Understanding English Syllables: Structure and Description

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Second Year Phonetic
Courses
 
TEACHER. Dr.RAHMANI. A
 
Academic year 2020-2021
 
Course Two: Syllables in
English
Structure and Description
of English Syllables
Syllabic Consonants
 
What is a syllable
What is a syllable(
phonetically
)
What is sonority
What is a
syllables(
phonologically
)
What are its constituents
Oncet
 
Rhyme
Nucleus
Coda
Tree diagram
Closed syllables
Open syllables
Phonetitics
 
Defining a Syllable
“A 
unit 
of speech for which
there is no satisfactory
definition. Syllables seem to
be 
necessary units 
in the
mental organization and
production of utterances.”
(Ladefoged & Johnson pg.
318).
 
Phonetic Definitions of the
Syllable
We can start with a purely
phonetic description of the
syllable: 
“One possible theory
is that peaks of syllabicity
coincide with peaks of
sonority”
 
*
Sonority scale adopted by (McMahon, 2002:107) will be graded in
this diagram as follows:
Low vowels        [ɑ, æ]                                         More sonorous
High vowels        [I, u]
Glides                 [j, w]
Liquids                [l, r]
Nasals                 [m, n, ŋ]
Voiced fricatives [v, ð, z, ʒ]
Voiceless fricatives [f, 
θ, 
s, ʃ, h]
Voiced plosives (stops) [b, d, g, dʒ ]
Voiceless plosives (stops) [p, t, k, tʃ ]                      Less sonorous
Diagram : The sonority scale of the English
Diagram : The sonority scale of the English
sounds
sounds
 
Syllables in Phonology
Let’s consider now syllables from a
phonological point of view where
they are most abstract units of
organization.
Chomsky & Halle’s S
ound Pattern of
English (1968) 
didn’t define 
the
syllable. Words were considered to
be strings of segments, and one may
manage to describe phonological
patterns without them.
 
BUT
BUT
Without referring to syllables, how might we
describe why we can’t say ‘
knee’ as [kni
] but
acne’ as [ækni] 
is fine?
OR
OR
What about the patterning of 
clear [l]
 vs.
dark [ɫ]
 l? 
Consider how /
l/ patterns 
in the following
words:
 ‘bowl’ [bɔ(ɫ)] ‘ebola’ [ibɔlɘ] ‘love’ [lʌv] ‘polka’
[pɔ(ɫ)kɘ]
 
Syllables in Languages
*
Every language manifests a particular 
way of
combining its sounds to form meaningful words
or parts of words
, called 
syllables
.
*
Each language puts 
certain restrictions 
on
these possible combinations. For example, in
English we can't have a word which begins with
a consonant sequence 
bfj, zbf
 or 
tzp
.
*
When we 
analyse
 what r
estrictions
 (and
regularities) are found in the language under
study,in our case English lge,  
we are
studying the 
syllable structure
 of that
language.
 
*
We can divide words into one or more
syllables. For example, 
tin
 has 
one
syllable, 
brother
 
has 
two
important
 
has 
three
and 
computer
 
has 
four 
syllables each.
*
A syllable is a group of one or more
sounds
. The e
ssential part of a syllable is
ssential part of a syllable is
a vowel sound (V)
a vowel sound (V)
 which may be 
preceded
and/or f
ollowed
 by a 
consonant (C)
consonant (C)
 or a
cluster of consonants (CC or CCC
cluster of consonants (CC or CCC
). Some
syllables consist of just 
one vowel sound
(V)
 as in 
I
 and 
eye
/
a
i
/, 
owe
/ə/.
 
