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Module Three: Syllable

Learning Activity One: Syllable and Syllabification
Instructional aims:
At the end of this class the students are expected to be able to:
1. explain the notions of onset, rhyme, nucleus and coda of syllables
2. syllabify English words by using timing and melody tiers.
3. explain with examples about light, heavy, open, and closed syllables.
4. explain the types of syllables that occur in English and other languages.
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A. Learning Material
3.1.1 Syllable Constituents
A syllable is quite easy to identify, but it is not easy to define. The speaker of a language
will have no problems breaking up a word into syllables, but s/he might have troubles
defining what a syllable is. Whatever language an individual speaks, s/he will soon agree that
r is a segment, but cannot be a syllable, o is also a segment and can be a syllable, ro is one
syllable, ron is also one syllable, rona consists of two syllables, ronal is composed of two
syllables, ronald has two syllables, and ronaldo contains three syllables. And if ronaldo is
broken up into syllables, the syllabification is most likely to be ro.nal.do, rather than
*ron.ald.o, *ro.nald.o, or *ro.na.ldo. Needless to say, the breaking up of ronaldo into three
syllables is based on the fact that the word has three vowels. The way this word is syllabified
leads us to the assumption that the number of syllables in a word equals the number of vowels
the word contains, and that a consonant on its own does not count as a syllable. Let us
suppose for the time being that this is indeed the case (putting aside syllabic consonants for
later discussion).
Yet defining what a syllable is needs further elaboration. One way of defining syllables
is to see them from the point of view of the acoustic features they contain. Acoustically, a
syllable is the sonority peak in a string of segments (i.e. a word). This sonority peak can be
preceded and or followed by a string of consonants. By sonority we mean “the loudness of a
segment compared to that of other segments with the same pitch, length, and stress”
(Ladefoged 1993). As a matter of fact segments have different sonority values, vowels being
the most sonorous and obstruent consonants being the least sonorous. Thus the word ronaldo
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above has three sonority peaks located on [o], [a], and [o] respectively. Put in simple terms, a
syllable is the smallest unit of speech that consists of a sonority peak (i.e. a vowel) and may
be preceded and/or followed by one or more consonants.
The term syllable is not to be confused with the term morpheme. Kreidler (1985) points
out that a syllable is a unit of speech, while a morpheme is a unit of language. The basic
difference between the two lies in the notion of meaning and/or grammatical function. A
morpheme is the smallest unit that has a meaning or a grammatical function out of which a
(bigger) word can be formed, while a syllable is a unit of speech that has no meanings or
grammatical functions. The syllable boundary of a word may coincide with the morpheme
boundary, but there is no one-to-one relation between the two. As such, a syllable boundary
may or may not be aligned with a morpheme boundary. A word may contain two morphemes
(bi-morphemic), but it consists of only one syllable (i.e. monosyllabic), for example: books,
looked, speaks, etc. Similarly, a word may consist of two syllables (bi-syllabic), but there is
only one morpheme (mono-morphemic), for example: student, father, after, etc., in the same
way as a word can be bi-syllabic and bi-morphemic at the same time, for example: students,
fathers, bigger, wanted, etc. In short, the number of syllables can be the same as or different
from the number of morphemes in a word. The following are some more examples:

talk [tk] monosyllabic, mono-morphemic

talks [tks] mono-syllabic, bi-morphemic
strengths [strŋθs] mono-syllabic, poly-morphemic
mother [m.ðr] by-syllabic, mono-morphemic
talking [tk.ŋ] bi-syllabic, bi-morphemic
teachers [ti:.tr] bi-syllabic, poly-morphemic
develop [d.v.lp] poly-syllabic, mono-morphemic
development [d.v.lp.mnt poly-syllabic, bi-morphemic
developments [d.v.lp. mnts] poly-syllabic, poly-morphemic

A syllable has four constituents, onset, rhyme, nucleus, and coda. The core (i.e. the
obligatory) constituent of a syllable is the nucleus, which is occupied by a vowel (or a
diphthong). Onset is the slot occupied by the consonant preceding the vowel, and coda is the
slot occupied by the consonant following the vowel. The nucleus and the coda form a unit
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called rhyme. The structure of a syllable is illustrated as follows (σ = syllable, O = onset, R =

rhyme, N = nucleus, and Co = coda).

