UNIVERSIDADE PEDAGÓGICA

Quelimane branch

Department of Language Sciences, Communication and Arts

ENGLISH SYLLABLE
– PHONETICS AND
PHONOLOGY
Carlitos Bernabé Baixone
When we speak we notice that there are levels of sounds
that come with pressure of air and some not. In this respect
we are dealing with syllables in which the nucleus sounds
comparatively loud than others surrounded words. That is,
words that come before and after the nucleus have less
loud sound.
HP

Mozambique, Quelimane
avenue: Julios Nyerere

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No fax number

12-11-2015
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Contents pages

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..…3
2. English syllable……………………………………………………………………….…...4
2.1. Definition…………………………………………………………………………….…...4
2.2. The nature of the syllable……………………………………………………………...….4
2.3. The structure of the English syllable…………………………………………...………...5
2.4. Strong and weak syllables…………………………………………………...……………6
2.4.1. The vowel ǝ (schwa)………………………………………………………………….7
2.5. Syllabic consonant………………………………………………………………………..7
2.5.1. Syllabic l………………………………………………………………………………7
2.5.2. Syllabic n……………………………………………………………………………...8
2.5.3. Syllabic m, ŋ…………………………………………………………………………..9
2.5.4. Syllabic r………………………………………………………………………………9
2.5.5. Combination of syllabic consonant………………………………………………….10
3. Conclusion……………………………………………………………….………………11
Bibliography……………………………………………………………….…………….12
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1. Introduction

It is believed that syllable is a very important unit, that is, it is found in all languages and in all
words. Most of us think that even by not knowing what a syllable is, we can identify or count
how many syllables are in a certain word. It could perhaps be helpful, but we will find
difficulties on dividing the syllables accurately. So, we will need knowledge of it.

However, in this group assignment, we will focus on the syllable, starting with some definitions
for better understanding. One of the important things to do in this work is look at the nature of
the syllable that should really help us on identifying the syllables. Furthermore, we will be
concentrated on the structure of English syllable which is a very important aspect on dividing the
syllables looking at their phonemes. On the same aspect, we will look at the weak and strong
syllables, that is, where sure is most used and where it is not.

Finally, we consider the syllabic consonant, than can form a vowel, or which can also be used
instead of vowel to form a syllable. These all issues are going to be discussed along the work. At
the end of this group work is found the sources used to the elaboration of this work.
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2. English syllable
2.1. Definition

Roach (1998:67) states that the syllable is a very important unit in both Phonetics and
Phonology.

Skandera and Burleigh (2005:65) sustain that syllable can be probably defined as the smallest
rhythmic unit of spoken language, for example, or a unit that is typically larger than a single
sound smaller than a word. So, they believe that the syllable can be defined in different ways.

Crystal (1985:164) believes that syllable is an element of speech that acts as a unit of rhythm,
which is noticeable in English pronunciation and consisting of a vowel, a syllable consonant or a
vowel plus consonant combination. On the other hand, Hancock (2003:50) beliefs that a syllable
is often described as a group of one or more sounds with a peak or nucleus.
Forel and Puskás (2005:35) affirm that in English a syllable consists of a phoneme or sequence
of phonemes. If the syllable receives word stress it can be associated with meaning and form
what is usually called a word.

For us, syllable is the unit which sounds loud in a spoken word, formed normally by a nucleus,
which stands as the centre of the syllable.

2.2. The nature of the syllable

Roach (1998:67) states that phonetically, we look at the way we produce the syllable and the
way they sound, we will notice that syllables are usually described as consisting of a centre
which has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud. However,
before and after this centre (that is, at the beginning and end of the syllable), there will be greater
obstruction to airflow and/or less loud sound. In the same aspect, Skandera and Burleigh
(2005:67) sustain that phonetically, a syllable can be described as having a centre, also called
peak or nucleus, which is produced with little or no obstruction of air, and is therefore usually
formed by a vowel ( either a monophthong or diphthong).

