The ministry of higher and secondary special education of the republic of uzbekistan
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Unit 7. Syllable Formation and Syllable Division Stress. Schwa Syllable Formation and Syllable Division The syllable may be defined as one or more speech – sounds forming a single uninterrupted unit of utterance which may be a whole word, e.g. man [mæn], I [a ɪ ] or part of it, e.g. morning ['m : - n ɪ ŋ] In English a syllable is formed: 1) by any vowel (monophthong or diphthong) alone or in combination with one or more consonants are [ ɑ :] , he [hi:] , it [ ɪ t] , man [mæn] 2) by a word-final sonorant (lateral or nasal) immediately preceded by a consonant, e.g. table [ ' te ɪ bl] , rhythm ['r ɪ ð m] , garden ['ga:dn] 46 Note: Sonorants in word – final position are not syllabic when they are preceded by a vowel sound. Syllabic sonorants Non – syllabic sonorants sadden [ 'sædn ] sand [sænd] doesn’t [ 'd zn t ] don’t [d əu nt] Russian [ ' r n ] Russian ['r ə n] The English sonorants [w] and [ j ] are never syllabic since they are always syllable initial. The syllabic consonants that commonly occur in English words are the sonorants [n] and [ l ]. The sonorants may often lose their syllabic character when they occur in the middle of a word before a vowel belonging to a suffix. Syllabic sonorants Non – syllabic sonorants listen [' l ɪ sn] listening ['l ɪ s - n ɪ ŋ] drizzle [' dr ɪ zl] drizzling ['dr ɪ z - l ɪ ŋ] Every syllable has a definite structure, or form, depending on the kind of speech - sound it ends in. There are two types of syllables distinguished from this point of view. (1) A syllable which ends in a vowel sound is called an open syllable , e.g. I [a ɪ ] he [hi:] they [ ð e ɪ ] writer ['ra ɪ -t ə ] (2) A syllable which ends in a consonant sound is called a closed syllable , e.g. it [ ɪ t] hundred ['h n-dr ə d] man ['mæn] The open and closed syllables referred to here are phonetic syllables, i.e. syllables consisting of actually pronounced speech – sounds. These phonetic syllables should not be confused with the open and closed syllables sometimes referred to in the so – called reading rules. Types of Syllables Letter I type (open) II type (closed) III type IV type “a” [ e ɪ ] [ æ ] [ a: ] [e ə ] plate, fate pan, fan car, barn Mary, care “e” [ i: ] [ e ] [ ə :] [ ɪə ] me, convenience pen, led, bed stern, earnest near “i” “y” [ a ɪ ] [ ɪ ] [ ə: ] [ a ɪə ] Kite, my pit, myth bird, myrtle hire “o” [ ou ] [ ] [ : ] [ : ] no, nose pot, lot north, fork More “u” [ ju: ] r + l + u [ u: ] [ ] [ ə :] [ ju ə ] student, stupid, blue, true cut, but, hut Burn pure, jury 47 Inseparably connected with syllable formation is the second aspect of the syllabic structure of words, namely syllable division, or syllable separation, i.e. the division of words into syllables. Syllable division is effected by an all – round increase in the force of utterance, including an increase in muscular tension and in the force of exhalation, or the on set of a fresh breath–pulse, at the beginning of a syllable. This can be illustrated by pronouncing the preposition without in two different, but equally correct ways, as far as syllable division is concerned, namely [ wi ' ðaut ] and [ wið ' aut ]. Most English form words, however have only one pronunciation as far as syllable division is concerned. Thus, in the pronoun another, which, like the preposition without , consists of two morphemes, the first two syllables are always divided by the syllable boundary between the neutral vowel and the consonant [n] , namely [ ə 'n ð ə ] . The pronunciation of this word with the point of syllable division between the consonant [n] and the vowel [ ] [ ə n ' ð ə ] would be wrong, although it would not be a phonological mistake. Correct syllable division at the junction of words, however, may be of phonological importance in English, as wrong syllable division in this case may lead to the confusion of one word with another, or to a phonological mistake. For example, the sequence of the English speech–sounds [ ə ], [n], [e ɪ ], [m] pronounced with the point of syllable division between the neutral vowel [ ə ] and the consonant [n] means a name [ ə 'n e ɪ m ] , while the same sequence of sounds pronounced with the point of syllable division between the consonant [ n ] and the diphthong [e ɪ ] means an aim [ ə n'e ɪ m ]. Compare also: [ ə 'na ɪ s 'haus] a nice house [ ə n 'a ɪ s 'haus] an ice house [ ɪ 's : ð ə ˎ mi:t] she saw the meat [ ɪ 's : ð ə m ˎ i:t] she saw them eat The division of English words into syllables is governed by the following principal rules: V – vowel C – consonant S – sonorant 1) V C V – li|per, Pe|te V X V – fox|y, tax|i 2) V C / C V – con|sonant, sum|mer, bor|row 3) V / C S V – ta|ble, i|dle 4) i + ld, nd, gh, gn, gm – mi|ld, ki|nd, hi|gh, si|gn o + ld, ll, st – o|ld, ro|ll, mo|st a + nge, ste, the – ra|nge, ba|the, ha|ste 5) V / V – giv|e → exception: ga|ve 48 Phonetic drills 1. Transcribe the following English words and underline the transcription symbol which corresponds to each syllabic sound in the words. Can, candle, sand, sadden, doesn’t, can’t couldn’t, melt, meddle, don’t, didn’t, listen, listening, here, fire, pure, our, chair, player, low, lower, employer, floor, mightn’t, needn’t, mustn’t, oughtn’t, listener, drizzle, drizzling. 2. Transcribe the following words, show the point of syllable division in each of them by putting a bar between the syllables (ta|ble [te ɪ |bl] and define each type of syllable) Reading, ready, standing, nature, natural, picture, brightly, finish, many, pity, colony, colonial, pulling, pupil, flower, during, Mary, marry, starry, merry, study, studying, enjoying, without, another, over, discover, pooling, follower, father, story, brother, sorry, body 3. Decide how many syllables there are in each of the following words. Ex.: student ( 2 ) biology ( ) bridge ( ) strength ( ) watches ( ) unabridged ( ) support ( ) jumpers ( ) policeman ( ) decided ( ) photographer ( ) jumped ( ) obeyed ( ) Stress It is important to become aware of the number of syllables in a word. But if you want to speak English with the correct rhythm there is something ever more important: the place of stress. Read the following sequence: Jane, Susan and Timothy The first name has one syllable, the second name has two and the last has three. But only one syllable in each word is heavily stressed. You can see this more clearly if we change the size of the written syllables according to their relative importance. So, imagine them as: Jane, Susan and Timothy 1. Stressed syllables, such as jane, su and ti, are different from unstressed (sometimes called weak ) syllables in a number of ways. To start with, they tend to be both relatively loud and long, relative, that is not only to any other syllables in the same word but also to unimportant words such as “and”. The importance of stressed syllables in terms of rhythm can be shown if we change the order of the sequence of names. |