SYLLABIC STRUCTURE

OF ENGLISH WORDS
 The syllable is a phonetic unit
consisting of a sound or a sound sequence
pronounced by one articulatory effort
which results auditorily
in one uninterrupted unit of perception.
 The syllabic structure
of all languages
can be characterized
from the point of view
of two aspects:
syllable formation and syllable division
which are inseparable from each other
and form a dialectal unity.
 Syllable formation
is generally based
on the phonological opposition
“vowel-consonant”.
Vowels are usually syllabic
while consonants are not.
Every word has
as many syllables as
it has syllabic elements.
 The structure of the syllable
depends on the number
and the arrangement of consonants.
There are 4 phonetic types of syllables:
 V – uncovered open consisting of one
vowel sound: I /aɪ/, or /ɔ:/;
 VC – uncovered closed consisting of a
vowel followed by one or more
consonants: odd /ɒd/;
 CV – covered open consisting of a vowel
preceded by one or more consonants:
no /nәʊ/;
 CVC – covered closed consisting of a
vowel preceded and followed by one or
more consonants, e.g.: cat /kæt/.
 The peculiarity of
the English phonetic system is
the existence of syllables
which consist of consonants only:
 sonorants /1/, /m/, /n/
become syllabic
in the unstressed final position
preceded by a noise consonant:
CV.CS table /'teɪ.bl/,
CV.CS taken /'teɪ.kn/,
CVC.CS seldom /'sel.dm/̩ .
 The sonorants /w/ and /j/
are never syllabic
as they are always syllable-initial:
well /wel/,
yes /jes/.
 The basis of syllable formation
in the English language is
• the open type of syllable (V/CV)
in case of diphthongs
or long monophthongs,
• the closed type of syllable (VC/CVC)
in case of short monophthongs.
As to the number of syllables
in the English word
it can vary from 1 to 8:
1. come,
2. city,
3. family,
4. simplicity,
5. unnaturally,
6. compatibility,
7. incompatibility,
8. unintelligibility.
 It is not difficult to count
how many syllables a word contains
by noticing the syllabic elements in it
(vowels and sonorants),
but it is not generally easy
to determine precisely
the syllable boundary.
 The syllable boundary
in English words
is predetermined by
 word stress
 the free or checked character of
vowels.
 The rules of syllable division:
1. The transition from one vowel to another
indicates the separation of syllables:
seeing /'si:.ɪŋ/.
2. The separation of syllables can be
marked by stress: before /bɪ'fɔ:/
3. An intervocalic consonant joins the
following syllabic sound when it is
preceded by a long vowel or a
diphthong (to retain their free
character):
music /'mju:.zɪk/;
skating /'skeɪ.tɪŋ/.
4. An intervocalic consonant joins the
preceding syllabic sound when it is
preceded by a short vowel (to retain
its checked character):
pity /'pɪt.ɪ/,
coffee /'kɒf.ɪ/,
better /'bet.ə/;
5. When vowels are separated by two
consonants, syllable division is determined
with the help of phoneme distribution:
 If a consonant cluster is possible in the
initial position, the syllable boundary lies
before the cluster –
a-gree (green), a-brupt (brown);
 if a consonant cluster is not possible in the
initial position, the point of syllable division
is between the consonants – ad-mit.
 The syllable
is a phonological unit
that performs three functions:
 constitutive,
 recognitive,
 distinctive.
 The constitutive function of the syllable
lies in its ability to be a word or a part
of it.
It this respect
the syllable exercises
the connection of smaller and greater
language units.
 Therecognitive function of the syllable
means that the correct syllable division
helps to recognize words and makes
the process of communication easier,
whereas the incorrect syllable division
prevents normal understanding:
pea stalks /'pi: 'stɔ:ks/ –
peace talks /'pi:s 'tɔ:ks/
 The distinctive function of the syllable
means that the syllable can differentiate
words and word-forms: in this case
peculiarities of certain allophones
indicate the beginning or the end of the
syllable:
nitrate /naɪ'treɪt/ —
night-rate /'naɪt'reɪt/;
lightening /'lai.tn.ɪŋ/ —
lightning /'lait.nɪŋ/.