σ (syllable)

onset (O) rhyme (R)

nucleus (N) coda (Co)

The word pick [pk], for example, is syllabified as follows:

σ

O R

N Co

p  k

Words like pick are said have a simple onset and a simple coda because there is only one
consonant in the onset and one consonant in the coda. When the onset and the coda consist of
two or more consonants, they are called complex onsets and complex codas respectively. The
words tree and play, for example, have complex onsets; the words jump and desk have
complex codas, and the words blast and print have complex onsets and complex codas. The
following is the syllabification of blast.
σ

O R

N Co

b l a s t
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It should be born in mind that the terms simple and complex are not determined by the
spelling of a word, but rather by the transcription of the word (i.e. by how the word is
pronounced). Thus words like ship [p], this [z], phase [fez], know [no] and gnat [nt],
are said to have simple onsets because each of these words starts with a single consonant as
the transcriptions show, and words like fish [f], enought [nf], sick [sk], kiss [ks], and kill
[kl] are said to have simple codas, as demonstrated by the transcriptions of the words. The
question that might soon arise is how about the words cheap [tp] and ledge [ld], for
example, which look like having a complex onset and a complex coda respectively? The
answer to this question is no because the sounds [t] and [d] are considered single segments.
This is a matter of the lack of symbols that can represent these two sounds accurately. In fact
in many phonology books the IPA sounds [t] and [d] are represented by [č] and [j]
respectively to maintain the principle of representing one sound by one symbol.
A syllable may be very simple, consisting of only the nucleus (a vowel or a diphthong). In
English there are a few monosyllabic words that consist of only a vowel, for example the first
personal pronoun I, and the indefinite article a. Similarly, the first syllable of the bi-syllabic
words like a.bove, a.gain, and o.mit also consists of a vowel only. Syllables that consist of
only a vowel are syllabified in the following way:

σ σ
| |
R R
| |
N N
| |
 a

In English, the onset and the coda of a syllable can be very complex, consisting of three
segments, for example: street, split, spray, jumps, tests, bulbs, etc. The bi-morphemic word,
texts [tksts], has even four segments in the coda. The most complex monosyllabic word in
English is probably the poly-morphemic word strengths [strs], which consists of three
segments in onset and three segments in coda, which is syllabified as follows:
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O R

N Co

s t r    s

To sum up, acoustically, a syllable is defined as the sonority peak in a string of segments
(or a word). The number of vowel sounds in a word equals the number of syllables in the
word. Diphthongs are considered one segment. Syllables and morphemes are two different
terminologies, and there is no one-to-one relation between the two. The constituents of a
syllable are onset, rhyme, nucleus, and coda. The organization of the syllable is as follows:
onset and rhyme are sisters, dominated by the syllable mother node. The nucleus and the coda
are also sisters, dominated by the rhyme node. The obligatory constituent is the nucleus,
which is almost always occupied by a vowel (or a diphthong). Onsets and codas are occupied
by consonants. If the onset or the coda consists of only one segment, it is called a simple onset
or a simple coda. If there are more than one consonant in onsets and codas, the onset and the
coda are called complex. For an exercise, please transcribe the following words and then
syllabify them!

3.1.2 Timing Tier, Melody Tier, and Syllable Weight

The syllabification shown above has some disadvantages in that it fails to tell whether a
segment is long or short. In the above type of syllabification, short vowels like [] in live and
long vowels like [i:] in leave will be syllabified similarly. It also fails to differentiate a
monophthong from a diphthong. The word I (diphthong), and the word a (monophthong), for
example, are syllabified in the same way. Geminate consonants, for instance in the
Makassarese word butta ‘earth’ and bella ‘far’, add some problems to the above way of
syllabification. For this reason, the syllabication shown above will be modified slightly by
introducing what is usually called timing and melody tiers. Timing tier is the level where the
length of a segment is determined, usually called X level. A short segment has one X position
and a long segment has two X positions. Diphthongs are considered long segments, so that
they also have two X positions. Melody tier or the segment level is the level where the
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individual sound is located. This level is occupied by individual consonant and vowel sounds.
The following are the syllabifications of the monosyllabic words live, leave, and life using
timing and melody tiers.

