Structure: universal rules

The syllable is operational in all languages, it is a universal phenomenon, even though the specific rules for syllable structure in each language vary in accordance with the phonotactic constraints of a language.

There is an overall tendency towards open syllables. No known language has only closed syllables. CV structure with a single onset consonant followed by a vowel is the most 'basic' for human language. There are several types of evidence for this claim.

One. CV-type syllables appear to be the syllable types that human children first utter when they begin to speak regardless of what language their parents speak: ba, ma, da.

Two. In many cases of aphasia, where post-stroke patients have suffered damage to their speech, CV syllables also appear to be the sort that first begins to appear as the patient recovers his speech.

Three. Languages which have both onset and coda consonants typically allow of a wider range of consonants to occur in onset position than in coda position. (At least this is true for Russian).

Four. Coda consonants are much more likely to undergo loss of articulation in the course of the historical development of languages than onset consonants. This is what happened with [r] in coda position in many accents of English. And a similar process of vocalization of [1] is going on in some accents of English now: feel [fi:w], milk [miwk]. This kind of weakening may lead to a complete elision of the consonant in coda position.

Here is another universal phenomenon:

Sequences of segments are syllabified in accordance with a sonority scale which takes the following form (from most sonorous to least sonorous): Low vowels, High vowels, Approximants, Nasals, Voiced fricatives, Voiceless fricatives, Voiced stops, Voiceless stops.

The idea is that, as one proceeds from the bottom to the top of the scale, the class of segments becomes more sonorous, or more vowel-like. Sonority is an acoustic effect: the more sonorous a sound, the more it resonates. The more open a vowel is, the less stricture there is in the mouth cavity. Vowels are typically voiced, and voicing creates greater sonority.

Applied to syllable structure, the idea is that the most sonorous element will be located within the nucleus, and that the further one gets from the nucleus, the less sonorous are the segments: blink [blink]. The idea is very convincing, even though there is a case in English, s-initial onsets, which violate the sonority hierarchy (s has greater sonority than/», к but is placed further from the nucleus): spill, splash, scream.

Another universal principle of syllabification concerns the syllabification of polysyllabic words, and is referred to as the principle of Maximal Onset.

Let us look at the word approve [a'pru:v], for example, and see where the boundary between the two syllables lies. We know that /p/ may occur in coda position in English, like in cap, stop, but the combination /pr/ in coda would violate the principle of sonority. At the same time /pr/ in the onset would be perfectly good, like pray, pride, as well as /r/ alone would be good just as well, as in ray, ride. Thus we have two alternatives: a-pprove and app-rove. The principle of Maximal Onset says that, in cases like this, where the language-specific phonotactics allows of two or more syllabifications across a syllable boundary, it is the syllabification which maximizes the material in the following onset which is preferred. In this case it is |a-'pru:v].

The principle of Maximal Onset is intimately connected with the above-mentioned generalisations about the CV structure being the basic type of syllable. It has a basis in both articulation and perception: preference for filled, rather than empty, onsets is probably rooted in the nature of our articulatory apparatus and also tied to greater perceptual salience of onset consonants.

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