PHONOLOGY IN ENGLISH

CODE: ENG 422

Chapter 8: The Syllable

By:Ms.Rabia Sherzaman 09/14/20 1

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 The Syllable
• The syllable is a very important unit.
• Most people seem to believe that, even if they cannot define what a
syllable is, they can count how many syllables there are in each
word or sentence.
• If they are asked to do this, they often tap their finger as they count,
which illustrates the syllable's importance in the rhythm of speech.
• As a matter of fact, if one tries the experiment of asking English
speakers to count the syllables in, say, a recorded sentence, there is
often a considerable amount of disagreement.

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 WHAT IS IT?
• The syllable is the basic unit of speech studied in both
the phonetic and phonological levels of analysis.
• Phonetically (i.e. in relation to the way we produce
them and the way they sound), syllables are usually
described as consisting of a centre which has little or
no obstruction to airflow and which sounds
comparatively loud; before and after this centre (i.e. at
the beginning and end of the syllable), there will be
greater obstruction to airflow and/or less loud sound.
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 WHAT IS IT?
Phonologically:
• Looking at syllables from the phonological
point of view is quite different. What this
involves is looking at the possible
combinations of English phonemes; the
study of the possible phoneme combinations
of a language is called phonotactics.
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 The nature of the syllable
Phonetically (i.e. in relation to the way we produce them and
the way they sound), syllables are usually described as
consisting of a centre which has little or no obstruction to
airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and after
this centre (i.e. at the beginning and end of the syllable), there
will be greater obstruction to airflow and/or less loud sound.
Q.1: In phonetics term what is meant by ‘syllable’?
Q.1: How would you define the term ‘syllable’ phonetically?

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 The nature of the syllable
We will now look at some examples:
i) What we will call a minimum syllable is a single vowel in
isolation (e.g. the words 'are’ /a:/, 'or’ /ɔː/ , 'err’ /3:/ ).
• These are preceded and followed by silence.
• Isolated sounds such as /m/, which we sometimes produce
to indicate agreement, or , /∫/ to ask for silence, must also
be regarded as syllables.
Q.2: Define the term ‘minimum syllable’? Give examples.
Q.3: Which isolated sounds must be regarded as syllables?
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 Conti------

ii) Some syllables have an onset - that is, instead of silence, they have one or
more consonants preceding/before the centre of the syllable: 'bar’ / bɑː/, key /
kiː/, more / mɔː/
iii) Syllables may have no onset but have a coda - that is, they end with one or
more consonants: 'am’ /æm/ 'ought’ /ɔːt/ 'ease’ /i:z/
iv) Some syllables have both onset and coda: 'ran’ /ræn/ 'sat’ /sæt/ 'fill’ /fɪl/
This was one way of looking at syllables.
Q.4: Define the terms ‘onset’ and ‘coda’?

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Definition of Syllable phonologically:

• Looking at syllables from the phonological point of

view is quite different.
• What this involves is looking at the possible
combinations of English phonemes; the study of the
possible phoneme combinations or sequence of
phonemes of a language is called phonotactics.
Q.5: What is meant by ‘phonotactics’?

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 Phonotactics
• It is simplest to start by looking at what can occur in initial position
- in other words, what can occur at the beginning of the first word
when we begin to speak after a pause.
• We find that the word can begin with a vowel, or with one, two or
three consonants. No word begins with more than three consonants.
• In the same way, we can look at how a word ends when it is the last
word spoken before a pause; it can end with a vowel, or with one,
two, three or (in a small number of cases) four consonants.
• No current word ends with more than four consonants.
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 The structure of the English syllables
• If the first syllable of the word in question begins with a vowel (any
vowel may occur, though /ʊ/ is rare), we say that the initial syllable
has a zero onset. If the syllable begins with one consonant, that
initial consonant may be any consonant phoneme except /ŋ, ʒ/ is
rare.
• We now look at syllables beginning with two consonants. When we
have two or more consonants together, we call them a consonant
cluster.
• Initial two-consonant clusters are of two sorts in English:
i. Pre-initial: Composed of /s/ followed by one of small set of
consonants e.g. sting, /stɪŋ/ sway, /sweɪ/ smoke/ sməʊk/. The /s/
in these clusters is called per-initial and /t, w, m/ are called
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initial.
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• Post-initial: Begins with one of the set of about fifteen

consonants followed by one of the set / l, r, w, j/ e.g. 'play' pleɪ,
'try' traɪ, 'quick' kwɪk, 'few' fjuː. First consonant of these cluster
is called initial consonant and the second as post-initial
• Initial three-consonant clusters: e.g. 'split’ /splɪt/, 'stream’ /striːm/,
'square’ /skweə/
• The s is the pre-initial consonant, the /p, t, k/ that follow s in the
three example words are the initial consonant and the /l, r, w /
are post-initial.
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Q.7: Mark the statements as True or False:
a) The syllable is a very important unit.
b) A minimum syllable is a single consonant in isolation.
c) /m/ is sometimes produced to indicate silence.
d) The /∫/ sound is produced to ask for silence.
e) No word begins with more than three consonants.
f) A word can begin with a vowel, or with one, two or three consonants.
g) No current word ends with more than four consonants.
h) In a small number of cases a word ends with four consonants.
i) Initial syllable has zero onset, if the first syllable of the word in
question begins with a vowel.
j) Initial two-consonant clusters are of two sorts in English.
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