1. The point of syllable division is after the intervocalic consonant.

2. The point of syllable division is inside the intervocalic consonant.

In both cases, the first syllable remains closed according to the phonotactic rules of the English language, because the short vowel should remain checked.

The results of instrumental analysis show that the point of syllable division in words like pity, body and topic is inside the intervocalic consonant.

If we want to examine another type of consonant clusters - vowel + consonant + consonant + vowel (+ consonant) it's necessary to apply phonological criteria, the first of which might be the distribution of segmental phonemes.

Example: Agree Abrupt

In the above mentioned examples the words should be divided into syllables in the following way: - gri - br pt

because such combinations of consonants as gr, br are commisible initial clusters for the English language.

On the other hand, there are clusters that can never be found in the word initial position and consequently should be broken by a syllabic boundary.

Example: d- 'mai

There are cases when the distributional criteria may fail; in this case, when the number of the intervocalic consonants is 3 as in extra we have to state the possible points of syllable division.

Example: 'ek - str 'eks - tr 'ekst - r

It's the native speaker's intuition that could be relied on. The natural way of division is fixed in the pronunciation dictionary.

'ek str

In compound words, like t ust r k it's morphological criteria that count, because the boundaries of the syllable should correspond to morpheme boundaries and so, such cases present no difficulty from this point of view.

#3.

Syllables have two important functions: constitutive and distinctive.

1. Constitutive function lies in its ability to be a part of a word or a word itself.

Example: manuscript, postman.

The syllable forms language units of greater magnitude, i.e. words, morphemes and utterances.

In this respect two things should be emphasized:

1.The syllable is the unit within which the relations between the distinctive features of the phonemes and their acoustic correlates are revealed.

2. Within a syllable, prosodic characteristic of speech is realized, which forms the stress pattern of a word and the rhythmic and intonation structures of an utterance.

In sum, the syllable is a specific minimal structure of both segmental and suprasegmental features.

2.The other function of the syllable is its distinctive function. The syllable is characterized by its ability to differentiate words and word forms. To illustrate this, a set of minimal pairs should be found, so that qualitative or quantitative peculiarities of certain allophones should indicate the beginning or the end of the syllable.

Example: nitrate = [nai' treit]

night-rate [nait reit]

The distinction here lies in:

1. the degree of aspiration of [t] sounds, which is greater in the first member of the opposition than in the second.

2. allophonic difference of [r]. In the first opposition it's slightly devoiced under the influence of the initial [t].

3. the length of the diphthong [ ]. In the second member, it's shorter, because the syllable is closed by a voiceless plosive [t].

It can be easily seen from the example, that syllable division changes the allophonic contents of the word. The same distinction between word combinations can be illustrated by many other examples:

Example: A name- an aim

A nice house- an ice house

My skill- mice kill

May belong- may be long

Doers-do as

Towards-two words

Wrong syllable division on the articulatory level leads to inadequate perception of phrases and consequently to misunderstanding.