In English, a syllable can consist of a
vowel preceded by 
one consonant (CV) as
in 
pie
/
pa
i
/
, or 
by two consonants (CCV) as
in 
try
/
tra
i
/, 
or by 
three consonants
(CCCV) as in 
spry
/
spra
i
/.
The vowel of the syllable may also be
followed by 
one consonant (VC) as
in 
at
/
æt
/, 
or by 
two consonants (VCC) as
in 
its
/
i
ts
/
, or 
by three consonants (CVCCC)
as in 
text
/
tekst
/
or by 
four consonants
(CVCCCC) as in 
texts
/
teksts
/.
c
cc
v
C
CONSONANT
CCCC
CCC
CC
CONSONANT
v
ccc
 
What you should highly consider
Crosslinguistically, 
different languages have
different requirements for what types of
syllables are allowed.
Words can be cut up into units called
syllables.
Humans seem to need syllables as a way of
segmenting the stream of speech and giving it a
rhythm of strong and weak beats.
Syllables exist only to make speech easier for
the brain to process.
A word 
contains at 
least one syllable
 CV is considered the most basic syllable type and is
allowed in every language
.
 
Syllable Structure
The syllable 
(conventionally marked
as small Greek 
sigma: σ
) has 
two
two
constituents
constituents
 (it “branches” into two
elements, to put it in another way)
the Onset (O), 
which includes any
consonants that precede the nuclear
element (the vowel), and the 
Rhyme
(R),
 which includes the nuclear
element (the vowel) as well as any
other elements (consonants) that
might follow it.
 
Syllable struture
                 
σ
        /     \
      /        R
     /       /     \
    O      N      CO
 
The Rhyme
, further branches into
Peak (P
), also known as 
Nucleus
 (
N
),
and 
Coda (Co).
 
The Peak (Nucleus
The Peak (Nucleus
), as the
designation suggests, represents the
nuclear” or most sonorous element
nuclear” or most sonorous element
in a syllable.
The Coda includes all consonants
that follow the Peak in a syllable.
 
Tree Diagram of CAT:
                  
σ
        /     \
      /        R
     /       /     \
    O      N      CO
    l        
/       \
  C      V         C
   l        
/           \
  K    æ             t
Syllable =Onset(O) +Rhyme
 
Rhyme = nucleus + coda
 
Closed Syllable, Open Syllable
Syllables 
ending in a consonant
, e.g. cat
/
kæt
/, it / t/,ɪ eat /
i:t
/, are traditionally known
as 
closed syllables
, 
whereas
whereas
 those 
ending
in a vowel
, as in sea /
si:
/ or eye /
/, are
called 
open Syllables
.
In terms of syllable structure, in 
closed
syllables the 
Coda is present
, while in
open
 ones the 
Coda element is absent
.
 
Consider the Following Examples
                                
Onset
 Peak 
Coda
Sea /si:/  
/s/
    /i:/     
Ø(none)
on/ ɒn/     
Ø 
   /ɒ /     
/ n/
Syllables with no coda are
referred to as open syllables. (so
V, CV, CCV, CCCV, etc.)
Syllables with a coda are
referred to as closed syllables.
(so VC, CVC, VCC, CCVC, etc.)
 
Onset (O)
Onset
: the 
beginning sounds of the sylla
ble;
the ones preceding
 the 
nucleus
. These are
always consonants in English.
The nucleus 
is  a 
vowel in most cases
vowel in most cases
,
although the 
consonants [ r ], [ l ], [ m ], [ n ],
consonants [ r ], [ l ], [ m ], [ n ],
and the velar nasal (the 
'ng'
 sound) can also be
the nucleus of a syllable
.
 
Types of syllables
1.
Monosyllable
 A word that consists of a single syllable (like dog) is
called a monosyllable (and is said to be
monosyllabic).  Bear can  dish  deal  Ball  bat
2. Disyllable
 It is for a word of 
two
 syllables;  Contact  Rocket 
Chicken  Pillow  Candy  Crowded
3. Trisyllable
 It is for a word of 
three
 syllables;  Beautiful 
Terrible  Horrible  carefully
4. Polysyllable
 which may refer either to a word of 
more than three
syllables 
or
or
 to any word of 
more than one syllable
.
 
Phonotactics
Phonotactics is a 
branch of
Phonology 
that deals with
restrictions (official limits) in a
language on the combinations of
phonemes
. 
In other words,
Phonotactics are the rules that
govern the combinations and
ordering of phonemes in a syllable or
a word.
 
