me Penh. PPowekres (Phone) + i/ The nature of the Syllable;[in discussing syllables, we are concerned with two kinds of facts: the structure of a syllable and the relative prominence of syllables when two or more occur in sequencé] In discussing syllable structure, we want to tell not merely the English syllables the structures of specific syllables; we want to describe what general structures are possible for English syllables and what structures are impossible. Every English syllable must have a centre or Peak (also called nucleus) an element which is obligatory in the syllable and is ,therefore (+ syllabic). NB: All vowels (simple vowels or diphthongs) occupy a syllabic position in the syllable i.e. they are at the centre of a syllable (+ syllabic). +The peak may be preceded by one or more non-sylabic elements which constitute the Onset ofthe syllable,and it may be followed by one or more non-syllabic elements which constitute the Coda of the syllable, The minimum syllable is the smallest syllable in English. It would be a simple vowel like: are /:/ or diphthong like the word eye /ax /. + Some syllables have an onset (hat is, they have more than just silence before the peak of the syllable e-8. bar /oa/ { ‘Syllables may have no onset before the peak but have a coda e.g. is/17/. +*Some syllables have onset and coda e.g. fil /il. [NB: The consonants / m,n, 1/ become syllabic consonants in certain positions. Thus, every word has as many syllables as it has syllabic elements, le: simple vowels, complex vowels and syllabic consonants. +A syllabic Consonant: a consonant that substitutes the Schwa/ 9 / when itis dropped in rapid speech. 2/ Syllable Structure in English: every language has vowel and consonant phonemes,and every language has its own common patterns in which phonemes are arranged to form larger units. In English , there are never than two vowels in sequence in a simple word (e.g, neon , poet, cruel , radio) , but clusters of two, three, © or more consonants are fairly common(.eg. prescribe, district, splints, tempts)till, not just any two, thes.or nore consonants can cluster in English. There are definite limitations or constraints on co-occurrence i.e.how many consonanis can occur in a sequence/cluster and what kind of consonants can follow each other. «The possible structure ofa single syllable in English is reffered to as “the canonical form”.Thus, we can recognize the ‘canonical form of a syllable,morpheme,or a words an item like: shring or quilt is at the same time & single syllable,a single morpheme and a single word. % Canonical forms enable us to deseribe the possible shapes of syllables,morphemes and words in a language and to ‘compare the shapes of two or more words or syllables. neon has the canonical form of CVVC(two syllables) plant has the canonical form of CCVCC(one-syllable words) etreets has the canonical form of CCCVCC (one-syllable word) NB/ for a disyllabie word (having two syllables)or polysyllabie word{more than three syllables),the canonical form must include an indication of stress by using a stress mark (vertical tick) before the stressed syllable.‘Examples: 'Comic____—_» ‘CV + CVC "bucket —_____y 'CV+CVC Arrest» v#'cvec Event ____» V+'CVCC 3/ Strong and Weak Syllables: ‘One of the most noticeable features of English is that many syllables are weak; that is true of many other languages. ‘Stress is a major factor in determining whether a syllable will be strong or weak.The main difference between strong and weak syllable is mainly a matter of “stress” i.e. Strong syllables are stressed; whereas, weak syllables are unstressed. BUT *What kind of vowels typically occur in strong and weak syllables? ‘It is very important to note that a strong syllable will have as its peak any of the simple vowels or diphthongs listed in the IPA except the Schwa/@/ To identify unstressed vowels is not always so easy. The general principle is the following: -Weak syllables can only have four types of peak: 1/ The neutral vowel /B/ ( schwa) is the most frequent unstressed vowel. 2/ The high front vowel /Z/ as in sin, the second most common vowel in weak syllables. 3/ The high back vowel /u/ as in book. 4(The syllabic consonants /m/,/n/, A *Wheri we compare weak syllables containing vowels with strong syllables, we find that the vowel in a weak syllable tends to be shorter or lower intensity/loudness and different in quality .E.g. father /£a.2352/;the second syllable which is weak is shorter than the first is less loud and has a vowel that cannot occur in a stressed syllable: /2./ schwa. ‘NB/ numerous English words contains one stressed vowel and a schwa in every unstressed syllable, Salad /'S.2€.1.d/, command/.Ka.vxend/, annoyance/Ahat.a.nS./, purpose//23.2.PaS/, suppose! SAPAIZ.../ «In longer words(polysyllabic), there is offen a sequence of “strong” and “weak” syllables alternating with one another, but not in a very regular way. Using minus(-)sign under each letter which represents the vowel of a weak syllable and a plus(+) under each vowel that stands forthe vowel ofa strong syllable. , Unider/stand/ Ame. a'5.C.2end ar /che/ ofl’ gy ask blad3-r.J, com/ prefhend/ /Komorrhend./ 4/ Syllable Division: a dictionary provides information about how a written word should be syllabified-where it can be divided in case one has to put part of it on one line and the rest on the next part. But here we are interested in speech i.e. the spoken word. Syllable division of spoken words can be indicated according to certain conventions, like the use of vertical bar (/)) to separate syllables.