 The analogical distinction
between word combinations
can be illustrated
by the following examples:
an aim — a name;
an ocean — a notion;
an ice house — a nice house.
 Sometimes the difference
in syllabic division
can be the basic ground
for differentiation of sentences:
I scream: “ice cream”.
I saw her eyes. — I saw her rise.
I saw the meat. — I saw them eat.
 The realization of
the recognitive and distinctive
functions of the syllable
is closely connected
with the notion of
juncture /'ʤʌŋkʧə/,
kept by the speaker and
taken in by the listener.
 Close juncture (conjuncture) occurs
between the sounds of the same
syllable.
 Open juncture (disjuncture) occurs
between the sounds of two different
syllables.
 Some linguists state that word
juncture should be marked in a
phonetic transcription with /+/:
I scream: “ice cream”.
/aɪ+skri:m/ - /aɪs+kri:m/
ACCENTUAL STRUCTURE
OF ENGLISH WORDS
(WORD STRESS)
 Word stress
means the singling out
of one or more syllables in a word,
which is accompanied by
the change of the force of utterance,
pitch of the voice,
qualitative and quantitative
characteristics of sounds.
 The correlation of these components
determines the nature of word
stress in an individual language:
1) force (dynamic) stress
implies greater force and intensity
of articulation in stressed syllables;
2) tonic (musical) stress
is connected with the variations
of voice pitch in stressed syllables;
3) quantitative stress
means the increase of the length of
nuclear vowels in stressed syllables;
4) qualitative stress
deals with the colour of nuclear
vowels, which reveal all their
distinctive features in stressed
syllables.
 It should be mentioned
that the predominance of
one component
within a single language
is less frequent
than the combination
of different components.
 The nature of
word stress in English
is a disputable question.
It is traditionally defined
as mostly dynamic stress
with some tonic component.
But modern phonology
suggests another approach.
 Some linguists
(D.Crystal, A.Gimson, S.Leontyeva, etc.)
state that the special prominence
of English stressed syllables
is manifested not only through
the increase of intensity
and pitch variations,
but also through the changes
in the quantity of vowels and quality
of vowels and consonants.
 If we compare
stressed and unstressed syllables
in the words
a contract /ə 'kɒntrækt/ and
to contract /tə kən'trækt/,
we can notice
the following peculiarities
of the stressed syllables::
 the force of stressed syllables
is greater, as the articulation
is more energetic;
 the voice pitch is higher,
as the vocal cords are more
tense;
 the quantity of the vowel /æ/
in the stressed position is greater:
it is longer;
 the quality of the vowel /æ/
in the stressed position differs
from that in the unstressed
position: it is wider.
 The traditional classification
of languages according to
the placement of word stress
includes languages with
fixed and free stress.
 If the stress is limited
to a particular syllable
of a polysyllabic word,
it is called fixed.
For example,
in French the stress always falls
on the last syllable of the word,
in Finnish and Czech —
on the first syllable.
 If the place of the stress
is not confined
to a specific position in a word,
it is called free.
For example,
in Ukrainian/Russian
the stress may fall
on any syllable in a word
(вíтер — морóз — листопáд).
 The English language
tends to combine
free and fixed tendencies
of the placement of word stress:
 it can fall on different syllables
(' finish, re' sult, ֽedu'
edu' cation);
 still its position in most cases is highly
predictable, as it is the product of the
historical language development
('library — li'brarian ).
 British scholars usually distinguish
three degrees of stress in a word:
 primary stress, the most prominent;
 secondary stress, less prominent;
 weak stress, unstressed syllables.