Syllables and their parts
The parts are 
onset 
and 
rhyme
;
within the rhyme we find
the
 nucleus 
and 
coda
.
Not all syllables have all parts; the
smallest possible syllable contains a
nucleus only.
A syllable may or may not have an
onset and a coda
 
Pattern of Consonant Cluster
The English syllable 
twelfths
[twelfθs], 
for instance, is divided
into the 
onset /tw/, 
the nucleus
/e/, 
and the 
coda /lfθs/, 
its
phonotactic
phonotactic
 can be described as
CCVCCCC 
CCVCCCC 
twelfths [ twelfθs ] and its
syllable structure as O N C.
syllable structure as O N C.
 
Consonant Clusters
Consonant clusters are 
groups of two or more
groups of two or more
consonant sounds in a row
consonant sounds in a row
, as in spot, strong, desk,
desks, or sister.
It’s important to remember that we’re talking about
groups of consonant sounds, not consonant letters.
These are not always the same thing. For example,
ship and sing each have groups of two consonant
letters, but each group represents only one sound
(sh=/ʃ / and ng=/ŋ/).
On the other hand
On the other hand
, the 
letter x 
letter x 
as in six
represents a 
consonant cluster 
of two sounds: /
ks/
.
 
Structure of consonant clusture C.C. in
English
*
 
/s/ + /k/ + / l / : sclerosis
*
/s/ + /k/ + / r / : scream
*
/s/ + /k/ + / j / : skewer
*
/s/ + /k/ + / w / : squash
*
/s/ + /p/ + / l / : splash
*
/s/ + /p/ + / r / : spring
*
/s/ + /p/ + / j / : spew
*
/s/ + /t/ + / r / : street
*
/s/ + /t/ + / j / : student
 
Here are the possible two-consonant clusters at
the start of English word:
 
In addition, the following two-consonant
clusters are possible with /s/:
 
At the End of Words
We can have one, two, three, or four consonants
together.
Some of the longer clusters are in words with the
grammatical endings -s or -ed, which add an extra
sound.
Here are some examples of words ending in two-
consonant clusters: help, felt, old, milk, shelf, curb, art,
cord, mark, bump, ant, hand, tense, ranch, sink, else,
bulge, course, march, arm, barn, girl, wasp, trust, ask,
soft, act, tax, fourth.
Here are examples of words ending in three-consonant
clusters: text, sixth, exempt, waltz, world, glimpse,
quartz, against
 Some words end in four-consonant clusters because a
grammatical ending has been added: texts, sixths,
exempts, waltzed, worlds, glimpsed
 
Simplification of Consonant Clusters
There is 
one situation 
when it’s acceptable 
to simplify a
consonant cluster
, that is, 
to omit one of the consonants
to omit one of the consonants
.
When there are 
three or more consonants in a row
, 
the
the
middle 
middle 
one is sometimes 
dropped
dropped
.
(The first or last consonant is not dropped.)
This happens most often when the middle consonant is a
stop, /θ/, or /ð/
stop, /θ/, or /ð/
.
For example:
• tests might sound like /tɛsts/ or /tɛs/
• asked might sound like /æskt/ or /æst/
 • months might sound like /mʌnθs/ or /mʌns/
• sixths might sound like /sɪksθs/
 
Syllabic Consonant
It is 
a consonant that replaces 
the 
vowel [ə] in a syllable
. They
make it possible to make some short syllables shorter and
simpler.
We shall follow Roach's practice of marking certain consonants
with a small vertical line beneath them to show that they are
SYLLABIC.
*
The syllabic consonants in English are: n, l, r –
*
[l̩] (i) [l̩] 
occurs in word-final position
, in examples like the
following. [ˈbɒtl̩] bottle, [ˈsʌpl̩] supple, [ˈmʌfl̩] muffle, [ˈrɪdl̩] riddle,
[ˈtʃænl̩] channel, [ˈkʌpl̩] couple, [ˈrebl̩] rebel, [ˈhʌsl̩] hustle, [ˈbʊʃl̩]
bushel, [ˈʃʌvl̩] shovel.
 