σ σ σ

O R O R O R

N Co N Co N Co

X X X X X X X X X X X

l  v l i v l a  v

3.1.3 Syllable Weight

The notion of syllable weight is determined on the basis of the number of segments
dominated by the rhyme node. Onset plays no roles in syllable weight. With respect to weight,
syllables can be grouped into light syllables and heavy syllables. A syllable is called light if
the nucleus is a short vowel, and there is no coda. A syllable is called heavy if the nucleus is a
long vowel, a diphthong, a short vowel + a coda, a long vowel + a coda, and a diphthong + a
coda. Using the tree diagram organization, we can say that a syllable is light if the rhyme does
not branch, and it is heavy if the rhyme branches. By branching rhyme we mean the nucleus
branches (because the vowel is long or it is a diphthong), or the rhyme branches (because
there is a coda consonant) or both the nucleus and the rhyme branch. Using timing and
melody tiers, we can say that a syllable is light if the rhyme contains only one X position, and
it is heavy if the rhyme consists of two or more X positions. The two (or more) X positions in
the rhyme can be from the nucleus alone, or from the nucleus + coda. The following are
several examples of light syllables and heavy syllables in English. As we will see in the table
below, the most common monosyllabic words which consist of light syllables are the
indefinite article a and the definite article the. Other than these two words, light syllables can
be found in unstressed bisyllabic or polysyllabic words.
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Light syllable Heavy syllable

a [] bee [bi:]
the [] go [go]
be.lieve [b.li:v] live [lv]
re.peat [r.pi:t] leave [li:v]
de.part [d.prt] both [bo]
so.fa [so.f] post [post]

Besides being classified as light and heavy syllables, syllables can also be grouped into
open syllables and closed (or checked) syllables. A syllable is called open if it contains no
coda consonant, and it is called closed if it has a coda consonant. The following are several
examples of open syllables and closed syllables.

Open syllable Closed syllable

bee [bi:] bike [bak]
way [we] love [lv]
do [du:] sing [s]
though [o] rude [rud]
raw [r:] help [hlp]
sky [ska] trust [trst]

3.1.4 Syllable Types

Syllable type is determined by the phonotactics of the language. Phonotactics is the way
segments are ordered in a language. As we know, segments consist of vowels and consonants.
Vowels always occupy the nucleus node, while consonants occupy the onset and coda nodes.
The term syllable type then refers particularly to whether or not a syllable requires or allows
onsets and codas, and if it does, how many segments my occur in them. As a matter of fact,
languages differ in the number of segments they allow to occupy the onset and coda nodes.
There are languages that allow very simple syllables, consisting of only the nucleus and an
optional onset, and there is no coda, for example Hawaiian (Spencer 1996). The syllable
structure of such languages is (C)V, which means that the onset is optional, as demonstrated
by the native onsetless words aloha ‘love’ and iwi ‘eel’. For an illustration, consider the
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following Hawaiian words borrowed from English (note that Hawaiian has no /t and s/
phonemes).

welaweka ‘velvet’
wekeke ‘whiskey’
halaki ‘Charlotte’
ma:keke ‘market’
kikiki ‘ticket’
koloke: ‘croquet’
kilipaki ‘Gilbert’
(Elbert and Pukui 1979 in Spencer 1996)
There are also languages that allow complex onsets and complex codas, for example
English. In English a syllable can be very simple, consisting of only a vowel, but can also be
very complex, consisting of as many as three segments in onsets and three segments in codas,
as can be seen in the following monosyllabic words:

Table 3.1.1 Examples of English Syllable Types

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Syllable type Example Transcription

