English Phonology – The Syllable

These flashcards cover key concepts related to English phonology, particularly focusing on syllables, transcription methods, and stress rules.

Phonemic Transcription

we transcribe the presumed underlying representations of sounds (the speaker’s stored mental idea). This is the transcription you find in a dictionary.

Phonetic Transcription

used when one is interested in the fine-grained articulatory detail, not just the phonemes. It includes information about phonologically irrelevant detail, e.g. what allophones are used.

Can be broad (including only a few details) or narrow (all phonetic detail).

English nucleus (compulsory):

Almost always a vowel; occasionally a nasal or a liquid can occur as a syllabic consonant: / n̩ m̩ ŋ̩ ̩ l̩ ɹ̩ /

English onset and coda (not compulsory):

Only consonants appear here. Because they are optional, English syllables can consist of only a vowel – but it has to be a long vowel or a diphthong!

maximal onset principle

intervocalic consonants are syllabified as the onset of the following syllables as far as the phonotactic constraints of the language allow it.

Simple answer: we have a choice - /p/ can go with either syllable

/ˈk ɒ . p ɪ z/

Syllable

A unit of pronunciation consisting of a vowel sound, which may also include surrounding consonant sounds.

Open Syllable

A syllable that does not have a consonant in the coda.

Closed Syllable

A syllable that has at least one consonant in the coda.

Heavy Syllable

A syllable with a rhyme consisting of a long vowel, a diphthong, or a short vowel followed by a consonant.

tend to be stressed 

E.g. bee; by 

Light Syllable

A syllable with only a short vowel or a syllabic consonant in the rhyme and no coda.

tend not to be stressed

E.g. pretty → prItI

How many consonants can occur in English onsets?

Up to three consonants:

/s/ > /p,t,k/ > /r,j,l/

Fricative > plosives> approximans and glides

Which phonemes never occur in English onsets?

The phonemes /h/, /ŋ/

syllabic consonants 

Nasal and liquids /n,m,ŋ,l,r/ can function as the syllable nucleus

/s/

extrasyllabic, appendix

has higher sonority ; is a special case

How many consonants can occur in English codas?

Up to four consonants

the last one is either inflectional /s/ (plural); inflectional /d,t/ (past tense)

Which phonemes never occur in English codas?

/j/ /w/ /h/ 

/r/ only in RP 

Defective distribution 

phonemes cannot occur in all positions of the syllable 

/ŋ/

may be followed only by plosives with the same palce of articulation such as /k/, /g/, and (/ɪ/).

Stressed syllables

tend to be marked by pitch changes. They also tend to be longer and louder than comparable unstressed syllables.

English is said to have stress-timed rhythm:

the time interval between two stress beats in an utterance is roughly equal – no matter how many words are between these stress beats

Stressed syllables are not reduced. Unstressed syllables are normally reduced to /ə/ or /ɪ/. This simplifies transcription massively!

Sonority

The relative loudness or resonance of a sound, which can explain the ordering of phonemes in onsets and codas.

plosives : vioceless→ voiced → fricatives : voiceless → voiced → nasals → leteral approximant /l/ → approximant /r/ → /j/ → /w/ → low vowels → high vowels

Syllabification

The process of dividing words into their constituent syllables.