uncovered. The simples type of a syllable is uncovered and open [eə] – air. Syllables which end in a consonant are uncovered and closed [aut] – out, [in]. Syllables which begin and end in a consonant are covered and open [nau] – now, [ti:] – tea. Syllables which begin and end in a consonant are covered and closed [mæn] – man, [ʃip] – ship.

Structurally syllables in English may be of the following types:

CV (consonant vowel) – [fa:]

CCV – [plei]

CCCV – [skri:m]

VC – [ͻ:l] (r, h, j, w do not occur finally)

VCC – [dount]

VCCC – [wulvz]

VCCCC – [twelfθs]

One must not confuse phonetic syllables with orthographic syllables. Syllables of one type may not coincide with those of the other. For instance, the word “maker” consists of 2 syllables both phonetic and orthographic, but orthographically the word is divided in the following way: mak–er, which phonetically the 1^st syllable ends in the diphthong [ei] – [meu-kə]. The word na–me consists of 2 open syllables from the viewpoint of spelling and orthography, but it contains only one closed syllable [neim] from the phonetic point of view.

From the point of view of this duration may be short and long. The linguistic unit of syllable length is the mora, which is equal to the duration of a short vowel sound or a syllable.

From the viewpoint of their accentual weight syllable may be classified as stressed and unstressed.

Three approaches to the problem of syllable:

· The oldest theory – expiratory theory – according to which each exhalation corresponds to a new syllable. If that is so than the word extra [΄ekstrə] has 3 syllables, because in this word there are actually 3 expiratory pulses in [ek-] [-s-] and [-trə].

· A more popular accepted theory is the so-called sonority theory of Otto Jesperson: each sound has its own inherent sonority of carrying power. Sounds of greater sonority (mostly vowels) indicate “peaks” of sonority which are separated from other peaks by “valleys” of lower sonority. Peaks of sonority from syllables, valleys – indicate the place of syllable division. This theory fails to explain the position of the syllabic boundary in such sequences as [aiskri:m] – whether it is “ice-cream” or “I scream”.

· The mechanism of syllable formation was investigated by Professor Zhinkin in the Moscow University: pharyngeal contraction theory - the contractions of the walls of the pharynx together with the resulting increase of the walls increase the actual loudness of vocalic elements which are responsible for the syllable formation.

· The theory of the syllable most widely accepted by Russian linguists is the theory of Academician L.V.Shchera. it is based on 2 principles:

® The muscular tension or articulatory effort and

® The type of consonants

Each syllable is formed by a new articulatory effort.

Consonants may be initially strong (syllable – final consonant) [i:t], finally strong (the beginning of a syllable) [ti:].

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