V a, I [], [a]
VC it, eat, off, ill, eel, inn [t], [it], [f], [l], [i:l], [n]
VCC ask, and, end, elf, arm [æsk], [[ænd], [εnd], [εlf], [rm]
VCCC asked, ends, arms, armed, [æskt], [εndz], [rmz], [[rmd]
CV do, see, raw, she, they, know [du:], [si:], [r], [i:], [ðe], [nou]
CVC cat, this, phase, sing, kiss [kæt], [ðz], [fez], sŋ], [ks]
CVCC help, task, cooked, shops [hεlp], [tæsk], [kukt], [ps]
CVCCC helped, tasks, text, tends [hεlpt], [tæsks], [tεkst], [tεndz]
CCV free, dry, true, through, three [fri:], [dra] [tru:, [θru:], [θri:]
CCVC trip, black, stop, please [trp], [blæk], [stp], [pli:z]
CCVCC brand, blast, clamp, blocked [brænd], [blst], [klæmp], [blkt]
CCVCCC clamped, cleansed, blasts, [klæmpt], [kli:nzd], [blsts]
CCCV spray, straw, screw, [spre], [str], [skru:]
CCCVC split, street, scream [splt], [stri:t], skri:m]
CCCVCC splits, streets, screamed [splts], [stri:ts], skri:md]
CCCVCCC strengths [strεŋθs]

There are also languages whose syllable types are more complex than Hawaiian, but not as
complex as English, for example Bahasa Indonesia (BI), Kailinese and Makassarese. These
three languages have the same basic syllable type (C)V(C), meaning that they allow optional
onsets and optional codas. Yet, they differ in the number and type of segment they allow to
occupy these nodes.
BI, for example, basically has simple onsets and simple codas, allowing only one
consonant in onset and one consonant in coda. Yet, words adopted from foreign languages
(Sanskrit and English, for example) allow two or even three segments in onset and coda,
giving the following syllable types:
CV : di ‘in, on, at,’ ba.tu, ‘stone,’ ka.mi ‘we’
CCV : pra.mu.ka ‘boy-scout,’ tra.di.si ‘tradition,’ pla.nit ‘planet’
CCCV(C) : stra.tegi ‘strategy,’ struk.tur ‘structure,’ sa.stra ‘literature’
VC : am.bil ‘take,’ ang.kat ‘lift,’ in.tan ‘diamond’
(C)VCC : eks ‘ex,’ bank ‘bank’
(C)VCCC : korps ‘corps’
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BI also allows various segments word internally and word finally. In general, stops nasals,
fricatives, and liquids can stand as coda word internally, for example in words like: pak.sa
‘force,’ lam.bat ‘slow,’ pas.ti ‘exact,’ pal.su ‘false,’ mar.til ‘hummer’ and word finally, as in
a.sap ‘smoke,’ hu.jan ‘rain,’ ma.las ‘lazy,’ ma.hal ‘expensive,’ pa.kar ‘expert.’
Unlike BI, which allows complex onsets and codas, Makassare allows only simple onsets
and codas. What is more is that word-final coda in Makassarese is restricted to only two types
of consonants, glottal stop [] and velar nasal [ŋ]. Word-internally, coda can only be occupied
by (a) a nasal followed by a homorganic consonant, (b) a glottal stop followed by a voiced
segment, and (c) the first part of a geminate consonant. The following are several examples.
u ‘hair’ ri ‘in, on, at’
jala ‘net’ tutu ‘careful’ lolo ‘young’ jai ‘many/much’
ondaŋ ‘pursue’ lompo ‘big’ cela ‘salt’ sassaŋ ‘dark’ como ‘fat’

The syllable structure of Kailinese is even simpler. This language allows optional onsets,
but disallows word-final codas. Word-internally, codas can only be occupied by a nasal
followed by a homorganic onset consonant. The following are several examples of Kailinese
loanwords (from Ponulele 1991).

