2. Types of syllable. Strong and weak syllables

There are the following main types of syllables in English:

V –

VC –

CVC –

CV –

A syllable can be formed: by a vowel: (V); by a vowel and a consonant: (VC); by a consonant and a sonorant (CS). V – types of syllable called uncovered open, VC – types of syllable called uncovered closed, CVC – types of syllable called covered closed, CV – types of syllable called covered open.

G.P. Torsuyev suggests a differentiation of the following types of syllabic structures:

V type: fully open, CVC type: fully closed, CV type: initially covered, VC type: finally covered.

One of the most

The distribution of strong and weak syllables is very closely connected with stress, which is a major factor in determining whether a syllable will be strong or weak. Elision is a closely related subject, and in considering intonation the difference between strong and weak syllables is also important. Finally, words with "strong" and "weak" forms are clearly a related matter. Now we shall discuss the general nature of weak syllables

What do we mean by "strong" and "weak"? In the present context, we are using these terms to refer to phonetic characteristics of syllables. We could describe them partly in terms of stress (by saving, for example, that strong syllables are stressed and weak syllables unstressed), but until we describe what "stress" means, such a description would not be very useful. The most important thing to note at present is that any strong syllable will have as its centre one of the vowel phonemes (or possibly a triphthong), but not •. Weak syllables, on the other hand, as they are being defined here, can only have four types of centre:

a)

b)

c)

d)

When we compare weak syllables containing vowels with strong syllables, we find the vowels in a weak syllable tend to be shorter, of lower intensity and different in quality. For example, in the word 'father' /'fR•/ the second syllable, which is weak, is shorter than the first, is less loud and has a vowel that cannot occur in strong syllables. In a word like 'bottle' /bŒtl/ the weak second syllable contains no vowel at all, but consists entirely of the consonant.

The primary and weak word accentemes exist in English and they perform only the word-distinctive function in it.

Secondary and tertiary stresses must also be regarded as a separate, but single word accenteme in English, because this accenteme may be opposed to the primary accenteme for distinctive purposes,

However, D. Jones, in his Pronouncing Dictionary, (11th edition, 1957) gives one and the same accentuation for both words, /sз: tifi`kei∫n/, ε while in Webster’s Dictionary the two accentuations are given, apparently, as free accentual variants.

3. Functions of syllable

Now we shall consider two functions of the syllable.

The first is constitutive function. It lies in its ability to be a part of a word itself. The syllables form language units of greater magnitude that is words, morphemes, and utterances. It this respect two things should be emphasized. First, the syllable is the unit within which the relations between distinctive features of phonemes and their acoustic correlates are revealed. Second, within a syllable (or syllables) prosodic characteristics of speech are realized, which form the stress pattern of a word and the intonation structure of an utterance. In sum, the syllable is a specific minimal structure of both segmental and suprasegmental features.

The other function is distinctive one. In this respect the syllable is characterized by its ability to differentiate words and word-forms. One minimal pair has been found in English to illustrate the word distinctive function in the syllabic: nitrate — night-rate. There analogical distinction between word combinations can be illustrated by many more examples: an aim – a name; an ice house – a nice house, mice kill – my skill, peace talks – pea stalks, etc. Sometimes the difference in syllable division may be the basic ground for differentiation in such pairs as I saw her rise. – I saw her eyes; I saw the meat — I saw them eat.