Definitions of the syllable

1. Definitions of the syllable

J.Kenyon: “the syllable is one or more speech sounds, forming a single
uninterrupted unit of utterance, which may be a word, or a commonly recognized
subdivision of a word.” V.A.Vassilyev :”…speech sounds are normally part of a
larger and hierarchically higher phonetic unit known as the syllable which is an
integral constituent part of a still higher language unit, the word”. According to
professor Vassilyev, a word or a word form consisting of a single vowel sound (e.g.
I, are) is also at the same time a syllable. M.A.Sokolova defines syllables as the
smallest pronounceable units, which form larger language units – morphemes,
words and phrases. Each of these units has a certain syllabic structure.
Syllable is the minimal articulated unit of speech, consisting of one or several
sounds that form a compact phonetic entity and that occur during one chest pulse.
Proponents of various theories concerning the syllable believe that a syllable is
produced by one muscular contraction, by modulation (narrowing and widening)
of the pharynx, or by the degree of sonority and the order in which sounds are
uttered.V. A. VINOGRADOV. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (19701979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Theories of syllable formation

• The oldest theory is that there are as many
syllables in a word as there are vowels. This
theory does not take into consideration
consonants that can form syllable and doesn’t
explain the boundary of syllables.

3. Expiratory or chest pulse, or pressure theory

• It was introduced by R.H.Stentson. This theory is
based on the assumption that expiration in
speech is a pulsating process and each syllable
should correspond to a single expiration so that
the number of syllables in an utterance is
determined by the number of expirations made
in the production of the utterance. But simple
calculations prove that more than ten syllables
are easily pronounced with a single expiration
and moreover, we take a new breath at the end
of a syntagma, but not for each single syllable.

4. The relative sonority theory by O.Jespersen

• By sonority we usually mean the prevalence in a
speech sound of musical tone over noise. According to
this sound property a ranking of speech sounds could
be established. This starts with the open vowels as the
most sonorous, then come the mid vowels, the close
vowels, the sonorants, the voiced fricatives, the voiced
plosives, the voiceless fricatives and ends with the
voiceless plosives as the least sonorous. Sounds are
grouped around the most sonorous ones that form the
peaks of sonority in a syllable. Two points of lower
sonority constitute the beginning and the end of one
syllable (e.g. plant).

5. The theories of syllable division by L.V. Shcherba

• In order to determine the principle of syllable
division and to draw a line between two
adjoining syllables, L.V.Shcherba used two
theories:
• the muscular tension theory;
• the three types of consonants theory.

6. The theory of muscular tension by L.V. Shcherba

• In most languages there is a syllabic phoneme in the center of the
syllable which is usually a vowel phoneme, or in some languages a
sonorant. The phonemes, preceding or following the syllable peak
are called marginal. The energy, that is the tension of articulation,
increases within the range of prevocalic consonants and then
decreases within the range of postvocalic consonants. Therefore
the syllable can be defined as an arc of articulatory (muscular)
tension.
In speaking, muscular tension impulses follow one another. Each
impulse has its strongest point – the peak of prominence. Valleys of
prominence correspond to points of syllable division. The end of
one syllable and the beginning of the next syllable division. The end
of one syllable and the beginning of the next can be ascertained by
determining the type of consonants.

7. the three types of consonants theory

Consonants may be of three types:
initially strong;
finally strong;
geminate (or double).
So, these consonants may be pronounced in three different ways:
the beginning of a consonant may be more energetic, while the end may be
weaker (initially strong consonant);
the beginning of a consonant may be weak, and its end – more energetic (finally
strong consonant)
a consonant may be pronounced in such a way that both the beginning and the
end are energetic with a weakening of muscular tension in the middle
(acoustically, they give the impression of two consonants and are referred to as
geminate consonants).
The more energetic part of a consonant is attached to a vowel, so that initially
strong consonants occur at the end of a close syllable, while finally strong
consonants occur at the beginning of syllable.