 
Ususally, a sillable contains a vowel. However, "l", "m", "n", and
"ng" sometimes functions as syllables by themselves, without any
accompanying vowel, using the /ḷ/, /m/, /ṇ/, /ŋ/ sounds.
Syllabic 
/ḷ
/ and 
/ṇ
/ typically occur in an unstressed syllable
immediately following the alveolar consonants, 
/t/, /s/,
/z/, as well as /d/.
Examples:a
bottle /ˈbɑ:
tḷ
/, cattle /ˈkæ
tḷ
/
cotton /ˈkɑ:
tṇ
;/, button /ˈbʌ
tṇ
/.
listen /ˈlɪ
sṇ
/, fasten /ˈfæ
sṇ
/
risen /ˈrɪ
zṇ
/, prison /ˈprɪ
zṇ
/
saddle /ˈsæ
dḷ
/, poodle /ˈpu:
dḷ
/
sadden /ˈsæ
dṇ
/, burden /ˈbɚ
dṇ
/
 
*
Syllabic /ḷ/ can also follow /st/ or plain /n/ or /nt/
Examples:
pistol /ˈpɪ
stḷ
/
tunnel /ˈtʌ
nḷ
/
mantle /ˈmæ
ntḷ
/
*
T
h
e
 
s
y
m
b
o
l
 
/
ə
/
 
p
r
e
c
e
d
i
n
g
 
t
h
e
 
c
o
n
s
o
n
a
n
t
 
"
m
"
 
d
o
e
s
 
n
o
t
 
i
t
s
e
l
f
r
e
p
r
e
s
e
n
t
 
a
 
s
o
u
n
d
.
 
I
t
 
s
i
g
n
i
f
i
e
s
 
i
n
s
t
e
a
d
 
t
h
a
t
 
t
h
e
 
f
o
l
l
o
w
i
n
g
c
o
n
s
o
n
a
n
t
 
(
"
m
"
)
 
i
s
 
s
y
l
l
a
b
i
c
;
 
t
h
a
t
 
i
s
,
 
t
h
e
 
c
o
n
s
o
n
a
n
t
 
i
t
s
e
l
f
 
f
o
r
m
s
 
t
h
e
n
u
c
l
e
u
s
 
o
f
 
a
 
s
y
l
l
a
b
l
e
 
t
h
a
t
 
d
o
e
s
 
n
o
t
 
c
o
n
t
a
i
n
 
a
 
v
o
w
e
l
.
E
x
a
m
p
l
e
s
:
f
e
u
d
a
l
i
s
m
 
/
ˈ
f
j
u
:
d
ə
ˌ
l
ɪ
z
ə
m
/
h
e
r
o
i
s
m
 
/
ˈ
h
e
r
ə
ˌ
w
ɪ
z
ə
m
/
*
When the "–ING" suffix is added to a verb with a syllabic
consonant, the syllabic consonant may either be retained as
such or it simply becomes the initial consonant of the extra
syllable.
Examples:
Listening /ˈlɪsṇɪ
ŋ
/
going /ˈgowɪ
ŋ
/
 
*
1ST RULE: Syllabic consonant
*
vowel (stressed) + consonant (except for r, l, m, b, g)+ vowel (syllabic
consonant) + consonant (m, n, ŋ, l, r)
    Examples: lesson, people.
*
2 ND RULE: Schwa
*
vowel (stressed) + consonant (r, l, m, b, g)+ vowel (schwa) + consonant (m,
n, ŋ, l, r)
*
Examples: melon, lemon, organ, ribbon.
*
3RD RULE: Schwa
*
vowel (stressed) + nasal + vowel (schwa) + nasal/ nasal+ homorganic
*
OR
*
vowel (stressed) + nasal + homorganic /homorganic + nasal /plosive + nasal
/ nasal + plosive + vowel (schwa) + nasal (+ homorganic)
*
Examples: London, Clinton, Camden, cannon, human, diamond.
 