[tana] ‘soil’ [gumba] ‘jar’

[kola] ‘pool’ [inta] ‘diamond’
[ana] ‘child’ [tandu] ‘horn’
[sapeda] ‘bike’ [baraka] ‘leave’

From the examples above it is clear that the four languages allow onsets but only two
languages (English and BI) allow word-final coda. In fact, there are a good number of
languages in the world which do not permit word-final coda; Makassarese and Japanese can
be cited to be examples of languages which place a very strict restriction to the type of
consonant in word-final coda. Makassarese allows only velar nasal and glottal stop, while
Japanese allows only alveolar nasal /n/, such as the proper naun Oshin. Yet, there are no
languages that disallow onset. In fact, onset is obligatory in some languages; German, Arabic,
Temiar, Axininca, and Campa among others (Spencer 1996:80, Itô 1989). Given that onset is
permitted in all languages, and that coda is disallowed in several languages, it is then
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reasonable to assume that the unmarked syllable type across world’s languages is CV,
meaning that every language allows CV syllable. What this implies is that onset has certain
supremacy over coda in the sense that an intervocalic consonant will be more likely
syllabified as onset of a following syllable rather than coda of a preceding one. Take the
Indonesian word anak ‘child’ for example, which is syllabified as a.nak, rather than *an.ak.

B. Conclusion

Acoustically, a syllable is defined as the sonority peak in a string of segments (or a word).
The number of vowel sounds in a word equals the number of syllables in the word.
Diphthongs are considered one segment. Syllables and morphemes are two different
terminologies, and there is no one-to-one relation between the two. The constituents of a
syllable are onset, rhyme, nucleus, and coda. The organization of the syllable is as follows:
onset and rhyme are sisters, dominated by the syllable mother node. The nucleus and the coda
are also sisters, dominated by the rhyme node. The obligatory constituent is the nucleus,
which is almost always occupied by a vowel (or a diphthong). Onsets and codas are occupied
by consonants. If the onset or the coda consists of only one segment, it is called a simple onset
or a simple coda. If there are more than one consonant in onsets and codas, the onset and the
coda are called complex.
Timing tier is the tier where the length of a segment is determined. The length of segment
is marked by X position. One X position means a short segment, and two X positions mean
long segments. Melody tier is the level where the individual segment is placed. Syllables are
classified into light syllables and heavy syllables. Light syllables are syllables where the
nucleus is a short vowel and there is no coda consonant, while a heavy syllable is a syllable in
which the nucleus is (a) a long vowel and no coda, (b) a diphthong without a coda, (c) a short
vowel + a coda, (d) a long vowel + a coda, and (e) a diphthong + a coda. In short, a light
syllable is a syllable where the rhyme does not branch, while a heavy syllable is a syllable
where the rhyme branches. Syllables are also classified into open syllables and closed (or
checked) syllables. An open syllable is a syllable without a coda, while a closed syllable is a
syllable with a coda.
Syllable types basically mean whether a language allows onsets and or codas, and if it
does, how many and what segments may occupy those slots. Languages differ in syllable
types. There are languages with very simple syllable type, allowing only one optional onset,
and there is no coda. On the other hand, there are also languages that have very complex
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syllable types where onsets and codas can be occupied by more than two segments each.
Languages also differ in the kind of segments that may occupy onsets and codas. There are
languages that place certain restriction on the kind of consonant that may occupy onsets,
especially codas.

C. Exercises
1. Syllabify the following words by using timing and melody tiers!
bee, my, bit, and bite
2. Find English words that consist of (or contain): a. light syllable, b. heavy syllable where
the nucleus is (a) a long vowel without a coda, (b) a diphthong without a coda, (c) a short
vowel + a coda, (d) a long vowel + a coda, and (e) a diphthong + a coda
3. Find English words that consist of (or contain) (a) open syllables, and (b) closed syllables.
For an exercise in identifying syllable type, please pick a language (other than English and
BI). Examine the syllable types of the language and compare them with English. Please use
informants if the language is unfamiliar to you. Investigate the following: (a) Does the
language allow onsets and codas, (b) if it does, how many segments can occur in those onset
and coda, and (c) what consonants may occupy onsets and codas.

