English Phonetics and Phonology

Handout 8: Syllables
Part One
 Contents
• Introduction
• Number of syllables
• Sonority
• Syllabification
• English syllable phonotactics
- Single onsets
- Double onsets
- Triple onsets
Introduction
• Syllable has an important role with respect to the phonotactic
constraints in languages
- To judge some new form as a possible/ impossible word
- [blɪt] vs [bmɪt]: [bl] is a possible onset cluster
- /m/ after /b/ is possible only if these two sounds are in different
syllables, e.g. submarine, submission:
a) Rhyming is based on the vowel/ diphthong and anything that
follows it (nucleus+optional coda= rhyme); onset is not relevant
b) Alliteration: the repetition of the same consonant sounds at the
onset position in two words as in stem and stern; onset counts,
rhyme is relevant
c) Restrictions between syllabic elements are either within the onset
or within the rhyme
d) A stop cannot be followed by a nasal is valid in the onset
e) English does not allow non-homorganic nasal+ stop is valid for coda
clusters; e.g. [lɪmk]: impossible, pumpkin: possible (across syllables)
(f) Two obstruents with respect to voicing
• Cubs [kʌbz], cups [kʌps]: agreement in voicing
• [kʌpz] and [kʌbs]: disagreement in voicing, tautosyllabic nature
of the two obstruents
• Absurd, obsolete: the split of the sequence of stop and the
fricative by a syllable boundary

The existence of rhyme as a constituent, dependencies between

nuclei and codas are commonly found.
• e.g. /ɑʊ / + coda: brown, spouse, trout, rouse, crowd
The coda that follows /ɑʊ / has to be alveolar, /ɑʊ / cannot be
followed by labial or velar consonants.
• /bl/ is longer than the single onset of /s/
• Not sufficient to make a distinction between /u/ and /i/
• Introduce the skeletal tier(i.e.’x’) to reveal the timing slots for each
unit

• Long vowels and diphthongs have two timing slots (branching)

• Short vowels have one (non-branching)
• Multiple onsets/ codas will also be branching
• Clusters are branching
• Phonetically complex affricates are non-branching
Number of Syllables
• Dialectal difference
e.g. mi.li.ta.ry (American English)
mi.li.tary (British English)
• [ə] deletion: ve.te.ran vs ve.teran
• Sonorant consonants
(a)Whether the nasal consonant is syllabic or not?
e.g. chasm (1 or 2 syllables)
(a)Laterals following non-low front vowels
e.g. real, male, feel (1 or 2 syllables)
• /ɹ/ in disagreement e.g. fire, hire (1 or 2 syllables)
Sonority
• The sonority of a sound is primarily related to the degree of opening
of the vocal tract during its articulation.
a) The more open the vocal tract is for a sound, the higher its sonority
will be.
Vowels will be higher on the sonority scale than fricatives or stops.
b) The sound’s propensity for voicing.
e.g. voiced fricative will have a higher degree of sonority than its
voiceless counterpart.
• Low vowels (/æ, ɑ/), which have the maximum degree of opening will
have the highest sonority.
• Voiceless stops will have the lowest sonority.
• Since vowels and diphthongs are higher in sonority than other segments,
they typically occupy the peak positions in syllables
e.g. publicity and condemnation

The principle of sonority correctly identifies the number of syllables, 4 in

these two cases
• For syllables that do not contain a vowel, the most sonorant
consonant will be the syllable peak (i.e.syllabic consonant)

Since the existence of the syllabic consonants is due to the deletion of

the reduced vowel / ə/, they are confined to unstressed syllables.
Syllabification
• Maximal onset principle: to assign any series of intervocalic
consonants to the syllable on the right as long as it does not violate
the language-specific onset patterns.

To go to the end of the word and start connecting the nucleus of each
syllable with the surrounding consonants
• Sometimes, the same sequences of sounds syllabified differently in
different words.

• The reason is what is allowed as a maximal onset in English.

[pt] is not a possible onset but [pl] is possible
The basis of the ‘maximal onset principle’: Assigning intervocalic
consonants as onsets of the following syllable rather than coda of the
preceding syllable
• Onsets are more basic than coda in languages
• The principle that guides spoken syllabification assigns the maximum
allowable number of consonants to the syllable on the right
English Syllable Phonotactics
• (C) (C) (C) V (C) (C) (C) {C}
• V (vowel or diphthong), which is the nucleus, is the only obligatory
element in an English syllable.
• V can have 1, 2, or 3 onsets
• CV: say [se], CCV: pray [pɹe], CCCV: spray [spɹe]

• V can have 1, 2, or 3 codas

• VC: at [æt], VCC: act [ækt], VCCC: busts [bʌsts]
• CCVCCCC: possible only if it belongs to a suffix
• Twelfths [twɛlfθs]
English Syllable Phonotactics
i) Single onsets

• /ŋ/: the only consonant that is not allowed to take the onset position
in English
• /ʒ/: cannot start an English word (except genre, Zhivago),but is
possible in non-word-initial onsets, e.g. vision and measure.
• /ð/: restricted occurrence in word-initial position, only found in
grammatical (function) words (the, then, there, etc) word-initially
English Syllable Phonotactics
ii) Double onsets
Affricates are the only class of consonants that do not appear in onset clusters.
Refer to page 136
• No voiced fricatives can serve as C2, and only /v/ can be a C1, and can combine
only with /j/, e.g. view
• No fricative other than /f/ can serve as C2, and this can only be preceded by a /s/
in rarely found vocabulary, e.g. sphere
• /h/ and /m/ can only occur before /j/, e.g. huge, music
• Alveolar stops(C1) do not cluster with /l/
In general, English double onsets are either (a) /s/+ C (where C= any
consonant that can assume the position of C2 except /ɹ/; /ʃ/ appears
before /ɹ/), and (b) obstruent + approximant, with the limitations
ii) Double onsets

• C1 =obstruent, C2 =sonorant, the reverse is not possible

• From C1 to C2, the sonority level will rise, e.g. play, cry, quick

• The violations of this principle: /s/+ stop clusters (/sp, st, sk/), in
which the sonority level drops
iii) Triple onsets

• Triple onsets can be described as an addition of /s/ as C1 to voiceless

stop+ approximant double onsets
• C1 =/s/ C2 =voiceless stop C3 =approximant
• The combinations have 12 logical possibilities, but 7 of them occur
• Refer to page 138