Phonological involves looking at the possible combination of English Phonemes. It is simplest to

start by looking at what can occur in the initial position. In other words, what can occur at the
beginning of the first word when we begin to speak after a pause. We find that the word can
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begin with a vowel, or with one, two, or three consonants. No word begins with more than three
consonants. In the same way, we can look at how a word ends when it is the last word spoken
before a pause; it can end with a vowel, or with one, two, three or (in a small number of cases)
four consonants. No word ends with more than four consonants (Roach, 1998:67).

2.3. The structure of the English syllable

Technically, the basic elements of the syllable are the onset (one or more consonants) and the
rhyme. The rhyme (sometimes written as ‘rime’) consists of a vowel, which is treated as the
nucleus, plus any following consonant(s), described as the coda. Syllables like, the / ðǝ/ or were /
wǝ/ have an onset and a nucleus, but no coda. They are known as ‘open’ syllables. When a coda
is present, as in the syllables on /ɒn/, up /ʌp/ or of / ǝv/, they are called ‘closed’ syllables,
because the coda is present. (Yule, 2006:47).
Example 1: sue /su:/ CV- open
Example 2: bean /bi:n/ CVC- closed
The structure of the syllable can be shown as follows:

(Roach, 1998:73)

Both the onset and coda can consist of more than one consonant, also known as a consonant
cluster. The combination /st/ is a consonant cluster (CC) used in the word stop, and as coda in the
word past. There are many CC onset combinations permitted in English phonotactics, as in
blank, bread, trick, twin, flat and throw. Note that liquids (/l/, /r/) and glide (/w/) are being used
in second position. English can actually have larger onset clusters, as in the words stress and
splat, consisting of three initial consonants (CCC). The phonotactics of these larger onset
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consonant clusters is not too difficult to describe. The first consonant must always be /s/, formed
by one of the voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, /k/) and then one of these liquids or glides (/l/, /r/, /w/).
(Yule 2006:47).

Example, in the words like structure /strʌkʧǝ/, split /splIt and screed /skri:d/ have larger onset
consonant clusters.

2.4.Strong and weak syllables

One of the most noticeable features in English is that many syllables are weak. Then
phoneticians have found that it is useful to make separate syllables that have more prominent
nucleus, that is, which is normally pronounced loud, and less prominent nucleus, because of this,
they divided the syllables into strong (have more prominent nucleus) and weak (have less
prominent nucleus).

Some authors like Smith (1982:10) uses the terms “heavy” and “long” when referring to a strong
syllable and the terms “light” and “short” when referring to a weak syllable. On the other hand,
Crystal (2003:493) affirms that syllables can be metrically “heavy” or “light”, in this case
accepting Smith’s idea on the concept of “heavy” and “long”. Furthermore, Crystal (2003:493)
sustained that a light syllable is one whose rhyme comprises a short vowel nucleus alone or
followed by a coda of no more than one short consonant, thus it has the structure CV or CVC, in
which “C” represents ‘consonant’ and “V” is the sort representation of “vowel”.

The stress is a major factor in determining whether a syllable is strong or weak, so, these two
types of syllables can be described in part in terms of stress since they are closely associated with
this aspect. We could describe them partly in terms of stress by saying, for example, that strong
syllables are stressed and weak syllable are unstressed, but until we describe what “stress” means
such a description would not be very useful. The most important thing to note at present is that
any strong syllable will have as its peak one of the vowel phonemes (or possibly a triphthong)
but not ǝ (“Schwa”). Weak syllables, on the other hand, as they are being defined here, can only
have four types of peak.

i) The vowel ǝ “schwa”;

ii) A close front unrounded vowel in the general area of i: and I;
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iii) A close back rounded vowel in the general area of u: and ʊ;

iv) A syllabic consonant.

When we compare weak syllable containing vowels with strong syllables, we find the vowel in a
weak syllable tends to be shorter, of lower intensity and different in quality. For example, in the
word ‘father’ /f'a:ðǝ/ the second syllable, which is weak, is shorter than the first, is less loud and
has a vowel that cannot occur in strong syllables. In a word like “bottle” / bɒtl / the weak second
syllable contains no vowel at all, but consists entirely of the consonant l. we call this a syllabic
consonant (Roach, 1998:75).