D. Formative Test
1. Which of the following statements about syllable is NOT true?
a. Coda is the consonant after the nucleus.
b. Onset is the consonant before the nucleaus.
c. The nucleus of a syllable is almost always a vowel.
d. A syllable may have no nucleus.
2. The example of a closed syllable in the following is …
a. time b. high c. see d. law
3. Which of the following bi-syllabic words contains a light syllable?
a. practice b. begin c. dentist d. bedroom
4. Which of the following monosyllabic words is NOT a heavy syllable?
a. my b. bee c. the d. go

5. Which of the following words contains an open syllable? …

a. until b. believe c. export d. import
6. A syllable with a complex onset can be found in …
a. please b. shake c. thick d. know
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7. Which of the following monosyllabic words has a complex coda?

a eight. b. both c. cakes d. long
8. Given what you know about the syllable structure of Kailinese, which of the
following is a licit (possible) word shape of Kailinese?
a. CV.CVCC b. CVC.CVC c. CV.CVC d. CV.CV

ooooo000ooooo

Module Three
Syllable
Learning Activity Two:
The Sonority Scale and the Sonority Sequencing Generalization (SSG)

Instructional aims:
At the end of the class the students are expected to be able to:
1. explain what is meant by Sonority Scale and Sonority Sequencing Generalization.
2. provide examples of sonority profiles of English words.
3. explain the notion of existing words, possible words, impossible words.
4. provide examples of words that obey and violate the SSG in English.

A. Learning Material
3.2.1 The Sonority Scale
The term sonority refers to acoustic quality, roughly defined as loudness or audibility of a
segment. As a matter of fact, segments are different with respect to sonority values, where
stops being the least sonorous and vowels being the most sonorous. In between lie fricatives,
nasals, liquids, and glides. The following continuum (summarized from Spencer 1996)
illustrates the point more clearly where the figure in parentheses below each group of
segments shows the sonority value of those segments.
The Sonority Scale:
the least sonorous the most sonorous
<-|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|---------------|->
stops fricatives nasals liquids glides vowels
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
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This sonority scale plays a role in describing the consonant clusters in the onset and the
coda. As a matter of fact when there are more than one onset and/or coda consonants, there is
a tendency that the order of consonants follows a regular sonority pattern where the
consonants closer to the nucleus are generally more sonorous than those which are farther
away from the nucleus.

3.2.2 The Sonority Sequence Generalization (SSG)

The order of consonants in onset and coda positions ...................................
Selkirk (1984) in Spencer 1996 summarizes this general tendency in what she calls Sonority
Sequencing Generalization (SSG) as follows:

“In any syllable, there is a segment constituting a sonority peak that is

preceded and/or followed by a sequence of segments with progressively
Decreasing sonority values.”

Put differently, if there are two onset or coda consonants, the inner consonant (i.e. the one
closer to the nucleus) is normally more sonorous than the outer one. Let us take the word
plant /plænt/, for example. This monosyllabic word consists of five segments, a vocalic
nucleus, two onset consonants, and two coda consonants. The sonority peak lies on the
vocalic nucleus /æ/. Preceding it are two consonants /pl/ with decreasing sonority values
(counting from the peak), where the liquid /l/ has a higher sonority value (4) than the stop /p/
(1). Following the nucleus [æ] are also two coda consonants /nt/ with decreasing sonority
values where [n] (3) is higher in sonority than [t] (1). The sonority profile of the word plant
/plænt/ is manifested in the following way:

p l æ n t

We can describe this sonority profile starting from the left edge of the word that the sonority
slope goes upward before the peak and goes downward after the peak. Put it another way by
starting from the peak we can say that the sonority slop goes downward to both edges of the
word. In general, English words follow this tendency, as can be seen in words like brand,
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blast, crisp, print, trend, clamp, etc. where the inner consonants are all more sonorous than
the outer ones. We can say that this is the basic sonority profile of syllables with complex
onsets and codas. Let us call this the core syllable of English. This in turn explains why in
English there are no (and will never be) words of the shape *lpatn, *rpitn, *rtedn, *lcapm, etc.
The simple explanation to these illicit word shapes is that they all violate the Sonority
Sequencing Generalization (SSG), where the outer consonants are more sonorous than the
inner ones. If we give the sonority profile of a nonce (non-existing word) of the shape *lpatn,
the profile will be something like the following.

