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Unit Three Part 1 - 2015

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Unit Three Part 1 - 2015

Uploaded by

adelaine.aulaspersonalizadas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Syllable and

Phonotactics
English Phonology
Ricardo de Souza

1
Part 1: The syllable

2
The Phonology of the Syllable

• From a phonological perspective, syllables


are important units.
• It is within the syllable that most
constraints on the distribution of vowel and
consonant sounds apply.
• It is also within the syllable that constraints
on the co-occurence of sounds – or
phonotactic constraints – will apply.
3
The Phonetics of the Syllable
• A strictly phonetic (perceptual) description
of syllable boudaries may be very hard to
achieve.
• However, the phonetic perception of
syllables may be characterized as a
perception of units with prominent
amounts of acoustic energy (especially
loudness).
• Such units occur as pulses of sonority.
4
The Phonetics of the Syllable
• Sound pulsation is caused by chest
muscle activity and release of the air
stream constriction produced by vocal
tract articulators.
• In a word or in the flow of speech, each
syllable corresponds to a peak in the flow
rate of pulmonic air.

5
Sonority and the Syllable
• From a phonetic point of view, a minimal
syllable will contain a sound that is as
sonorant as possible.

• Thus, vowel sounds qualify specially well


to constitute minimal syllables.

• By the same token, stops (plosives) are


specially misfit for mininal syllable
constituency. 6
Sonority and the Syllable
• The pulses of air stream correspond to peaks of
sonority.
• From an acoustic perspective, the sonority of a
sound is its relative loudness when compared to
other sounds.
• Speech sounds can be ranked in relation to their
relative sonority:

7
Giegerich (1992), p. 133
Sonority and the Syllable
• Monosyllabic words have just one sonority peak.
• Words with two syllables have two sonority
peaks. One peak= 1
syllable

Clamp – /klæmp/
Scale of sonority: /k/</l/</æ/>
/m/>/p/

Andrew – /ændruː/
Scale of sonority: /æ/>/n/>
/d/</r/</uː/
Two peaks= 2
syllables
8
Giegerich (1992), p. 134
Phonological Typology of
Syllable Structure (1)

9
Phonological Typology of
Syllable Structure (2)

10
Phonological Typology of
Syllable Structure (3)

11
Phonological Typology of
Syllable Structure (4)

12
Syllable Structure
• Here are 25 one-syllable words:
• act bald blame chain clay crisp dog drip
dwarf edge faith flaw grasp home ice lend
ox screw skin snow spring squaw stretch
twin
a) Which words have a zero onset?
b) Which have an onset of one consonant (C-)?
c) Which have an onset of two consonants (CC-)?
d) Which have an onset of three consonants (CCC-)?
e) In words with a CCC- onset, what is the first consonant?

SOURCE: Kreidler (2004), p. 72 13


The Phonology of the Syllable

• Defining syllable boundaries on


phonological grounds is a possible
solution to the problem of syllable division.
• On doing so, one starts addressing the
question of which phonemes can be
combined in given distributions.
• In other words, one moves into the
problem of phonotactics.

14
Strong and Weak
Syllables

15
The Phonetics of Syllable
Strength (1)

• From a phonetic perspective, syllable


strength may be defined in terms of peak
quality and peak properties (namely, pitch,
loudness and duration).

16
Some Cases
• Architect
• Command
• Develop
• Elephant
• Elevator
• Impenetrable
• Measure
• Modification
• Understand
• Understanding

These words have stressed syllables and weak


syllables.
Some also have strong syllables. 17
Typology of Syllable Strength
Distribution in English
• One strong syllable and one or more weak
syllables.
• S w: measure
• w S: command
• S w w: elephant
• w S w: develop

18
Typology of Syllable Strength
Distribution in English
• More than one strong syllable, only one of
them being the stressed syllable.
• s w S: understand
• S w s: architect
• s w S w: elevator
• s w S w: understanding

19
Typology of Syllable Strength
Distribution in English
• No more than two weak syllables in
succession before the stressed syllable.
• s w w S w: modification

• Three weak syllables in succession may


occur after the stressed syllable in
morphologically derived words.
• w S w w w: impenetrable
20
Strong Syllables

21
The Phonotactics of Syllable
Strength (1)

• Strong syllables may have as their peak


any single vowel sound, any diphthong or
triphthong, except the schwa.

22
Weak Syllables

23
The Phonotactics of Syllable
Strength (2)
• Weak syllables are restrictive concerning
their possible peak values. Such values
are:
• The vowel schwa – /"/.
• A syllabic consonant.
And occasionally:
• A vowel in the area of /i:/ and /i/.
• vowel in the area of /u:/ and /u/.
• The diphthong /ei/.
• The diphthong /ou/. 24
Syllabic [n]

• Burden, burdened.
• Frighten, frightened.
• Listen, listened.

25
Syllabic [l]

• Bottle, bottled.
• Muddle, muddled.
• Tunnel, tunneled.
• Wrestle, wrestled.

26

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