2.4.1. The vowel ǝ (“schwa”)

The most frequent occurring vowel in English is ǝ, which is always associated with weak
syllables. In quality it is mid (that is, half-way between close and open) and central (that is, half-
-way between front and back. It is generally described as lax, that is, not articulated with much
energy. Of course, the quality of this vowel is not always the same, but the variation is not
important.

Not all weak syllables contain ǝ, though many do. Learners of English need to learn where ǝ is
appropriated and where it is not. To do this we often have to use information that traditional
phonemic theory would not accept as relevant. We must consider spelling (Roach, 1998:76).

2.5. Syllabic Consonant

We must also consider syllables in which no vowel is found. In this case, a consonant, either l, r
or a nasal, stands as the centre of the syllable instead of the vowel. It is usual to indicate that a
consonant is syllabic by means of a small vertical mark, for example “cattle”/ kæt!/

2.5.1. Syllabic l

Syllabic l is perhaps the most noticeable example of the English syllabic consonant, though it
would be wrong to expect to find it in all accents.

It occurs after another consonant, and the way it is produced depends to some extent on the
nature of that consonant. If the preceding consonants is alveolar, as in “bottle” bɒtl, “muddle”
mʌdl, “tunel” tʌnl, the articulatory movement from the preceding consonant to the syllabic l is
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quite simple. The sides of the tongue, which are raised for the preceding consonant, are lowered
to allow air to escape over them (this is called lateral release). The tip and blade of the tongue do
not move until the articulatory contact for the l is released. (Roach, 1998:79)

We also find syllabic l in words spelt with, at the end, one or more consonant letters followed by
“al” or “el”, for example:

‘panel’ pænl

‘pedal’ pedl

In some less common or more technical words, it is not obligatory to pronounce syllabic l and
the sequence ǝl may be used instead, though it is less likely: “missal” /misǝl/; ‘acquittal’ /ǝkwItl/
or /ǝkwItǝl/.

2.5.2. Syllabic n

Of the syllabic nasals, the most frequent found and the most important is n. A general rule could
be made that weak syllables which are phonologically composed of a plosive or fricative
consonant plus ǝn are uncommon except in initial position in the words. So we can find words
like ‘tonight’ /tǝnait/, ‘canary’ /kǝneǝri/ with an /ǝ/ before /n/, but medially and finally, as in
words like ‘threaten’, ‘threatening’, we find more commonly a syllabic n: /θretn/, /θretnIŋ/.
Syllabic n is most common after alveolar plosives and fricatives, in the case of t and d followed
by n the plosive is nasally released by lowering the soft palate, so that in the word ‘eaten’ /i:tn/,
for example, the tongue does not move in the /tn/ sequence but the soft palate is lowered at the of
/t/ so that compressed air escapes through the nose. We do not find /n/ after /l/ or /ʧ/, /dʒ/, so that
for example “sullen” must be pronounced /sʌlǝn/, ‘Christian’ as /krisʧǝn/ (though this word may
be pronounced with /t/ plus /i/ or /j/ instead of /ʧ/ and “pigeon” as /pidʒǝn/.

After /f/ or /v/, syllabic n, is more common than /ǝn/ (except as with the other cases described, in
word-initial syllables). Thus ‘seven’, ‘heaven’, ‘often’, are more usually /sevn/, /hevn/, /ɒfn/ than
/sevǝn/, /hevǝn/, /ɒftǝn/. (Roach, 1998:80)
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2.5.3. Syllabic m, ŋ

We find them sometimes in words like ‘happen’, which can be pronounced / hæpm/, though
/hæpn/ and /hæpǝn/ are equal acceptable, and ‘uppermost’ which could be pronounced as
/ʌpmaʊst/ though /ʌpǝmǝʊst/ would be more usual. Examples of possible syllabic velar nasals
would be “thicken” /θIkŋ/ (where /θIkǝn/ are also possible), and ‘broken key’ /brǝʊkŋ ki:/, where
the nasal consonant occurs between velar consonants (again, /n/ or /ǝn/ could be substituted for
/ŋ/). (Roach, 1998:81)