8. Three types of consonants

initially strong consonants – it, us, oath, add;
finally strong consonants – may, tea, new;
geminate (double) consonants – penknife, what time; midday meal.
Geminate double consonants are strong at both ends and weak in the
middle and usually occur at the juncture of words or morphemes, its first
part the downward slope of the preceding syllable and the second
constituting the upward slope of the preceding one: [‘gud ‘dei].
Phonologically a double-peaked geminated consonant represents two
successive allophones of the same phoneme.
Initially strong consonants follow short vowels, while finally strong
consonants follow long vowels or diphthongs. Acoustically, finally strong
consonants produce the impression of an intimate blend between the
consonant and the vowel that follows.
Not a tall one – not at all one
A name – an aim

9. Loudness theory by prof. N.I. Zhinkin

• Professor N.I.Zhinkin proclaimed his loudness theory.
Syllable are due to the rise and fall in loudness. Every
phoneme possesses a specific inherent loudness which
manifests itself when sounds are pronounced in
sequences. Syllables are due to “curves of loudness”
(arcs of loudness), not to any other causes. The
inherent loudness of phonemes is not to be confused
with their inherent sonority. Loudness depends on the
degree of noise and musical sound in the phoneme.
According to N.I.Zhinkin, loudness is regulated in the
lower part of the pharynx with the help of epiglottis.

10. Syllable formation

• Syllable formation in English is based on the
phonological opposition vowel – consonant.
Vowels are usually syllabic while consonants
are not, with the exception of [l], [m], [n],
which become syllabic if they occur in an
unstressed final position preceded by a noise
consonant, for example, little, garden.

11. The types of syllables

• The structure of the syllable may vary because of the number and
arrangement of consonants. In English four types of syllables are
distinguished.
• 1. open
CV: no
• 2. closed
VC: odd
• 3. covered CV(C): note
• 4. uncovered
V(c): oh, oak
• Syllables are closed when they end in a consonant and open when
they end in a vowel. They are uncovered when they begin with a
vowel and covered when they begin with a consonant. The most
common syllable structure, found in all languages of the world, is
consonant followed by vowel.
• The English language has developed the closed type of syllable as
the fundamental one while in Russian it is the open type that forms
the basis of syllable formation.

12. The structure of syllables

syllable
onset
rhyme
peak
coda

13. Syllabic structure (according to Y. Torsuev)

• 1) fully open, consisting of one vowel: “or”
• 2) fully closed, consisting of a vowel between
consonants: “bit”
• 3) initially covered, consisting of a consonant
or sequence of consonants before a vowel:
“spy”
• 4) finally covered, consisting of a vowel
completed by one or more consonants:“act”

14. Maximum phonological structure

Pre-initial, initial,
post-initial
• onset
vowel
Pre-final, final,
post-final 1, 2, 3
• coda

15. Phonotactics

• The syllabic structure of a language like its phonemic
structure, is patterned, which means that the sounds of
language can be grouped into syllables according to
certain rules. The part of phonetics that deals with this
aspect of language is called phonotactics. Phonotactic
possibilities of a language determine the rules of
syllable division. Phonotactics is the part of phonology
that studies the characteristics of phoneme sequences
or clusters. There are different restrictions on the
possible consonant clusters. Clusters [mh, sr, fs, hr, pt,
ml] never occur initially, [tn, dn, stl] never occur finally.

16. Pre-initial consonants

• Pre-initial [s] may be followed by [p], [t],[k],
[f], [m], [n], e.g. spin, stick, skin, sphere, smell,
snow.

17. Post-initial consonants

• Post-initial [l] may be preceded by [p], [k], [b],
[g], [f], [s]: play, clay, black, glue, fly, slip
• [r] may be preceded by [p], [t], [k], [b], [g], [t],
[θ]: prey, try, cry, bring, drip, grin, fry, throw,
shred
• [j] may be preceded by [p], [t], [k], [b], [d], [f],
[s], [h], [v], [m], [n], [l]:

18. The problem of syllable division

• In the English language the problem of syllable division
exists only in the case of intervocalic consonants and
their clusters like in the words city, agree, extra. In the
word “city” the first syllable remains closed according
to the phonotactic rules of the English language,
because the short vowel should remain checked. To be
able to determine the syllabic boundary in VCCV type,
e.g. “agree” it is necessary to apply phonological
criteria, the first of which might be the distribution of
segmental phonemes. In the above-mentioned
example the word should be divided a-gree, because
gr- is a permissible initial cluster in English.

19. The peculiarities of the syllabic structure in the English language

• syllabic boundary is inside intervocalic consonants preceded by
vowels, for example: Betty, racket, money, hotter;
• syllable boundary is before an intervocalic consonant if it is not
preceded by the above-mentioned vowels, for example: later,
speaker;
• the sonorants [l], [m], [n] are syllabic if they are preceded by noise
consonants, e.g. little, blossom, sudden;
• there cannot be more than one vowel (a diphthong or a
monophthong) within one syllable;
• the typical and most fundamental syllabic structure is of (c) VC type
• word final consonants are normally of weak-end type.