SYLLABLES

PRESENTED BY :
SARA FRIMAULIA
SYLVIA F BANGUN

SYLLABLE
S

The next higher

unit than the
phonem

PHONEM
E

A Minimal constractive
unit of sound .
/m/, //, /n/

MAN - /Mn/

Count the syllables in a word

MONOSYLLAB
LE

Examples:
Rat - /Rt/
Cat - /Ct/
Cheap
/Tip/
Pause
/Pz/
School
/Skul/

DYSYLLABLES

TRISYLLABLE

Examples:
REDEEM - /rI-di:m/

Wo-men /stjupd/
pro-file - /profal/
mea-sure/mer/

Examples:
Hu-ma-nist - /hju-mnst/
E-ner-gy -/ e-nr-di/
Visitor -/ v-z-tr/
Exercise/ek-sr-saz/

Component o f
Syllable
Syllable
ONSE
T
CONSONA
NT

RHYME

NUCLEU
S

CODA

Component o f
Syllable with
example
Syllable
BAT
/bt/
ONSE
T
/b/
CONSONA
NT
/b/

RHYME
/t/

NUCLEU
S

//

CODA
/t/

Structural Properties of the

syllable

Parts

Description

Optionali
ty

-
Optional
Onset

Initial segment of a
syllable

Nucleu Central segment of Obligatory

s
a
syllable

Identify the Onset and Coda

N
o
1
2

Onset

Coda

/p/
/pr/

Pie /pai/
Pray /prei/

/p/
/pt/

3
4
5
6
7

/pl/
/l/
/cr/
/fl/
/tr/

Play /plei/
liquids /likwid/
Crash /kr
Flash /fl
Tray/trei/

/ps/
/plz/
/lpt/
/ks/
/ndz/

Stop /stop/
Stopped
/stopt/
Stops /stops/
Nipples /niplz/
Helped /helpt/
Banks /bks/
Bonds /bndz/

/br/

Bran /brn

/lf/

9
1
0

/dr/
/gr/

Drain /drein/
Grain /grein/

/fs/
/kst/

Twelfth/twelf
/
Fifths /fifs/
Next /nekst/

English syllables require a

nucleus, which is usually a
vowel, and optionally onset or
coda,
which
are
usually
consonants
or
consonant
clusters. In case they have an
onset, English Syllables may
start with 1, 2 or 3 consonants.

Consonant Cluster

1. s + (initial)p,t,k,f,m,n,w,l,y,r/ s:pre-initial/others :initial

2. s + other consonants+ (post-initials)l,r,w,j=preinitial+initial+post-initials

In the following words, the onset is in bold; the rest
underlined. readfopstrap
The consonant clusters which constitute the coda are
also not arbitrarily formed, they can be described as:
any consonant except for h,r,w,j may be final
consonant. There may be two kinds of Final Cluster :
pre-final
+final/final
+
post
final,
Prefinals(m,n,nasal,l,s : bump, belt) / Post-finals (s, z, t,
d,/q/:bets, beds)

Syllables of English can be

open or closed,

OPE
N
CLOS
ED

if a syllable ends
with a vowel
(i.e.CV, CVV)

if it ends with a
consonant or a
consonant cluster
(i.e. CVC, VCC

So, the structural formula for the English

Syllable can be drawn as:
Pre-initial + Initial + Post-initials
-Vowel - Pre-final + Final+ Post-final
or(C) (C) (C) V (C) (C) (C) (C)

STRUCTURE

EXAMPLES

/ai/

VC

ALL

/l/

CVC

GIRL

CCCV

STRAW

/str/

CCCVCC

SPRAINED

/spren/

CVCCCC

TEMPTS

/tempt/

/l/

Exercises

1. Mark the syllable boundaries in the following words. In

each case,
what led to your decision in placing the boundary there?
You should
consider the contribution of the Sonority Sequencing
Generalisation,
Onset Maximalism, and syllable weight. danger,
unstable, anxious, discipline, narrow, beyond, bottle,
bottling

Answer
1.
dan.ger
Onset
Maximalism
might suggest da.nger, but
there are no *[nd] initial clusters
in English.
un.sta.ble [st] is a permissible
initial cluster; *[nst] is not, so
the syllable division must be
between [n] and [s]. However,
note that [s] is higher in sonority
than [t], so there is a violation of
the
Sonority
Sequencing
Generalisation. In the third
syllable, [l] is the nucleus (or for

an[k.]ious Final [k] is common in English (thank,

sink ), but not initial *[k].
discipline On the grounds of Onset Maximalism, the
syllabification should be di.sci.pline; but then the first
two syllables would be light, and the first is stressed.
There is likely to be ambisyllabicity between the first
and second syllables therefore, giving dis.sci.pline.
nar.row Another case of ambisyllabicity.
be.yond Here, the first syllable is unstressed and
can be light; the glide [j] can therefore be in the
onset of the second syllable only, prioritising Onset
Maximalism.
bot.tle Another case of ambisyllabicity. It is true
that there are no cases of onset *[tl-] clusters in
English; but note that the syllabic [l] here is in the
nucleus rather than the onset, so that Onset
Maximalism can be maintained.
bott.ling Here, the [l] is in the onset, since a vowel

Exercises

2. Draw syllable trees for each of the

words from Exercise 1. In each case, and
for each syllable, mark the Onset,
Rhyme, Nucleus and Coda; indicate
whether any of these constituents
branch;
and
note
any
cases
of
ambisyllabicity.

Answer

Exercises
3. Make a list of all the two consonant
clusters which are ruled out by the
Sonority Sequencing Generalisation in
(a) onset and (b) coda position. For each
one, try to think of an apparent
exception in word medial position, where
in fact the first consonant of the
apparent cluster belongs in the coda of
syllable one, and the second in the onset
of syllable two. For example, sonority
rules out final [kn]; an apparent (but not
real) exception would be acknowledge.

Answer
2. In this exercise, try to avoid making
random lists of consonant clusters you
can think of, and concentrate on
narrowing down the possibilities using
natural classes. For instance, in onset
position, sonority rules out cases of
liquids plus voiceless stops, so although
[pl], [pr] are allowed, there are no initial
clusters *[lp], *[rp], *[lt], *[rt], *[lk],
*[rk]. Apparent medial exceptions would
be wallpaper, warpaint, alter, porter,
alcohol, arcadia. If the order voiceless
stop plus liquid is permissible in onsets,
it follows that this order must be ruled
out in codas and indeed, in English we

Exercises
4. Make a list of at least five consonant
clusters which are ruled out either by the
Sonority Sequencing Generalisation, or
by the phonotactic rules of English, but
for which you can find actual exceptions
which do contain these clusters. These
may be recent loan words or foreign
names. For example, English does not
generally allow // in onset clusters, but a
number of borrowings from Yiddish,

like /tm/, /t k/, do have these clusters.

Answer

4. Again, these are just some indicative

examples. English phonotactics generally
forbid sequences of voiceless stop plus
voiceless fricative, so *[ps] in onsets, but
nonetheless we have psittacosis, psyche;
similarly *[ts], but tsetse (fly). Likewise,
English has no onsets with *[vl], but note
the Russian name Vlad.