2. Syllable division in English

A most general rule claims that division of words into syllables in writing is passed on the morphological principle which demands that the part of a word which is separated should be either a prefix, or a suffix or a root (morpheme), e.g. pic-ture ['pikʧə].

• Compound words can be divided according to their meaning: hot-dog, spot-light;

• It is not possible to divide a word within a phonetic syllable: a suffix of TWO syllables such as -able, -ably, -fully cannot be divided in writing (reli-able, lov-ably, beauti-fully);

• If there are two or three consonants before -ng, these consonants may be separated in writing: gras-ping, puz-zling;

• With the exception of -ly, a word cannot be divided so that an ending of two letters such as -ed, -er, -ic begins the next line, e. g. worked, teacher, hectic, BUT: cold-ly, bold-ly;

• A word of one phonetic syllable, a word of less than five letters cannot be divided into syllables, e. g. piece [pi:s], time [taim].

Syllable division and syllable formation in English depend on many factors among which the phonotactics rules, which determine the combination of phonemes or clusters and the nature of adjoining them. They are regarded to be very important. The possible clusters of consonants are conditioned, in part, by historical and mainly physiological factors. These include the following:

1) two phonemes which might adjoin the same cluster have the same articulator;

2) two phonemes may be voiced or voiceless;

3) one is slightly more prominent than the other (especially in phonemes of the same articulation type).

3. The monophthongs and diphthongs in syllable division

The English long monophthongs or diphthongs occur only in an open syllable when it is separated by a single consonant from a word-final syllable sonorant. In this case the sonorant forms a syllable together with the preceding consonants, for example, (C)VCC: beetle [ˈbi:tl], garden [ˈgɑːdn]. Because of their weak off-glide the English long monophthongs and diphthongs and unstressed short vowels [ɪ], [ə], [u] occur in the open syllable when they are separated from a following syllable sounds by only one consonant: meeting [ˈmi:tɪŋ], voices [ˈvɔɪsız]. A short stressed vowels always occur in a close syllable when they are separated from the following syllabic sounds only by one consonant, the syllable boundary being within the consonant, for example, city [ˈsı:tı], many [ˈmenı], Spanish [ˈspæniʃ], body [ˈbɒdı], study [ˈstʌdı], little [ˈlıtl], meddle [ˈmedl].

Syllable division is effected by only all-round increase in the force of utterance, including an increase in muscular tension and at the beginning of the syllable. This can be illustrated by pronouncing the preposition “without” in two different, but correct ways, as far as syllable division is concerned, namely [wɪ`ðaut], [wɪð`aut]. In the first case ([wɪ`ðaut]) an increase in the force of utterance, including the onset of a fresh breath-pulse, takes place at the beginning of the consonant [ð], and the point of syllable division is between the vowel [ɪ] and the consonant [ð]: [wɪ`ðaut]. In the second case ([wɪð`aut]) an increase in the force of utterance with the onset of a fresh breath takes the place at the beginning of diphthong [au], and the point of syllable division is between the consonant [ð] and the diphthong [au]. Most English word forms, however, have only one pronunciation as far as syllable division is concerned. Thus the word “another”, which, like the word “without”, consists of two morphemes. The first of two syllables is always divided by the syllabic boundary between neutral vowel and the consonant [n], namely [ə`nʌðə]. The pronunciation of this word with the point of syllable division between the consonant [n] and vowel [ʌ] ([ən`ʌðə]) would be wrong, although it would be not a phonological mistake. This principle is called the phonotactics constraint of syllabification.

Correct syllable division at the junction of words, however, may be of phonological importance, as wrong syllable division in the case may lead to the confusion of one word with another, or to a phonological mistake. For example, the sequence of the English speech-sounds [ə], [n], [eɪ], [m] pronounced with the point of syllable division between the neutral vowel [ə], and the consonant [n] means “a name” [ə`neɪm], while the same sequence of the sounds pronounced with diphthong [eɪ] means “an aim” [ən`eɪm]. Compare also: [ə`naɪs`hauz], [ən`aɪs`hauz]. It is clear from these examples that correct syllable division is just as important as correct articulation of speech-sounds, even when there is no danger of confusion of words because of the wrong syllable division at the juncture of words.

Bibliography:

1. Соколова М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка, 2006, стр. 112-120.

2. Соловьева С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка.

3. Vassilyev V.A. English phonetics, 1970, p. 229-256

4. http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/phon/syllables.html

5. http://lolita.unice.fr/~scheer/interface/Hoard%201966%20-%20Juncture%20and%20Syllable%20Structure%20in%20English.pdf

6. http://www.merriam-webster.com/

7. http://www.morewords.com/

8. http://www.philol.msu.ru/

9. http://raltcnj.weebly.com/uploads/3/0/7/4/3074616/sa_unit_iii_syllabljuncture.pdf

10. http://en.wikipedia.org

1 Соколова М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка, стр. 112

2 Васильева В.Ф.

3www.philol.msu.ru

4 С.Ф. Соловьева. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка.

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