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Сеттарова М. Д.

SYLLABIFICATION IN PHONOLOGY

The given abstract deals with syllabification theory in the English language. Theories of speech production generally agree that syllables play a role in speech production planning, however, there is disparity at what level syllables come into play. While some researchers assume that syllables are an inherent part of the lexicalized word forms, others argue that syllables emerge during context-dependent online syllabification processes and are separately stored and retrieved at a post-lexical level. Frequency effects are generally viewed as a characteristic of stored representations and effects of syllable frequency would therefore support the assumption of a separate storage of syllables.

Before preceding to syllabification subject it’s worthy mentioning the structure of the phonological syllable itself:

Syllable

Onset Rhyme

Nucleus Coda

Syllabification is usually taken to be a categorical process in phonology. This is, however, in contradiction with a variety of experimental results, which suggest a more fluid syllabification, with consonants being variably associated with the preceding segment (coda), the following one (onset) or both. The phonetic literature also stresses the difficulty in finding stable phonetic correlates for syllable boundaries or constituents; recent work [4] rather suggests the existence of cues to the syllabic affiliation of consonants. These gaps between theory and experimental data may be interpreted in at least three ways: (1) the syllable is not a relevant theoretical concept [3]); (2) the gaps reflect a distinction between different levels of syllabification (phonetic and phonological); (3) the experimental results do not reflect the subjects’ syllabification rules.

Marie-Helene Cote considers that syllabification is a gradient surface process and that the (intra- and inter-speaker) variation observed is real and linguistically relevant. This principle also accounts for and unifies a number of tendencies observed in syllabification:

• Consonants tend to associate with the following segment more than the preceding one, as a consequence of a perceptual asymmetry between onsets and offsets of acoustic signals [7]. The onset maximization principle, including the unmarked status of CV, and the syllable contact law [6] may be interpreted as following from this tendency. Interestingly, Tabain & al. observe that the CV-VC asymmetry is more pronounced in English than in Arrernte , a language exceptionally analyzed as VC [5].

• Consonants are attracted to more salient segments, which provide stronger perceptual cues: vowels more than other consonants, stressed vowels more than unstressed ones, phonetically longer vowels more than shorter ones.

• Sonorants appear more easily than obstruents in coda position as a result of coarticulation between a sonorant and a preceding vowel being more salient than coarticulation between an obstruent and a preceding vowel. Among obstruents , stops associate with the preceding vowel more than fricatives, due to their weaker internal cues that make them more dependent upon contextual cues. Among stops, further notices a contrast between intervocalic [pt] ( reptile ).

Also in conclusion it’s significant to note that:

· all phonological words must contain at least one syllable, and hence must contain at least one vowel.

· Sequences of repeated consonants are not possible.

· The velar nasal / ng / never occurs in the onset of a syllable.

· The glottal fricative /h/ never occurs in the coda of a syllable.

· The affricates / ts / and / dz /, and the glottal fricative /h/ do not occur in complex onsets.

· The first consonant in a two-consonant onset must be an obstruent.( p,t,k , d, f, g)

· The second consonant in a two-consonant onset must not be a voiced obstruent( препятствующий ).

· If the first consonant of a two-consonant onset is not an /s/, the second consonant must be a liquid or a glide as /l/, /r/, /w/, or /j/

· Every subsequence contained within a sequence of consonants must obey all the relevant phonotactic rules.

· No glides in syllable codas.

· The second consonant in a two-consonant coda cannot be / ng /, /d/, /r/, /3/.

· If the second consonant in a complex coda is voiced, the first consonant in the coda must also be voiced.

· When a non-alveolar nasal is in a coda together with a non-alveolar obstruent, they must have the same place of articulation, and obstruent must be a voiceless stop.

· Two obstruents in a coda together must have the same voicing.

References:

1. Barry, W., C. Klein & S. Koser (1999) Speech production evidence for ambisyllabicity in German. Phonus , 1999. – C . 87-102

2. Delgutte , B. The handbook of phonetic sciences , Oxford : Blackwell, 1997. – C. 507-538.

3. Kohler, K.J. Is the syllable a phonological universal? Journal of linguistics 2 : 1966. – C. 207-208.

4. Krakow , R. Physiological organization of syllables : a review, Journal of phonetics 27 : 1999. – C. 23-54.

5. Tabain , M., G. Breen & A. Butcher VC vs. CV syllables : a comparison of Aboriginal languages with English, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 : 2004. – C . 175-200.

6. Vennemann , Theo Preference laws for syllable structure and the explanation of sound change , Berlin : Mouton de Gryuter , 1988.

7. Wright, R.A. A review of perceptual cues and cue robustness, in B. Hayes, R. Kirchner & D. Steriade (red.) Phonetically based phonology , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2004. C . 34-57.