1. Lecture 3Part 1 Phonology Suprasegmental phonology the syllable
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

2. syllable
a unit of pronunciation typically larger than a single sound and smaller than a word.
Consider, for instance, the following words:
“sad” /sd/ includes one syllable composed of a vowel // and preceding and following consonants /s, d/.
“time” /tam/ includes one syllable composed of a vowel /a/ and preceding and following consonants /t, m/.
“car” /k/ includes one syllable composed of a vowel // and a preceding consonant /k/.
“am” /m/ includes one syllable composed of a vowel // and a following consonant /m/.
“I” /a/ includes one syllable (a minimum syllable) composed of the vowel /a/.
CVC
/sd/
sad
/tam/
time CV
/k/
car VC
/m/ am V
/a/ I
Thus, every syllable must include a vowel, may have consonants preceding and following that vowel. The different possibilities of the structure of a syllable can be represented as follows: (C) V (C)
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

3. According to this representation (C) V (C), the syllable
must have a centre (called peak or nucleus) which is a vowel
could have an onset (which is the initial part of the syllable) that consists of either one or more consonants.
could have a coda (which is the final part of the syllable) that consists of either one or more consonants.
the nucleus and the coda form the rhyme.
The word “mad”: /md/ → m  d
onset centre coda
Examples:
onset + peak  “key” /ki/, “car” /k/, “who” /hu/, “blue” /blu/
peak + coda  “am” /m/, “ease” /iz/, “ask” /sk/
onsets + peak + codas ”sat” /st/, “fill” /fl/, “floods” /flds/
peak (minimum syllable)  “are” //, “I” /a/
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

4. Definition
Phonetically  a syllable consists of a centre which has little or no obstruction of airflow and which sounds loud. Before and after this centre there might be greater obstruction of air flow and/or less loud sound.
Phonologically  a syllable is a unit that involves possible combinations of English phonemes.
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

5. Syllabification
A word consisting of one syllable (like tip) is referred to as a monosyllable.
A word consisting of two syllables (like monkey) is called a disyllable.
A word consisting of three syllables (such as interpret) is called a trisyllable.
A word consisting of more than three syllables (such as intelligence) is called a polysyllable.
The term ‘polysyllable’ is often used to describe words of two syllables or more. So, the words, “monkey, interpret, intelligence” can be called polysyllabic.
- Sometimes syllables are marked off from each other by a period [.].
Examples:
/tp/
/mn.ki/
/n.ter.prt/
- Sometimes the symbols C and V (standing for Consonant and Vowel, respectively) are used to show syllabic structure. For example, the syllabic structure of "interpret " /n.ter.prt/ is VC.CVC.CCVC.
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

6. phonotactics
The study of possible phoneme combinations of a language is called phonotactics.
Examples of phonotactics:
In a syllable-initial position:
- it is allowed to begin with a vowel, or with one, two or three consonants.
- no syllable begins with more than three consonants.
In a syllable-final position:
- a syllable can end with a vowel, or with one, two, three or four consonants.
- no syllable ends with more than four consonants.
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

7. Phonotactics
The syllable onset:
If the syllable begins with a vowel, it has a zero onset as in ‘am’ /m/; ‘ease’ /iz/.
If a syllable begins with one consonant, the initial consonant can be any consonant phoneme except //. Examples: ‘key’ /ki/; ‘kick’ /kk/.
If a syllable begins with two or three consonants, such a sequence of consonants is called a consonant cluster. Examples: ‘play, stay, street, split, etc’.
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

8. Phonotactics (con.)
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

9. Phonotactics (con.)
The syllable coda:
If the syllable ends with a vowel, it has a zero coda as in ‘car’ /k/; ‘see’ /si/.
If a syllable ends with one consonant, the final consonant can be any consonant phoneme except /h, r, w, j/. Examples: ‘at’ /t/; ‘kick’ /kk/, ‘catch’ /kt/, ‘seen’ /sin/.
If a syllable ends with two, three or four consonants, such a sequence of consonants is called a consonant cluster. There is a possibility of up to four consonants at the end of the word. Examples: ‘books, six, bank, banks, prompts, etc’.
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

10. Final two-consonant clusters:
Phonotactics (con.)
Consonant clusters in the coda:
Final two-consonant clusters:
Examples: ‘help, bank, edge, belt, blind, books, six etc’.
Final three-consonant clusters: (see p.73)
Examples: ‘helped, seconds, fifths, etc’.
Final four-consonant clusters:
Examples: ‘prompts, sixths, etc’.
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

11. Thus, the English syllable has the maximum phonological structure:
C1 C2 C V C1 C2 C3 C4
onset peak coda
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

12. Assignments 1- a minimum syllable consisting only of a peak
1. What is the maximum phonological structure in Arabic?
2. Give one example word containing each of the following:
1- a minimum syllable consisting only of a peak
2- a zero onset
2- a zero coda
3- an initial two-consonant cluster
4- a final three-consonant cluster
Lec. Maha Alwasidi

13. 3. Break down the following one syllable words into their onsets, peaks, and codas.
scream
played
tests
names
Lec. Maha Alwasidi