Download What do we mean by phonetics as a science

SYLLABLE FORMATION
A syllable is a speech unit consisting of a sound or a sound sequence one of which is heard to be more
prominent than the others. The most prominent sound being the peak or the nucleus of a syllable is
called s y l l a b i c . Syllabic sounds are generally vowels (monophthongs, diphthongoids and
diphthongs) and sonorants. The latter become syllabic when joined to a preceding consonant. A
syllabic sonorant is marked by the sign ["], e.g. ["l], ["n], ["m], if it is necessary to show in phonetic
transcription.
A word consisting of only one vowel sound represents a separate syllable, e.g. I [ai]; are [a:]; or [L];
awe [L]. In the case of a diphthong the peak of the syllable is formed by its nucleus.
Among syllabic sonorants we find [l, n], and less commonly [m], e.g.:
apple ['xpl], trouble ['trAbl], puzzle ['pAzl]|, middle ["mIdl].
Many words in English such as parcel, level, special, person and the like could be pronounced with the
neutral vowel before the sonorant thus making it non-syllabic:
['pRsql], ['levql], ['speSql], ['pWsqn].
In all these words the second prominent sound or the peak is formed by [q] corresponding to some
vowel letter in an unstressed position before the sonorant. Moreover some words in English not having
any vowel-letter before the final sonorant may also be pronounced in both ways, e.g.
puzzle ['pAzl] —['pAzql]; ruffle ['rAfl] — ['rAfql].
On the other hand many words having a vowel-letter before the final sonorant are pronounced without
the neutral vowel, whereby the sonorant is syllabic, e.g. garden ['gRdn]; lesson ['lesn]; pupil ['pjHpl].
The words with the sonorant [m] blossom ['blPsm], rhythm ['rIDm] are more often pronounced with
the neutral vowel ['blPsqm], ['rIDqm].
So if a sonorant is preceded by a vowel sound it loses its syllabic character and the syllable is formed
by the vowel.
Since no rules can be formulated as to which words spelt with a vowel letter before the final sonorant
may be pronounced with a neutral vowel sound in the last syllable, the learner of English is
recommended to make the final sonorant always syllabic in such words.
He must also be careful to make the sonorant [n] always syllabic in the contracted negative forms of
auxiliary and modal verbs, e.g. ['Iznt] isn’t, ['wPznt] wasn’t, ['dIdnt] didn’t, ['mAsnt] mustn’t, etc.
The sonorants may often lose their syllabic character when they occur in the middle of a word before a
vowel belonging to a suffix, e.g.
Syllabic sonorants
Non-syllabic sonorants
2
['drIzl] drizzle
—
['drIzlIN] drizzling
['Tretn] threaten
—
['TretnIN] threatening
Every syllable has a definite structure, or form, depending on the kind of speech-sound it ends in.
There are two types of syllables distinguished from this point of view.
(1) A syllable which ends in a vowel sound is called an open syllable, e.g. [aI] I, [hJ] he, [DeI] they,
['raI-tq] writer.
(2) A syllable which ends in a consonant sound is called a closed syllable, e.g. [It] it, ['hAn-drqd]
hundred, [mxn] man.
SYLLABLE DIVISION
Inseparably connected with syllable formation is the second aspect of the syllabic structure of words,
namely syllable division, or syllable separation, i.e. the division of words into syllables.
Correct syllable division at the junction of words may be of phonological importance in English, as
wrong syllable division in this case may lead to the confusion of one word with another, or to a
phonological mistake. For example, the sequence of the English speech-sounds [q], [n], [eI] and [m]
pronounced with the point of syllable division between the neutral vowel [q] and the consonant [n]
means a name [q'neIm], while the same sequence of sounds pronounced with the point of syllable
division between the consonant [n] and the diphthong [eI] means an aim [qn'eIm]. Compare also
[q'naIs 'haVs] a nice house – [qn 'aIs 'haVs] an ice house, [Si 'sL Dq "mJt] she saw the meat – [Si 'sL
Dqm "Jt] she saw them eat. It is clear from these examples that correct syllable division is just as
important as correct articulation of speech-sounds.
The division of English words into syllables is governed by the following principal rules.
Because of their weak off-glide the English long monophthongs, diphthongs and the unstressed short
vowels [I], [q], [V] always occur in a phonetically open syllable (that is to say, the point of syllable
division is immediately after them) when they are separated from a following syllabic sound by only
one consonant, e.g. ['mJ-tIN] meeting, ['R-mI] army, ['L-dI-nq-rI-lI] ordinarily, ['vOI-sIz] voices, [tV
'Jt] to eat.
A short stressed vowel in the same position, i.e. when separated from a following syllabic sound by
only one consonant, always occurs in a closed syllable, the syllable boundary being within the
consonant, e.g. ['sItI] city, ['menI] many, ['spxnIS] Spanish, ['stAdI] study, ['lItl] little.
It is in such words that the checked закрытый character of the English short stressed vowels is
especially manifest очевидный.