English Phonetics and Phonology A Course For Fourth Level Students Teacher: Ms. Eman Abid Instructors: Dr. Mohamed Younis & Mrs. Emen Abid 1

Week No.7 The Syllable It is any of the units into which a word is divided, containing a vowel sound and usually one or more consonants. In other words : A syllable must contain a vowel sound and commonly it has a consonant (C) before the vowel (V), represented as CV. The basic elements of the syllable are the onset (one or more consonants) and the rhyme. The rhyme (or ‘rime’) consists of a vowel, which is treated as the nucleus(peak), plus any following consonant(s), described as the coda.

Syllables like me [mi:], to [tu:]or no [n ə ʊ ] have an onset and a nucleus, but no coda. They are known as ‘open’ syllables. When a coda is present, as in the syllables up [ p], cup [k p ], at [ ət, æt ] or hat [ h æt ], they are called ‘closed’ syllables. The syllable structure in English words like green gri:n (CCVC), eggs egz (VCC), and ə nd ænd (VCC), ham h æm (CVC), I ai (V), do du: (CV), not n ɒ t n ɑ :t (CVC), like laik (CVC), them ð em (CVC), Sam s æm (CVC), am ə m æm (VC) is shown in the table and the followin diagram.

WordTranscriptionSyllable Structure greengri:nCCVC eggsegzVCC and ənd ænd VCC hamh æm CVC IaiV dodu:CV not n ɒ t n ɑ :t CVC Likelaik CVC them ðem CVC Sams æm CVC am əm æm VC

Syllable onset rhyme Nucleus coda consonant(s) vowel consonant(s) Both the onset and the coda can consist of more than one consonant (consonant cluster)

Thus a syllable structure may be as follows : 1.A single vowel in isolation ( minimum syllable) [ ɑ :] [ ɔ :] [ ɜ :] are or err 2.A syllable with an onset, that is a preceding consonant(s). [b ɑ :] [m ɔ :] [ki:] bar more key 3.A syllable with a coda, that is they end with a consonant or more.In this case there is no onset(0). [æm] [ ɔ :t] [i:z] am ought ease 4.Some syllables have both onset and coda. [ræn] [sæt] [f ɪ l] ran sat fill

The Structure of the English Syllable 1.Syllable Onset If the 1 st syllable of a word begins with a vowel, we say that this initial syllable has a zero onset. 2.If the syllable begins with a consonant which may be any consonant except / ŋ /, / Ʒ / ). 3.The syllable may begin with two consonants. They are called consonant cluster. 4.The terms (pre-initial and initial) ; initial and post-initial are used to describe these consonant clusters.

For example two consonants can be (s+t,w,m): Sting Sway Smoke st ɪ ŋ swe ɪ smə ʊ k st ɪ ŋ swe ɪ smə ʊ k Pre-initial Initial Consonant Other syllables begin with about 15 consonants followed by one of the set l, r, w, j as in the words: Play Try Quick Few ple ɪ tra ɪ kw ɪ k fju: The first consonant of these, like /p/, /t/ is initial consonant; the second like /l/, /r/ is post-initial

Accordingly, if we have a three-consonant cluster word such as split stream square spl ɪ t stri:m skweə The /s/ sound in each word is the pre-initial and The / p/, / t/, /k/ that follow are i nitial c onsonant & /l/, /r/, /w/ are p ost - initial. In fact, the number of initial three-consonant clusters is quite small. Examples are shown on page 57 of Peter Roach. Splay Sclerosis Spray String Screen Squeak Spew Stew Skewer (listening, Continued)