A large group of
English polysyllabic words
have both the primary and the secondary
conver 'sation.
stresse: ֽconver
 In Ukrainian/Russian
there are only two degrees
of word stress:
 primary (stressed syllables)
 weak (unstressed syllables).
Russian/Ukrainian learners of English
must be particularly careful
not to omit secondary stress
in English words
since the interference of
Russian/Ukrainian pronunciation habits
is very strong in this case.
Compare:
ֽ demon 'stration.
демонстрáция — demon
 As a phonological unit
word stress performs
three functions:
1) constitutive: it organizes syllables of
a word into a language unit having a
definite accentual structure, that is a
word does not exist without the
word stress;
2) recognitive: it helps to recognize
words (correct accentuation helps
the listener to make the process of
communication easier, whereas
misplaced word stresses prevent
normal understanding: be'tween,
NOT 'between);
3)distinctive: it helps to distinguish
 words and their grammatical forms:
'import (noun) — to im 'port (verb);
 compound words and word
combinations:
'blackboard (классная доска),
'black 'board (черная доска).
 The accentual structure
of English words is rather unstable
due to differences
in the origin of English vocabulary.
Modern English word-stock
presents a mixture of
native and borrowed words,
and it is small wonder that
lexical layers of different origin
follow different tendencies in accentuation.
1. The recessive tendency is observed
mostly in monosyllabic or disyllabic
words of Anglo-Saxon origin and
some French borrowings.
It is explained by the
fact that in Germanic
languages the stress originally fell
on the initial syllable or the second
(root) syllable in words with
prefixes.
 Unrestricted recessive tendency
indicates native English words
without prefixes ('father, 'mother )
and assimilated French borrowings
dated back to the 15th century
with the stress on the 1st syllable
('reason, 'colour).
 Restricted recessive tendency
characterizes English words with
prefixes (fore'see, be'gin) where the
root syllable is stressed.
2. The rhythmical tendency is caused by
the rhythm of alternating stressed and
unstressed syllables in polysyllabic
words. It explains the placement of
primary stress on the 3rd syllable
from the end in three- and four-syllable
words (ar'ticulate) and the use
of secondary stress in multisyllabic
revo 'lution).
French borrowings (ֽrevo
3. Retentive tendency consists in
the retention of the primary stress in
the derived word: 'person
— 'personal.
More commonly it is retained in
the derived word as a secondary
accent: 'personal — ֽperso
perso 'nality.
4. Semantic tendency is observed
in compound words, and according
to this factor the most important
part of the compound is usually
stressed: 'sunrise, loud 'speaker.
The distribution of stressed syllables
into stress patterns
helps to systematize
the accentual structure
of English words.
1.The pattern with the primary stress on
the first syllable marks:
 O● - disyllabic words subjected to the
recessive tendency ('sunny, 'office);
 O●● - trisyllabic words with or without
suffixes subjected to the rhythmical
tendency ('family, 'populate);
 O●● - compound words with greater
semantic significance of the first
component (bookcase).
2.The pattern with the primary stress on
the second syllable is realized in:
 ●O - disyllabic words with historical
prefixes subjected to the restricted
recessive tendency (be'cause, for'get);
 ●O - disyllabic verbs with the endings
-ate, -ise/ize, -y (nar'rate, com'prise,
de'ny);
 ●O●● - words of three or four syllables
with suffixes subjected to the rhythmical
tendency (phi'lology, de'mocracy).
3. The pattern with two primary stresses is
generally observed in:
 OO compound nouns or adjectives,
consisting of two roots ('well-'bred,
'absent-'minded, 'tea-'pot, 'ice-'cream);
 OO composite verbs with postpositions
('get 'up, 'come 'out, 'give 'in);
 OO compound words with separable
prefixes ('un'fair, 're'play).
4. The pattern with primary stress
followed by the secondary one (Oo)
is very common among compound
words as the accentuation variant of
the third pattern ('hair- ֽdresser,
dresser, 'sub
ֽstructure).
structure). It is often realized in
connected speech.
