Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
26 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Why the syllable is the smallest unit of speech continuum? |
Because the syllable consists of a group of the speech sounds. They are the smallest segments into which the speech continuum is divided. The sounds are pronounced together and form a single unit of utterance which may be a recognised subdivision of a word. |
|
|
Why the syllable is regarded as the smallest articulatory unit? the smallest auditory unit? |
1. The syllable is the smallest articulatory unit because when we pronounce a syllable, the speech organs, while producing a consonant, take all the positions necessary for the the following vowel. Although the boundaries between consonants & vowels aren't clearly marked, between syllables they are marked by the alternation of increases and decreases in articulatory tension.
2. The syllable is the smallest unit of perception because the listener can identify the preceeding sound only after analysis of the whole syllable. It's faster to identify syllable than isolated sounds contained in it. |
|
|
Why the syllable is regarded both as a phonetic unit and a phonological unit? |
As a phonetic unit, it has articulatory, acoustic, auditory features and the unity of these three features is true in all languages. As for phonological unit, the syllable is a specific combination (consists) of phonemes which can be defined and described when they reffer to the structure of one particular language (particular ways in which the phonemes are combined in a language). |
|
|
Functions of syllable (three functions) |
The constitutive function (syllable constitutes words through the combination of their stress-loudness, duration - length, pitch tone). The distinctive function (the difference in the place of a syllable boundary differentiates the meanings of the word and phrases) The identificatory function (the listener can understand the exact meaning of the utterance only when the correct syllabic boundary is perceived) |
|
|
Name the three theories of syllable formation |
- the chest pulse theory - the relative sonority theory - the muscular tension theory (Shcherbar's theory) |
|
|
Chest pulse (expiratory) theory |
The syllable is pronounced in one chest pulse, accompanied by increases in air pressure. According to it, there are as many syllables in the world as chest pulses made during the utterance of the word. |
|
|
The relative sonority theory |
According to this theory, sounds group themselves around the most sonorous ones which form the peak of sonority in a syllable. Speech sounds differ in sonority. The most sonorous sounds are vowels, less sonorous are sonorants, the least sonorous are noise consonants) |
|
|
According to the degree of sonority, Jespersen classified the sounds into: |
1. Open vowels 2. Mid-open vowels 3. Close vowels 4. Sonants 5. Voiced fricatives 6 . Voiced stops 7. Voiceless fricatives 8 . Voiceless stops |
|
|
The main objections to the chptheory and rstheory |
1. It's impossible to explain all cases of syllable formation on the basis of the chptheory and to determine boundaries between syllables. 2. This theory cannot explain the mechanism of syllable formation. It only makes an attempt to explain perception of a syllable. It does not explain syllable division and to which syllable the less sonorous belong. |
|
|
Muscular tension theory |
According to this theory, a syllable is characterised by variations in muscular tension. The energy of articulation increases at the beginning of a syllable, reaches its maximum with the vowel and decreases towards the end of the syllable. |
|
|
Sonority |
The sonority of a sound is its relative loudness and compared to other sounds, everything else (pitch) is equal. It is prominence, audibility or carrying power. There are most sonorous sounds (vowels), less sonorous (sonorants), the least sonorous (noise consonants). |
|
|
Initially strong consonants |
They are consonants, in the articulation of which the beginning is strong while the end is weaker. They occur at the end of a closed syllable. |
|
|
Finally strong consonants |
They are consonants in the articulation of which the beginning is weak while the end is stronger. The occur at the beginning of a syllable. |
|
|
Double-peaked consonants |
They are consonants in the articulation of which both the beginning and the end is strong while the middle is weak. They occur at the junction of words or morphemes. |
|
|
Structure of the English syllable |
In syllable, the term "structure" denotes the relations between the phonemes presenting the syllable. Syllable formation is based on the phonological opposition of vowels and consonants. There are syllabic and non-syllabic sounds. The center of a syllable is called "the peak". |
|
|
Syllabic, non-syllabic sounds |
-They are vowels and sonants which can form the peak of a syllable. -They are consonants which are grouped around syllabic sounds. Non-syllabic elements before the peak of a syllable are called "the onset", after - "the coda". |
|
|
How do V, S, C group together to form syllables? |
In English the syllable is formed: - by any vowel alone or in combination with one or more consonants - no more than 3 preceeding and no more than 4 following - by a word final sonants /n/, /l/, /m/ immediately preceeded by a consonant. garden /ga:dn/ |
|
|
What sonants are syllabic? In what position can they function as syllabic sounds? |
They are sonants that form a syllable on its own, like /m/, /n/, /l/ in the English words rhythm, button and bottle. They are syllabic in unstressed final position, e. g. Petal, blossom, lighten. |
|
|
What vowels never occur in the final position in a stressed syllable? |
Short English vowels /i, e, ae, a, u/ never occur in stressed final position without the following consonant. |
|
|
What vowels can occur in the final position in an unstressed syllable? |
/i/ happy, /e/ summer |
|
|
Four structural types of the syllable |
-open syllables (CV) when there is no consonant after the vowel - far, tie. - closed syllables (VC) when the vowel is followed by a consonant - art, sit, life. -covered syllables (CV (C)) when there is consonant before the vowel - say, like - uncovered syllable (V(c)), there is no consonant before the vowel - art, eight, eat
|
|
|
Maximum number of consonants before & after the peak of a syllable |
There may be up to 3 c before a vowel syllable (straw), and up to 4 c after a vowel in syllable (texts) |
|
|
What consonant never occur in the initial position in a syllable? |
There can be any consonant excep /ng/ |
|
|
Syllabification |
It is the division of a word into syllables. It is very important when we distinguish words and utterances. |
|
|
Phonotactic constrained on syllabification |
It is a general rule of phonetic syllabification. Phonotactic means the science which studies how different sounds can be combined. In the phonetic syllable division we should avoid consonant clusters which aren't found in words in isolation, that's which aren't possible at the beginning /end of a syllable. |
|
|
Basic rules of phonetic syllable division (J. C. Wells in Longman pronunciation dictionary) |
1. A syllable boundary is found whenever there is a word boundary, and also coincides with the morphological boundary between elements in a compound 2. Consonants are syllabified with one of the two neighbouring vowels which is more strongly stressed. 3 . The English diphthongs are unisyllabic, they make one vowel and phoneme, while thriphthongs are disyllabic, because they consist of a diphthong+the neutral vowel/shwa 4. The English affricates /ch/, /dg/ cannot be split (catching) |