2.5.4. Syllabic r

In many accents of the type called “rhotic”, such as most American accents, syllabic r is very
common. The word ‘particular’ for example, would probably be pronounced prtikjǝlr by most
Americans, while RP speakers would pronounce this word pǝtikjǝlǝ. Syllable /r/ is less common
in RP and in most cases where it occurs there are perfectly acceptable alternative pronunciations
without the syllabic consonant. Here are some examples:

a) Where non-syllabic /r/ is also acceptable

‘History’ hIstri or hIstri (not usually hIstǝri)
‘Wanderer’ wɒndrǝ or wɒndrǝ (not usually wɒndǝrǝ).
b) Where non-syllabic r is also acceptable
“buttering” bʌtrIŋ or bʌtǝrIŋ (not usually bʌtrIŋ).
‘flattery’ flætri or flætǝri ( not usually flætri).

It seems that type (a) concerns cases where more than one consonant precedes the weak syllable
in question, and type (b) where there is only one consonant preceding. There are few pairs of
words (minimal pairs) in which a difference in meaning appears to depend on whether a
particular /r/ is syllabic or not, for example.

‘Hungary’ hʌŋgri ‘hungry’ hʌŋgri

‘adulterous’ ǝdʌltrǝs ‘ adultress’ ǝdʌltrǝs

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But we find no case of syllabic r where it would not be possible to substitute either non-syllabic r
(type a) or ǝr (type b); in the example above, ‘hungry’ could equally well be pronounced hʌŋgǝri
and ‘adulterous’ as ǝdʌltrǝrǝs (Roach, 1998:81).

2.5.5. Combination of syllabic consonant

It is not unusual to find two syllabic consonant together. Examples are “national” næʃnl “literal”
lItrl “visionary” vIʒnri “ veteran” vetrn. It is important to remember that it is often possible to
say with certainty wheteher a speaker has pronounced a syllabic consonant, a non-syllabic
consonant or a non-syllabic consonant plus ǝ. For example, the word “veteran” given above
could be pronounced in other ways than vetrn. An RP speaker might instead say vetrǝn, vetǝrn or
vetǝrǝn. The transcription makes it looks as if the difference between these words was clear, it is
not. (Roach:1998:82).
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3. Conclusion

During the group work, we have learned that in English a syllable consists of a phoneme or a
sequence of phonemes. While dividing the syllables we do not look at the letters that a given
word has or contains, but the phonemes. No word in English can consist of anything less than a
syllable and no syllable can consist of anything less than a vowel.

Each vowel has the possibility of constituting a syllable (hence a monosyllabic word) by itself
whereas this is never possible for a consonant. This is the great phonological distinction between
vowels and consonants. But not all English vowels form a word by themselves. / ʊǝ/ for istance,
is not an existing English word. However, what matters is that it could be a word.

We have learned that most English syllables consist of more than one vowel. We must examine
what they can consist of, because it is not sufficient to add any consonant or group of consonants
to a vowel to get an English syllable. For example: /pteI/ is not a syllable of English whereas
/pleI/ and /steI/ are.
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Bibliography
CRYSTAL, D. (1985). What is linguistics? London: Edward Arnold.

CRYSTAl, D. (2003). A dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Oxfor: Blackwell.

FOREL, Claire-A. and PUSKÁS, G. Phonetics and Phonology. Geneva, University of Geneva,
2005.

ROACH, P. English Phonetics and Phonology. 2nd ed., UK, CUP, 1998.

SKANDERA, P., and BURLEIGH, P. A manual of English Phonetics and Phonology. Bindung,
Gunter Narr Verlag, 2005.

SMITH, N. (1982). The structure of Phonological Representation. (Part 11). Dordrecht: Foris
Publication.

YULE, G., The study of Language. 3rd ed., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006.