5. The pattern with the secondary
stress preceding the primary one
(oO) marks a great number of
simple polysyllabic words with
intu 'ition, ֽrepre
affixes: (ֽintu repre 'sent).
6. The pattern with three and more
primary stresses (OOO) is
characteristic of initial compound
abbreviations: 'B'B'C (British
Broadcasting Corporation).
 Stress tendencies
and the system of stress patterns
helps to establish
basic rules of accentuation:
1) most disyllabic words have stress on
the 1st syllable:'water O●, 'finish O●;
2) disyllabic words with prefixes of no
referential meaning of their own have
stress on the 2nd syllable: mis'take ●O;
be'hind ●O;
3) most three- and four-syllable words
have stress on the 3rd syllable from the
end: 'criticism O●●, re'markable ●O●●;
4) four-syllable words with suffixes -ary,
-ory have stress on the first syllable:
'stationary O●●●, 'territory O●●●;
5) polysyllabic words with the primary
stress on the third syllable have
secondary stress on the first syllable: ֽ
proba 'bility o●O●●;
6. polysyllabic words with the primary stress
on the 4th and 5th syllable have secondary
stress on the 2nd syllable:
ar 'ticu 'lation ●o●O●;
7. polysyllabic words with separable prefixes
with a distinct meaning have two primary
stresses: 'un 'known OO, 'dis 'charge OO,
're 'pay OO, 'pre- 'war OO, 'ex- 'wife OO.
 Special attention should be paid
to the accentual structure
of compound words.
 compound numerals have two primary
stresses: 'twenty- 'four O●O;
 compound adjectives are generally double-
stressed: 'well- 'known OO;
 compound verbs with post-positions get two
main stresses: 'put 'off OO;
 compound nouns are usually single-stressed
('strong-box O●), and thus differ from word
combination with two stressed words
(‘strong 'box OO).
 The realization of English word stress in
actual speech may not coincide with
that in individual words:
 in a word with two primary stresses
the 1st element is usually lost if it is
preceded by another stressed syllable;
 in a word with a primary and a
secondary stress the 2nd stress is
usually lost if it is followed by a
stressed syllable.
 For example:
 How many students are there in your
group? – 'Thir̖teen.
 'Find 'room thir̖teen.
teen.
 I’ve 'looked through 'thirteen 'books
to̖day.
day.
or
 He is an 'absent-minded man.
̖ man.
 He is 'so absent-minded.
̖ minded.
INTONATION
 In speech
words are joined
in the hierarchically highest language
unit, namely the sentence.
Pronounced in isolation,
without a context or life situation,
words do not form sentences,
e.g. "speak", "louder", "please".
 They become sentences
only when they are pronounced
with a particular tone, loudness,
duration and voice timbre
determined by a particular context,
that is when they are pronounced
with a definite intonation,
e.g. ˈSpeak ˎ louder, please!
 Intonation
is present in every sentence
and sometimes
how we say something
is more important than
what we say.
 The British phonetician
R.Kingdon noticed:
"Intonation is
the soul of a language,
while the pronunciation of its sounds
is its body,
and the recording of it in writing
gives a very imperfect picture of the body
and hardly hints
at the existence of a soul."
 Different phoneticians
define intonation differently.
British and American phoneticians
(D. Jones, D. Crystal, etc.)
believe that intonation
is nothing more than
variations in speech melody.
 Russian phoneticians
(V. A. Vassilyev, G. P. Torsuyev, etc.)
state, that intonation is
a complex unity of four components:
(1) speech melody,
(2) sentence stress,
(3) temporal characteristics
(tempo, rhythm and pauses) and
(4) voice-timbre,
 that serve to express adequately,
on the basis of
the proper grammatical structure and
lexical composition of the sentence,
the speaker's or writer's
thoughts, volition, emotions, feelings
and attitudes towards reality and
the contents of the sentence.
Each component of intonation
manifests itself
in some particular
acoustic properties and
perceptual features.
