Different approaches to the problem of syllable.

1. Major of linguists define the syllable as a minimal pronunciation unit. (Lev Shcherba, Eduard Sievers, Stetson, Vasiliev).

This point of view is also shared by Торсуев, Потапова, Златоустова.

Syllable - basis for the higher linguistic units: morphemes, words, sentences.

2. Trubetzkoy, Мартине believe that the syllable should be referred to the prosody.

Prosodic characteristics: length, timbre, pitch, force…

This point of view is also shared by Андреева, Бершанская, Потапова, Златоустова, Лехисте, Selkirk.

3. Jan Cygan (Polish phonetician) distribute syllable clusters peculiar to a certain L.

Phonotactics is an object of consideration ( дистрибуция слоговых clusters).

In describing the phonotactics (patterning of phonemes) of English syllables, linguists have focused on absolute restrictions concerning which phonemes may occupy which slots of the syllable.

A word can’t begin with tl, it can’t end with h

Almost all scientists touch this phonological aspect of the syllable. They are interested in syllabic divisions and functions in speech production and speech perception.

This point of view is also shared by Торсуев, Беляевская.

4. complex approach – Потапова, Златоустова, Бондарко, Касевич, Прокопова.

Syllable is a complex phenomenon which has different aspects: articulation, acoustic, perceptive.

The investigation is important both of theoretical and practical points of view.

Theoretical: it may contribute to the problem of comparative linguistics.

Practical value: the knowledge of possible syllable boundaries is very important for the correct speech recognition and perception. It’s absolutely necessary for teaching purposes.

The structure of the syllable.

The energy of articulation is rising until it reaches the climax.

The syllabic sound constitute the nuclear (nucleus) - obligatory in all languages

Marginal part (what precedes the nuclear) is optional.

Википедия

Syllable structure

The general structure of a syllable consists of the following segments:

Onset (obligatory in some languages, optional or even restricted in others)

Rime

Nucleus (obligatory in all languages)

Coda (optional in some languages, highly restricted or prohibited in others)

The syllable nucleus is typically a sonorant, usually making a vowel sound, in the form of a monophthong, diphthong, or triphthong, but sometimes sonorant consonants like [l] or [r]. The syllable onset is the sound or sounds occurring before the nucleus, and the syllable coda (literally 'tail') is the sound or sounds that follow the nucleus. The term rime covers the nucleus plus coda. In the one-syllable English word cat, the nucleus is a, the onset c, the coda t, and the rime at. This syllable can be abstracted as a consonant-vowel-consonant syllable, abbreviated CVC (consonant–vowel–consonant).

In most languages it’s most vowels possible to form syllables (Russian).

In English – vowels and sonorants [l], [m], [n].

[l] is the most sonorant (cattle, middle)

[m] – lowest degree of sonority.

These 3 sonorants are capable to form syllables because their degree of sonority is higher than that of previous noise consonant.

Sand – 1 peak of sonority

Sudden [s^dn] – 2 peaks of sonority

Melt – 1 peak of sonority (1 слог)

Russian [m, l, n] are not syllabic.

9. Types of syllables. The specific character of syllable in English and Russian. Different approaches to syllable division in English. Syllabic boundaries in English and Russian. Functions of syllable. The notions of open and close juncture. Errors which occur as a result of the differences in the articulatory bases of English and Russian in terms of syllable formation and syllable division.

Syllable division.dif.aproaches.according to Russian scholars research datamost Eng syllables areclosed when there is a fortis consonant in the coda (Злотоустова) and this taked us to a problem of SD.SD is a controversial point.Two authoritative sourcesLPD(Longman pronunciation dictionary) and EPD(Cambridge pronunciation dictionary) dictionaries agree that : compounds should be divided into syllables according to the morphological principle(hard-ware) and that a single consonant which appears between two syllables after a short stressed vowel should be attached to the preceding vowel (better[‘bet-], but follow different principles in attaching a single consonant which follows along vowl or diphtong either to the first syllable or to the second one.(EPD la.dy/LPD lad.y)experemental evidence shows that following a long vowel a consonant was syllabified with the following syllable which supports EPD.as for universialprinciple of Maximal Onset whichdid not seem to workin case of a single consonant after a stressed short vowel DID WORK- the retention stage of a consonant belongs to the previous short vowel while the release is with the next syllable. In fact the boundary between two syllables runs within the medial consonant:city [‘si-ti].

