Level 

: Second year English

Module : Phonetics
Teacher: DOUADI Fatima

Chapter Three : English Syllable

Definition :
The syllable is a basic unit of speech studied on both the phonetic and phonological

levels of analysis.

-Phonetically, syllables “are usually described as consisting of a centre which has

little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and

after that centre (…) there will be greater obstruction to airflow and/or less loud

sound” (Roach, 2000: 70). In the monosyllable (one-syllable word) cat/kæt/, the

vowel /æ/ is the “centre” at which little obstruction takes place, whereas we have

complete obstruction to the airflow for the surrounding plosives /k/ and /t/.

-Laver (1994: 114) defines the phonological syllable as “a complex unit made up of

nuclear and marginal elements”. Nuclear elements are the vowels or syllabic

segments; marginal elements are the consonants or non-syllabic segments. In the

syllable paint/peɪnt/, the diphthong /eɪ/ is the nuclear element, while initial

consonant /p/ and the final cluster /nt/ are marginal elements.

1. Syllable structure

Phonetically, a syllable can be described as having a centre, also called peak or

nucleus, which is produced with little or no obstruction of air, and is therefore usually

formed by a vowel (either a monophthong or a diphthong). The minimal syllable,

then, is typically a single, isolated vowel, as in the word. are, err, and I

In many syllables, the centre is preceded by one onset, which is produced with greater

obstruction of air, and is therefore always formed by one or more consonants. Such
syllables are exemplified by words like bar, stir, and my. A syllable that ends in a

vowel, i.e. one that ends with the centre, is commonly referred to as an open syllable.

In many other syllables, there is no onset, but the centre is followed by a coda, which

is also produced with greatest obstruction of air , and is therefore also formed by one

or more consonants. Such syllables are exemplified by words like art, urge, and ice.

Most syllables, however, have both an onset and a coda, like bath, perk, and mime.

If they do not, we also speak of zero onset and coda. A syllable that ends in a

consonant, i.e. one that ends with a coda- irrespective of whether it has an onset or

not- is commonly referred to as a closed syllable. It is sometimes also termed a

checked syllable, and the vowel forming the centre is then a checked vowel. The

centre and the coda (if there is one) together account for the rhyming potential of a

syllable, as can be illustrated by word pairs like mine/fine, err/stir, and they have

therefore collectively been referred to as the rhyme.

* In the case of cat/kæt/, the Onset, Peak and Coda each consist of one segment: the
consonant (C) /k/ occupies the Onset, the vowel (V) /æ/ –the Peak, and the
consonant /t/ is the Coda of this syllable. However, there are syllables in English
where either or both marginal elements (i.e. O and/or Co) are absent –only the Peak is
an obligatory element in all languages, and in English both the Onset and the Coda
are optional.
Considerthefollowingexamples.

Onset Peak Coda

*sea /si:/ /s/ /i:/ Ø (none)
*on/ɒn/ Ø /ɒ/ /n/

2. Clusters :
Most English syllables consist of more than one vowel. We must examine what they
can consist of, because it is not sufficient to add any consonant or group of consonants
 to a vowel to get an English syllable: /ptei/ is not a syllable of English whereas /plei/
and /stei/ are.
Both onset and termination can consist of one or more consonant phonemes. Two or
more consonants in the onset or in the termination form consonant clusters. There
are restrictions as to how the consonants can combine in the onset and termination
respectively (onset clusters do not have the same restrictions as termination clusters
and vice-versa)
3. Onset clusters
Any consonant can be the sole element of the onset except / η/ as mentioned before.
Note that /ʒ/is rare and is found in initial position only in words directly imported
from French, such as gigolo or gigue (examples from Gimson 1980:189). The largest
onset consonant cluster can consist of three elements. In this case the first one is
necessarily /s/ : /s C C nucleus/ (where C stands for “consonant”).
Examples:
l= spteH splay
p + r spreH spray
=
j= spju: spew
S+
r= strN: straw
t + stju: stew
j=

l=
skle(rN:zHs sclero
) sis
r= skru screw
p t k b d g f ϴ s ʃ h v Ә z ʒ m n η l r w j t dʒ
k + w skwi:z squeez
ʃ
= some possible combinations are
p Two
- 1
consonant
- - - -
clusters
-
are
-
more frequent:
1 1 - -
j- = - - skju:
- - - pl
skew pra - pew - -
a y
exemplified in table below: y
t - - - - - - - - 1 ? - - - - - - - - - tra twi tun - -
2 y n e
k - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - cl cro qui que - -
a w ck ue
y
b - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - bl bro - bea - -
u w uty
e
d - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ? - - - - dr dw due - -
2 y ell
g - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - gl gri 1 - - -
u n
e
Table: Examples of some onset two- consonants cluster