 
*
4TH RULE: Syllabic consonant
*
vowel (stressed) + consonant + vowel (syllabic consonant) +
consonant (m, n, ŋ, l, r) + consonant
*
OR
*
vowel (stressed) + consonant + consonant + vowel (syllabic
consonant) + consonant (m, n,
*
ŋ, l, r)
*
Examples: symbol, present, patient
 
Homework
Draw, the syllable structure of the following words:
Apron
Basic
Began
begin
Depend
Even
hotel
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Explore the concept of syllables in English phonetics through an in-depth analysis of syllabic structure, sonority, constituents, rhyme, nucleus, coda, and phonological perspectives. Delve into the definition of a syllable, its importance in speech production, and the phonetic descriptions of syllabic elements. Gain insight into the sonority scale and the role of syllables in phonological organization according to linguistic theories.


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  1. PEOPLE S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research University of Ben Boulaid Moustafa, Batna-2 Algeria Faculty of Letters and Foreign Languages Department of English Second Year Phonetic Courses TEACHER. Dr.RAHMANI. A Academic year 2020-2021

  2. Course Two: Syllables in English Structure and Description of English Syllables Syllabic Consonants

  3. What is a syllable What is a syllable(phonetically) What is sonority What is a syllables(phonologically) What are its constituents Oncet

  4. Rhyme Nucleus Coda Tree diagram Closed syllables Open syllables Phonetitics

  5. Defining a Syllable A unit of speech for which there is no satisfactory definition. Syllables seem to be necessary units in the mental organization and production of utterances. (Ladefoged & Johnson pg. 318).

  6. Phonetic Definitions of the Syllable We can start with a purely phonetic description of the syllable: One possible theory is that peaks of syllabicity coincide with peaks of sonority

  7. *Sonority scale adopted by (McMahon, 2002:107) will be graded in this diagram as follows: Low vowels [ , ] More sonorous High vowels [I, u] Glides [j, w] Liquids [l, r] Nasals [m, n, ] Voiced fricatives [v, , z, ] Voiceless fricatives [f, , s, , h] Voiced plosives (stops) [b, d, g, d ] Voiceless plosives (stops) [p, t, k, t ] Less sonorous Diagram : The sonority scale of the English sounds

  8. Syllables in Phonology Let s consider now syllables from a phonological point of view where they are most abstract units of organization. Chomsky & Halle s Sound Pattern of English (1968) didn t define the syllable. Words were considered to be strings of segments, and one may manage to describe phonological patterns without them.

  9. BUT Without referring to syllables, how might we describe why we can t say knee as [kni] but acne as [ kni] is fine? OR What about the patterning of clear [l] vs. dark [ ] l? Consider how /l/ patterns in the following words: bowl [b ( )] ebola [ib l ] love [l v] polka [p ( )k ]

  10. Syllables in Languages *Every language manifests a particular way of combining its sounds to form meaningful words or parts of words, called syllables. *Each language puts certain restrictions on these possible combinations. For example, in English we can't have a word which begins with a consonant sequence bfj, zbf or tzp. *When we analyse what restrictions (and regularities) are found in the language under study,in our case English lge, we are studying the syllable structure of that language.

  11. *We can divide words into one or more syllables. For example, tin has one syllable, brother has two, important has three and computer has four syllables each. *A syllable is a group of one or more sounds. The essential part of a syllable is a vowel sound (V) which may be preceded and/or followed by a consonant (C) or a cluster of consonants (CC or CCC). Some syllables consist of just one vowel sound (V) as in I and eye/aI/, owe/ /.

  12. In English, a syllable can consist of a vowel preceded by one consonant (CV) as in pie/paI/, or by two consonants (CCV) as in try/traI/, or by three consonants (CCCV) as in spry/spraI/. The vowel of the syllable may also be followed by one consonant (VC) as in at/ t/, or by two consonants (VCC) as in its/Its/, or by three consonants (CVCCC) as in text/tekst/or by four consonants (CVCCCC) as in texts/teksts/.

  13. c CONSONANT v cc ccc C CC CONSONANT v CCC CCCC

  14. What you should highly consider Crosslinguistically, different languages have different requirements for what types of syllables are allowed. Words can be cut up into units called syllables. Humans seem to need syllables as a way of segmenting the stream of speech and giving it a rhythm of strong and weak beats. Syllables exist only to make speech easier for the brain to process. A word contains at least one syllable CV is considered the most basic syllable type and is allowed in every language.

