SUPERSEGMENTAL PHONETICS
The syllable
Traditionally, a unit at a higher level than a phoneme, yet distinct from a morpheme and a word
This term has never been defined”, reason: no agreed phonetic definition of a syllable.
Theories about the syllable
Prominence theory:
- based on auditory judgements
- in any utterance some sounds are said to be more prominent/sonorous than others. Listeners would say that some sounds stand out.
Sonority is the effect in the ear of listener and comprises such parameters as:
-the opening of the mouth (or the obstruction of the vocal tract > the less obstructed the vocal tract, the higher sonority)
-the energy exerted during production
-the complexity of movements of articulators
Sonority hierarchy:
-VOWELS (low vowels as the most sonorous, high vowels the least sonorous)
-SEMIVOWELS
-LIQUIDS
-NASALS
-FRICATIVES
-AFFRICATES
-PLOSIVES(voiceless plosives the least sonorous; /p/ the least sonorous of all)
In an utterance the most sonorous sounds constitute peaks of sonority whereas the least sonorous sounds constitute valleys. The number of the syllables in a word can be defined after counting all peaks of sonority. The best syllable is the one in which the sonority slope rises towards the nucleus and falls after the nucleus as in plump.
PEAK
/ p l Ʌ m p /
| A good syllable | A bad syllable |
|---|---|
| The best syllable is the one in which the sonority slope rises towards the nucleus and falls after th nucleus as in pulp | Problem: the word sky has two peaks of sonority and obviously every native speaker would agree that the word has one syllable s + t, p, k |
The Chest Pulse Theory
- investigated by R. H. Stetson
-investigated by experimental methods
- based on the muscular activity controlling lung movements which takes place during speech. In any utterance, there are a number of chest pulses accompanied by increases in the air pressure which determine the number of the syllables uttered. Vowels are nuclear to the syllable and make the chest pulse audible whereas consonants occur at the onset and closure of the syllable.
PRBOLEM: where two vowels are neighbouring e.g. seeing, only one chest pulse may be observed (though linguistically the word has two syllables)
The linguistic approach
-consider the distribution of phonemes with reference to one particular language
-/ɳga/ may be an impossible syllable in English but possible in another language
The syllable structure
-onset, rhyme (nucleus, coda)
- obligatory element: nucleus
- optional: onset & coda
e.g.
cat - /kəet/
k – onset, əe – rhyme, nucleus, t – rhyme, coda
Problems with syllable counting – depending on the pronunciation variants
predatory (3 or4)
bottling/ brightening (with or without the syllabic consonant) – COMPRESION(when you don’t have syllabic /l/ or /n/)
communism (syllabicity)
meal, seal etc. – either one or two syllables (pre-L breaking)
heavier (unstressed high vowels followed by another vowel)
hire & higher – morphological structure is different
The relevance of the syllable
The history of writing: there are many writing systems in which there is only only one symbol for each syllable e.g. Japanese
Each native speaker can easily identify the number of elements of a word in most cases (through some disagreement may arise)
In first language acquisition: children tend to reduce syllables (especially unstressed ones) e.g. banana – nana
in poetry rhymes are essential
Blend and other kinds of linguistic manipulation e.g. smog = smoke + fog
Slips of the tongue e.g. dear queen > queer dean (an onset for an onset)
The irrelevance of the syllable
The lack of definition of the syllable
Uncertainty of syllable boundaries
e.g. in a word “siostra” there are two syllables but it’s hard to tell where are the boundaries
Syllabification
a) Sonority Sequencing Principle
e.g. Ma.drid, Mad.rid both choices are equally good, because they both give nice slopes
b) Maximal Onset Principle
e.g. Ma.drid, e.state – if you have two consonants in the middle of the word
c) Phonotactic Principle
e.g. butt.er – which sound can and cannot appear in a certain position, LAX vowels CAN’T appear in the open stressed syllables, this principle tells as to create legitimate syllable
d) Stressed Principle
e.g. butt.er
e) Ambisyllabicity
e.g but.ter – when a consonant belongs to both syllables at the same time
f) Intuition
e.g. bu.tter – it gives cv.cv pattern which is very natural and appears in many languages
NONE OF THIS PRINCIPLES WORK PROPERLY AT THE SAME TIME
Phonotactics
- restrictions on the occurrence of sounds in languages
THESE LIMITATION ARE CALLED: Phonotactic constrains
a) English
Singletons – a consonant appears alone
- No English (or Polish) word begins with /ƞ/
- No English word end in /j/, /w/ & /h/
- /ʒ/ in a word initial position is rare
EXCEPTION: genre
- long vowels do not occur before /ƞ/
EXCEPTION: restaurant
English initial double clusters
- mostly OBSTRUENT + SONORANT: this sequence always guarantee good sonority
- more specifically
+ PLOSIVE & LIQUID
+ PLOSIVE & SEMIVOWEL
+ FRICATIVE & LIQUID
+ FRICATIVE & SEMIVOWEL
+ /s/ & NASAL
+ /s/ & PLOSIVE – the only problem with sonority
English initial triple clusters
-max in the onset is 3
- /s/ + voiceless plosive + approximant as in: straight, squeeze
- not all potential sequences exist e.g. no /stl/
English final clusters
- less restricted e.g. 2 plosives are possible
- the longest monomorphemic cluster may contain 3 plosives
- the longest clusters with morphological boundaries may contain up to 4 consonants
b) Polish – much more difficult sequences of sounds
as perceived by non-native speakers
- Polish clusters will be difficult
e.g. przestępstw z pstrągiem – CCCCCCCCCCCC : SANDHI, clusters in contact
ptak – CC
- no Polish word begins with /y/
- less obedient in terms of sonority
SONORITY vs PROMINENCE
hid names (2 syllables) vs hidden aimes (3 syllables) though both phrases have the same number of sonority peaks
sonority ~ loudness
prominence: sonority, stress, length, pitch
Falling and rising diphthongs
Falling diphthongs: the first element is more prominent (English /aɪ/)
Rising diphthong: second element is more prominent (Portuguese pais)
Reduction/ deletion
-Reduction is the most ultimate method of simplifying a cluster. As a result one or more consonants may be deleted. Studies reveal that if a cluster consists of obstruent + sonorant sequence, it is usually the more sonorous element that get deleted.
Epenthesis
- Epenthesis consists in inserting vowel between the consonants. As a result, the cluster is broken up into two single consonants
Prothesis
- Prothesis is the insertion of a vowel in front of the cluster, When applied word initially it turns an initial cluster into a medial one, making it easier to pronounce
Substitution
- Substitution consists in replacing one consonant with another
Assimilation
- Assimilation is widely used by children. The child assimilates one consonant of the cluster to another.
Syncope
- syllable deletion
- the loss of an unstressed syllable in a word
e.g. banana