 Speech melody is the changes
in the pitch of the voice (direction,
level, range) in connected speech.
 Sentence stress is the greater
prominence of one or more words
among other words in the same
sentence.
 Speech tempo is the relative speed
with which sentences are pronounced
in connected speech.
 Rhythm is the regular alternation
of stressed and unstressed syllables.
It is so typical of an English phrase
that the incorrect rhythm betrays the
non-English origin of the speaker
even in case of “correct”
pronunciation.
 Pausation is closely connected with
the other components of intonation.
The number and the length of pauses
affect the general tempo of speech.
A slower tempo makes the utterance
more prominent and more important.
It is also an additional means of
expressing the speaker’s emotions.
 Voice timbre is a special colouring
of the speaker's voice which is used
to express various emotions and
moods, such as pleasure, displeasure,
sorrow, joy, anger, sadness,
indignation, etc.
 Intonation
is a powerful means of
communication.
The main functions
of intonation are:
 the constitutive function;
 the distinctive function.
 The constitutive function
of intonation
means that it serves to integrate
smaller units into bigger ones:
intonation groups >
phrases >
phonopassages >
texts.
Each sentence consists of
one or more intonation groups.
 An intonation group
is a word or a group of words
characterized by
a certain intonation pattern and
generally complete
from the point of view of meaning.
 The structure of
the intonation group
(if it contains a number of
words/syllables)
is the following:
 the pre-head,
 the head,
 the nucleus ,
 the tail.
 The pre-head includes unstressed
and half-stressed syllables preceding
the first stressed syllable.
 The head consists of the syllables
beginning with the first stressed
syllable up to the last stressed
syllable.
 The nucleus is the last stressed
syllable in the phrase. It is the most
important part of the intonation
pattern as it indicates the
communicative centre of the
intonation-group or of the whole
sentence.
 The unstressed and half-stressed
syllables that follow the nucleus are
called the tail.
 In the sentence
“It was a ˈvery ˈsunny ˎday ˌyesterday”
It was a is the pre-head,
very sunny is the head,
day is the nucleus,
yesterday is the tail.
 The change of pitch
(rise or fall)
that takes place in the nucleus
or starts with it
is called a nuclear tone.
 Phoneticians single out
from 4 to 12 nuclear tones
in English.
But the majority of them agree
that the following seven nuclear tones
are more frequent and make up
core intonation:
1) Low Fall;
2) Low Rise;
3) High Fall;
4) High Rise;
5) Fall-Rise;
6) Rise-Fall;
7) Mid-Level.
 The semantic
functions/meanings
of nuclear tones
are difficult to specify
in general terms.
 Roughly speaking,
 the falling tones express
COMPLETION and FINALITY and are
categoric in character;
 the rising tones carry express
INCOMPLETION and are
non-categoric in character;
 the level tones express
HESITATION and UNCERTAINTY.
 The distinctive function
of intonation means that
it serves to distinguish:
(1) communicative types of sentences;
(2) the actual meaning of sentences;
(3) the speaker's emotions or attitudes
to the content of the sentence.
It is achieved mainly
through the use of
the proper nuclear tones.
 The falling tones
are commonly used with
the following
communicative types of sentences:
1. Categorical statements:
ˎYes. ˎCertainly. We have ˎread
this novel.
2. Orders and Commands:
ˎStand up! Stop ˎtalking!
3. Exclamations:
Simply ˎwonderful!
What nice ˎweather we are having
today!
4. Special questions:
Where are you ˎfrom?
Who is ˎabsent? What's ˎthat?
5. Alternative questions
(the final sense group):
Is it hot or ˎcold?
6. Disjunctive questions
(when the speaker expects to hear
the confirmation of the first part of
the question):
He has come, ˎhasn’t he?
 The rising tones
are commonly used with
the following
communicative types of sentences:
1. Statements containing an implication:
I wish he were ˏhere.