  15. Syllable Structure The syllable (conventionally marked as small Greek sigma: ) has two constituents (it branches into two elements, to put it in another way) the Onset (O), which includes any consonants that precede the nuclear element (the vowel), and the Rhyme (R), which includes the nuclear element (the vowel) as well as any other elements (consonants) that might follow it.

  16. Syllable struture / / / / \ O N CO \ R

  17. The Rhyme, further branches into Peak (P), also known as Nucleus (N), and Coda (Co). The Peak (Nucleus), as the designation suggests, represents the nuclear or most sonorous element in a syllable. The Coda includes all consonants that follow the Peak in a syllable.

  18. Tree Diagram of CAT: / / R / / \ O N CO l / \ C V C l / \ K t \

  19. Syllable =Onset(O) +Rhyme Rhyme = nucleus + coda

  20. Closed Syllable, Open Syllable Syllables ending in a consonant, e.g. cat /k t/, it / t/, eat /i:t/, are traditionally known as closed syllables, whereas those ending in a vowel, as in sea /si:/ or eye /a /, are called open Syllables. In terms of syllable structure, in closed syllables the Coda is present, while in open ones the Coda element is absent.

  21. Consider the Following Examples Onset Peak Coda Sea /si:/ /s/ /i:/ (none) on/ n/ / / / n/ Syllables with no coda are referred to as open syllables. (so V, CV, CCV, CCCV, etc.) Syllables with a coda are referred to as closed syllables. (so VC, CVC, VCC, CCVC, etc.)

  22. Onset (O) Onset: the beginning sounds of the syllable; the ones preceding the nucleus. These are always consonants in English. The nucleus is a vowel in most cases, although the consonants [ r ], [ l ], [ m ], [ n ], and the velar nasal (the 'ng' sound) can also be the nucleus of a syllable.

  23. Types of syllables 1. Monosyllable A word that consists of a single syllable (like dog) is called a monosyllable (and is said to be monosyllabic). Bear can dish deal Ball bat 2. Disyllable It is for a word of two syllables; Contact Rocket Chicken Pillow Candy Crowded 3. Trisyllable It is for a word of three syllables; Beautiful Terrible Horrible carefully 4. Polysyllable which may refer either to a word of more than three syllables or to any word of more than one syllable.

  24. Phonotactics Phonotactics is a branch of Phonology that deals with restrictions (official limits) in a language on the combinations of phonemes. In other words, Phonotactics are the rules that govern the combinations and ordering of phonemes in a syllable or a word.

  25. Syllables and their parts The parts are onset and rhyme; within the rhyme we find the nucleus and coda. Not all syllables have all parts; the smallest possible syllable contains a nucleus only. A syllable may or may not have an onset and a coda

  26. Pattern of Consonant Cluster The English syllable twelfths [twelf s], for instance, is divided into the onset /tw/, the nucleus /e/, and the coda /lf s/, its phonotactic can be described as CCVCCCC twelfths [ twelf s ] and its syllable structure as O N C.

  27. Consonant Clusters Consonant clusters are groups of two or more consonant sounds in a row, as in spot, strong, desk, desks, or sister. It s important to remember that we re talking about groups of consonant sounds, not consonant letters. These are not always the same thing. For example, ship and sing each have groups of two consonant letters, but each group represents only one sound (sh=/ / and ng=/ /). On the other hand, the letter x as in six represents a consonant cluster of two sounds: /ks/.