Syllable function:open and closed Syllable is a minimal grouping of vowels and consonants necessary for articlation(phonetic unit) and for sorting strings of phonemes in the mental representation( phonological unit).Syllable can be defined as a complex unit made up of nuclear and marginal elements,with vowwels acting as nuclear, syllabic elements and consonants as marginal or non-syllabic. Syllable can open and closed.When a syllable eds in a vowel,with no final consonant it is open be[bi:]syllable of CV(consonant+ vowel)structure. When syllable is terminated by consonant it is closed it[it]VCstr.We can also distinguish covered (CV) from uncovered(V or VC) syllables(whether they have consonant in tne onset.If there is along vowel or diphtong or more than one consonant in rhyme(nucleus +coda)the syllable is called long or heavy. Heavysyll. Attract stress in ENGLISH.Syll with just a short vowl without a consonant-light and are normally unstressed.(the basic diff between Rus &Eng consits in the dominance of an open syllable in Russian(CV) , and closed syllable in English (CVC))

Syllable division in Eng & Russ.Languages differ in syllable structurestheyallow,in terms of how many consonants can begin or end a syllable,whether vowels can begin syllables and whether both open and closed syllables are possible . English and Russian have almost an equal number of syllable models 23 vs 21.the maximum number of consonants that can make up an Eng onset is three(the first can only be s) like splayed,strayed skewed.to this we can add that russian enjoys greater freedom and the russian syllable onset may have four(встряхнуть).In coda the number is reserved : the maximum for the russian lang is three,while Eng coda consits of root+ affixes may have four consonants(sixths)Eng and Russ also permit zero-consonant onsets(end ox он ухо).But the basic difference consists in the dominance of an open syllable in Russian(CV) , and closed syllable in English (CVC) in actual speech.According to russian scholars’ research 78% of Russian syllables are open. There is a close contact in the russian syllable between the onset consonants and the following vowels(CV) which affects the quality of vowels.In English there is a close contact between the vowel and the coda consonants(VC) which affects the lenght of vowels.

Syllable difinition,diff approaches.Syllable is a minimal grouping of vowels and consonants necessary for articlation(phonetic unit) and for sorting strings of phonemes in the mental representation( phonnological unit).Syllable can be defined as a complex unit made up of nuclear and marginal elements,with vowwels acting as nuclear,syllabic elements and consonants as marginal or non-syllabic.the notion of phonetical unit is difficult to define,no phonetician has succeeded so far in giving an adequate description of what syllable is.There have been attempts to describe it as a minimal articulatory unit in terms of “chest-pulse” theory by Stetson,sonority theory by Jespersen as an arc of muscular tension by Scherba or an arc of loudness by Zhinkin.Syllable is also a minimal prosodic unit in which prosodic features of pitch,lenght and loudness may be realized.the sylable is operational in all languages.it is a universal phenomenon.the syllable may consist of of the onset ,the nucleus and coda.the nucleus +coda coda constitute the rhyme . Syllable can open and closed.and there is an overall tendency towards open syllables.

Syllable structure.There is an overall tendency towards open syllables.No known language has only closed syllables.CV structure with a single onset consonant followed by a vowel is the most basic for human language.1) CV type syllable appear to be the syllable types that human children first uuter 2) in many cases of aphasia where post-stroke patients have suffered damage to their speech,CV syllables also appear to be first pronounce.3) languages which have both onset and coda consonants typically allow of a wider range of consonants to occur in onset positionthan coda position.(russian)4)coda consonants are much likely to undergo loss of articulation in the course of the historical development of language than onset consonants.this is what happened with [r] in cods position in many accents of english.

The next common tendency is sequences of segments are syllabified ia accordance with a sonority scale.applied to syllable structure the idea is that most sonorous element will be located within the nucleus,and that the further one gets from the nucleus,the less sonorous are the segments.another universal principle of syllabification concerns the sylabification of polysyllabic words,and is refered to as the principle of Maximal onset: more consonants are clustered at the onset position than in coda. English and Russian have almost an equal number of syllable models 23 vs 21.

But the basic difference consists in the dominance of an open syllable in Russian(CV) , and closed syllable in English (CVC) in actual speech. There is a close contact in the russian syllable between the onset consonants and the following vowels(CV) which affects the quality of vowels.In English there is a close contact between the vowel and the coda consonants(VC) which affects the lenght of vowels.

. English and Russian have almost an equal number of syllable models 23 vs 21.the maximum number of consonants that can make up an Eng onset is three(the first can only be s) like splayed, strayed skewed.

Syllables may be stressed (strong) – unstressed (weak)

Open- closed

Covered – uncovered

Long – short

V oh (open, uncovered)

CV no (open, covered)

VC own (closed, uncovered)

CVC known (closed, covered)

VC, CVC types are typical of English. (of all Germanic languages)

The closed type is the basic one in English.

In Russian the open type is typical (open syllables constitute 78%)

In old Russian there were no closed syllables at all.

Syllabic division.

It’s the universal problem. The factors that determine syllabic division are different in different languages.

Different approaches:

1. Jones’ pronunciation dictionary

2. Longman pronunciation dictionary

They use different principles for syllabic division

Jones' EPD uses maximal onset principal.

In phonology, the Maximal Onset Principle is a principle determining underlying syllable division. It states that intervocalic consonants are maximally assigned to the onsets of syllables in conformity with universal and language-specific conditions.

The English word diploma can be divided in several ways: dip.lo.ma vs. di.plo.ma. However, the only division that is in conformity with the maximal onset principle is di.plo.ma.

Longman PD follows the stress principal: wherever possible the author attaches intervocalic consonants to the stressed syllables.

part.y

1. Both dictionaries agree that stressed short vowels are only in closed syllables.

happy, man, red

2. the both agree in dividing compounds morphemically.

whitewash, headway