2. Requests: Pass me the ˏsalt, please?
Come ˏin!
3. General questions:
Is he at ˏhome now?
4. Alternative questions
(the initial sense group):
Is it ˏhot or ˎcold?
5. Disjunctive questions
(when the speaker means to provoke
the listener's reaction):
It’s an interesting ˎbook, ˏisn’t it?
One and the same word or word group
may express
different actual meaning
when pronounced with
a different nuclear tone:
Hel ˎlo (greeting).

Hel ˏlo (parting).

The placement of the nuclear tone
can also change
the actual meaning of the phrase:
Have you read this book?
 ˎNot once. (= ни разу)
 Not ˎonce. (= не раз)
 The nuclear tones
help to distinguish
the speaker's emotions or
attitudes
to the content of the sentence.
 Low Fall enables the speaker to
convey in his utterance an impression
of neutral, calm finality, definiteness,
resoluteness.
Phrases with Low Fall
sound categoric, calm, neutral, final.
 High Fall adds personal concern,
interest and warmth to the features
characteristic of the Low Fall.
High Fall sounds
lively, interested ,
very emotional and warm.
 Low Rise conveys a feeling of
non-finality, incompleteness,
hesitation.
Phrases with Low Rise
sound non-categoric, non-final,
encouraging further conversation,
wondering, mildly puzzled, soothing.
 High-Rise expresses the speaker's
active searching for information.
It is often used in echoed utterances,
calling for repetition or additional
information,
or with the intention to check
if the information has been received
correctly.
Sometimes this tone is meant
to keep the conversation going.
 Fall-Rise is a highly implicatory tone.
The speaker using this tone
leaves something unsaid
known both to him and his interlocutor.
Fall-Rise is often used
in statements and imperatives.
 Statements with Fall-Rise
express correction of what
someone else has said,
or a contradiction to something
previously said,
or a warning.
 Imperatives
pronounced with Fall-Rise
sound pleading.
Greetings and leave-takings sound
pleasant and friendly being
pronounced with Fall-Rise.
 Rise-Fall denotes that the speaker
is deeply impressed (favorably or
unfavorably).
This nuclear tone is used
in statements and questions
which sound impressed, challenging,
disclaiming responsibility.
Imperatives pronounced this way sound
hostile and disclaiming responsibility.
 Mid-Level is usually used in
non-final intonation groups
denoting non-finality without any
expression of expectancy.
 In written texts
intonation manifests itself
in the punctuation marks:
the full stop (.); comma (,);
the interrogation mark (?);
the exclamation mark (!);
the colon (:); the semi colon (;);
the dash ( – ); the quotation
marks (“”); the row of dots (…);
the marks of parenthesis ( ).
 In phonetics
there exist two ways
of indicating intonation:
(1) the system of tonograms;
(2) the system of tonetic stress marks.
 The system of tonograms uses the
following symbols:
 Two horizontal lines show graphically the
upper and lower limits of the voice pitch.
 Dashes (—) represent stressed syllables;
 dots (.) represent unstressed syllables.
 Downward ( \ ) and upward ( / ) curves
represent the Fall and the Rise in the
voice pitch.
  Vertical bars represent pauses:
 a double vertical bar ( || ) — a long pause,
 a single vertical bar ( | ) — a short pause,
 a wavy vertical line ( ) — a very short pause.
 The system of tonetic stress
marks indicates intonation
as well as stress.
This system is
rather popular in language teaching
as stress-tone notations help
to attract the attention of a learner
to the text proper.
 The tonetic stress marks
are as follows:
 level tones are marked with the help
of vertical strokes, which are placed
above the line of the text if the
sentence is pronounced within the
high or medium pitch of the voice, or
below the line of the text if the
sentence is pronounced within the
low pitch of the voice;
 rising tones are marked with the help
of rising strokes;
 falling tones are marked with the help
of falling strokes.
Single strokes mean
unemphatic speech,
double strokes mean
emphatic speech.