  28. Structure of consonant clusture C.C. in English */s/ + /k/ + / l / : sclerosis */s/ + /k/ + / r / : scream */s/ + /k/ + / j / : skewer */s/ + /k/ + / w / : squash */s/ + /p/ + / l / : splash */s/ + /p/ + / r / : spring */s/ + /p/ + / j / : spew */s/ + /t/ + / r / : street */s/ + /t/ + / j / : student

  29. Here are the possible two-consonant clusters at the start of English word:

  30. In addition, the following two-consonant clusters are possible with /s/:

  31. At the End of Words We can have one, two, three, or four consonants together. Some of the longer clusters are in words with the grammatical endings -s or -ed, which add an extra sound. Here are some examples of words ending in two- consonant clusters: help, felt, old, milk, shelf, curb, art, cord, mark, bump, ant, hand, tense, ranch, sink, else, bulge, course, march, arm, barn, girl, wasp, trust, ask, soft, act, tax, fourth. Here are examples of words ending in three-consonant clusters: text, sixth, exempt, waltz, world, glimpse, quartz, against Some words end in four-consonant clusters because a grammatical ending has been added: texts, sixths, exempts, waltzed, worlds, glimpsed

  32. Simplification of Consonant Clusters There is one situation when it s acceptable to simplify a consonant cluster, that is, to omit one of the consonants. When there are three or more consonants in a row, the middle one is sometimes dropped. (The first or last consonant is not dropped.) This happens most often when the middle consonant is a stop, / /, or / /. For example: tests might sound like /t sts/ or /t s/ asked might sound like / skt/ or / st/ months might sound like /m n s/ or /m ns/ sixths might sound like /s ks s/

  33. Syllabic Consonant It is a consonant that replaces the vowel [ ] in a syllable. They make it possible to make some short syllables shorter and simpler. We shall follow Roach's practice of marking certain consonants with a small vertical line beneath them to show that they are SYLLABIC. *The syllabic consonants in English are: n, l, r *[l ] (i) [l ] occurs in word-final position, in examples like the following. [ b tl ] bottle, [ s pl ] supple, [ m fl ] muffle, [ r dl ] riddle, [ t nl ] channel, [ k pl ] couple, [ rebl ] rebel, [ h sl ] hustle, [ b l ] bushel, [ vl ] shovel.

  34. Ususally, a sillable contains a vowel. However, "l", "m", "n", and "ng" sometimes functions as syllables by themselves, without any accompanying vowel, using the / /, /m/, / /, / / sounds. Syllabic / / and / / typically occur in an unstressed syllable immediately following the alveolar consonants, /t/, /s/, /z/, as well as /d/. Examples:a bottle / b :t /, cattle / k t / cotton / k :t ;/, button / b t /. listen / l s /, fasten / f s / risen / r z /, prison / pr z / saddle / s d /, poodle / pu:d / sadden / s d /, burden / b d /

  35. *Syllabic // can also follow /st/ or plain /n/ or /nt/ Examples: pistol / p st / tunnel / t n / mantle / m nt / *The symbol / / preceding the consonant "m" does not itself represent a sound. It signifies instead that the following consonant ("m") is syllabic; that is, the consonant itself forms the nucleus of a syllable that does not contain a vowel. Examples: feudalism / fju:d l z m/ heroism / her w z m/ *When the " ING" suffix is added to a verb with a syllabic consonant, the syllabic consonant may either be retained as such or it simply becomes the initial consonant of the extra syllable.

  36. *1ST RULE: Syllabic consonant *vowel (stressed) + consonant (except for r, l, m, b, g)+ vowel (syllabic consonant) + consonant (m, n, , l, r) Examples: lesson, people. *2 ND RULE: Schwa *vowel (stressed) + consonant (r, l, m, b, g)+ vowel (schwa) + consonant (m, n, , l, r) *Examples: melon, lemon, organ, ribbon. *3RD RULE: Schwa *vowel (stressed) + nasal + vowel (schwa) + nasal/ nasal+ homorganic *OR *vowel (stressed) + nasal + homorganic /homorganic + nasal /plosive + nasal / nasal + plosive + vowel (schwa) + nasal (+ homorganic) *Examples: London, Clinton, Camden, cannon, human, diamond.

  37. *4TH RULE: Syllabic consonant *vowel (stressed) + consonant + vowel (syllabic consonant) + consonant (m, n, , l, r) + consonant *OR *vowel (stressed) + consonant + consonant + vowel (syllabic consonant) + consonant (m, n, * , l, r) *Examples: symbol, present, patient

  38. Homework Draw, the syllable structure of the following words: Apron Basic Began begin Depend Even hotel

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