Notice that among two-consonant clusters /s/ seems to combine most easily when in
initial position.
4. Coda clusters
Whereas it was possible to list the combinations of onset clusters fairly faithfully, it is
practically impossible to present termination clusters in a chart that would allow
immediate reading. The following are some of the most frequent termination clusters.

- Any consonant may be a final consonant i.e. be the only element of a termination
except for /h/, /w/, /j/ and to a certain extent /r/, as we have seen.
- Examples of two-consonant clusters in termination:

bump /
rent
mp/
/

nt/
bank / ηk/
belt / lt/
beds / dz/
bets / ts/
nest / st/
bathes / Әz/

- Examples of three-consonant clusters in termination:

bumps /

mps/
bonds /

ndz/
banks /

ηks/
helped /

lpt/
belts / lts/
twelfth /
 lfϴ/
fifths /

fϴs/
next /

kst/
lapsed /

pst/

-Examples of four-consonant clusters in termination:

twelfths / lfϴs/
sixths / ksϴs/
texts / ksts/

5. The sonority scale of English phonemes

According to the sonority rule the further from a syllable nucleus a phoneme is, the
less sonorous it must be. A well formed syllable will therefore have a sonority peak in
its nucleus with the onset rising in sonority towards the nucleus and the termination
decreasing in sonority away from the nucleus, as illustrated in table below:
Most sonorous Vowels
Sonorants

Voiced obstruents
Least sonorous Voiceless obstruents

Table: The sonority scale of English phonemes

6. Syllable perception
Now let’s place the syllable in a larger context, the word for example, and let’s
consider syllable perception. The word extra /ekstrə/, for example, having two vowels,
consists of two syllables. Where is the syllable boundary? According to P. Roach
(1983:58) there could be five possible ways of dividing the word:

a) e+kstrə b) ek+strə c) eks+trə d) ekst+rə e) ekstr+ə

Phonetically speaking, all solutions are acceptable since in each case both syllables
contain their vowel. However it is not really surprising that solutions (b) and (c) are
preferred. Solution (d), is also worth considering, since in all three cases the syllables
resulting from the division are perfectly well-formed according to both onset and
termination cluster rules.
-Solution (b), illustrated in :
1/ek/ is as much a syllable as the only syllable of the word /eik/ ache
2/strə/ is as much a syllable as monosyllabic /stra:/ straw
-Solutions (a) and (e) are not acceptable phonologically as their division yields
sequences of phonemes that cannot be considered as phonological syllables:

1(a) /ekstr/ does not follow termination cluster rules

2(e) /kstrə/ does not follow onset cluster rules
7. Syllabication rules
Syllabication Rule 1: A word has as many syllables as vowel sounds; remember a
final e is usually silent.
Syllabication Rule 2: Whenever two consonants represent one sound (digraphs th, ch,
sh, ph, ck) they stay together in syllabicating.
Syllabication Rule 3: When r follows a vowel, it is attached to the vowel in
syllabizing.
Syllabication Rule 4: A compound word is made up of two or more smaller words.
Syllable divisions occur between the words (birth/day, mail/man) and at other places
as needed (bas/ket/ball).
Syllabication Rule 5: The common word beginnings (ad-, al-, com-, can-, de-, dis-,
en-, ex-, in-, im-, per-, and un-) form the first syllable of the word.
Syllabication Rule 6: Word endings (-cal, -ed, -ful, - ish, -ing, -ment, -ness, -tive,-
sive, -ture, -tion, -sion, -ty, - ly, - fy, - ity, - less) usually are divided from the rest of
the word forming the final syllable. (Exceptions: the ed forms a new syllable only if
the verb root ends in d or t).
Syllabication Rule 7: When le ends a word it forms a syllable with the preceding
consonant.
Syllabication Rule 8: When two consonants or a consonant and a blend come between
two vowels, the syllable division is between the consonants or the consonant and
blend.

NOTE: For more information, please check Peter Roach’s book

English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course.