l p æ t n
In this sonority profile there are three sonority peaks located on /æ/, /l/, and [n/ because the
sonority peak is not preceded and or followed by downward sonority slopes, but rather curved
sonority slopes, creating two extra peaks on /l/ and /n/. This violates SSG, which requires
downward sonority slopes before and after the peak.
Yet however neat the generalization might be, counterexamples are not hard to come by.
Take for example the onsets of words like spy, stay, and sky, and the codas of words like sex,
lapse, and text. The complex onsets and codas of all these examples violate the SSG in that
the outer consonants are more sonorous than the inner ones. How to account for these
phenomena? As can be seen from the examples above, all words involve /s/ either in onsets or
in codas. Yet, not all words containing /s/ in codas violate SSG. In many words, for example,
ask, past, grasp, and mask, /s/ poses no problems in that they all obey the SSG. In many
instances, /s/ violates the SSG in words containing letter ‘x’ such as sex, text, context, and in
words containing suffixes; i.e. bi-morphemic or poly-morphemic words such as cats, locks,
looked, begged, etc. Irrespective of all the counterexamples to the SSG as demonstrated by /s/
and suffixes like –s and –ed, the SSG is a quite good tool to the prediction of the well-
formedness of the word shape of English. At least, it will guide us to predict the possible (i.e.,
potential) and impossible English words (i.e., nonces).
There have been several proposals in the literature of English phonology put forth to solve
the problem of /s/ to the SSG. Yet it must be admitted that so far the problem of /s/ has not yet
been solved satisfactorily. One solution to this problem (see Spencer 1996, and Giegerich
1992 among others) is to assume that the /s/ whether it is in the onset or in the coda does not
belong to the core syllable; rather they are appendices to the core syllable. By appendices here
 16

we mean the /s/ is not associated with the node immediately dominating it, but rather it is
associated with a higher dominating node; the syllable for the consonantal onset, and the
rhyme for the consonantal coda (see the original works of the two authors cited above for a
detailed account of this phenomenon).

B. Conclusion
To sum up, sonority scale is the grouping of segments based on their sonority values. The
most sonorous segments are the vowels to be followed by glides, liquids, nasals, fricatives,
and the least sonorous are the stops. The Sonority Sequencing Generalization (SSG) is the
tendency of the segments of consonant clusters in onsets and codas to be ordered in such a
way that the inner consonant is more sonorous the outer one, giving a sonority profile where
the sonority slope goes upward before the peak and downward after the peak (starting from
the left). There are some violations to this generalization which involve /s/ and affixes.
Dispite those violations, the SSG is an effective device to predict the possible and the
impossible words of English, where a string of segments that violates the SSG is unlikely to
become part of English vocabulary.

C. Exercises
1. Draw the sonority profiles of the following words. Give the sonority value of the
segment at the bottom of each vertical line.
blend, smiles and print
2. Find other English words that contain consonant clusters in onsets and or codas that
obey the SSG and words that violate the SSG (at least three words each).

3.Create at least three strings of segments that might become part of English vocabulary,
and three strings of segments that are unlikely to become parts of English vocabulary.

D. Formative Tests
1. Which of the following groups of segments is the most sonorous?
a. liquids b. glides c. nasals d. obstruents

2. According to the Sonority Sequencing Generalization, in a complex onset or coda

a. the outer consonant is more sonorous than the inner one.
b. the inner consonant is less sonorous than the outer one.
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c. the outer consonant is as sonorous as the inner one.

d. the inner consonant is more sonorous than the outer one.

3. All of the following words obey SSG, EXCEPT …

a. stopped b. dreams c. blast d. smiles

4. Which of the following nonces is NOT a possible English word?

a. twall b. lmast c. preack d. drack

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