FONÉTICA SUPRASEGMENTAL

UNIT 1. SYLLABLES AND STRESSED. Defining the syllable.

1. THE SYLLABLE AS A PHYSIOLOGICAL REALITY
The syllable has a major role in describing the sound system on language. The notion of
a unit at a higher level of the phoneme has existed since ancient times.
The syllable has a psychological reality as a unit that speaker of a language can identify.
Syllables are planned to be the most basic units at speech since every language has
syllables and, babies learn to produce syllables before they can manage to say a word of
their native language.
In short, the notion of syllable is very real to native speakers. We will specially focus on
the intuition of the speaker to define de syllable (speakers’ awareness). Here is some
evidence of the psychological reality:
1. People without linguistic knowledge are capable of dividing words into syllables.
In fact, speakers are able to count the number of syllables in a word and can often
tell where one syllable ends and the next begins.
2. Even children can clap syllables before they can read.
3. People who have not been exposed to alphabetic writing systems have greater
difficulties segmenting utterances into phonemic units than identifying syllables.
4. Many writing systems are syllabic, where each symbol represents a syllable.
Japanese is an example.
Moreover, when a person has speech disorder, their speech will still display syllabic
organization. And, slips of the tongue also show that syllabic regularity tends to be
preserved even in faulty speech.
Slips of the tongue examples
Jack’s pen→ Jack’s peck
Black boxes→ black bloxes
Take my bike→ bake my bike

2. CV (consonant-vowel structure) AS A PHONOLOGICAL UNIT

The consonant-vowel structure has been suggested as a basic phonological unit based
on the following elements:

- Almost all languages have CCV or CV words. This is the most common structure
among languages. Consonant-vowel is known as a canonical (basic) structure,
because it is universally the most prevalent structure and the first to be acquired
by children. Although syllabic structure is language specific in terms of form and
the types of their means that are permitted in any of the three positions of the
syllable, this canonical structure exists in all languages and it is refer in most.
 - If a language has CCV words, it also has CV words. For example, in English, “tree”
(CCV), but also “bee” (CV).
- In addition, hardly any language has V or VC words without CV ones. There are
some exceptions like the Arandic group of Australian aboriginal languages. Even
in a relatively small number of languages, this CV is the only type of syllable
permitted.
- The first systematic utterances of children are usually of this from regardless of
language type. Hence, children barely utterance at the age of 6 to 9 months
combines this basic structure by babbling consonants and vowels and not string
of just vowels or just consonants. Secondly, children distort adult speech saying
[bæ] for “bird” or [kA] for “cup”; a fact that is said to be common and seems to
obey to unconsciousness. Therefore, the syllable is considered as a unit of neural
programming, rather than primarily muscular or acoustic events.

Vowels and consonants are not an ordered in meaningless succession. They are rooted
in syllables, and every English word consists of at least one syllable. The study of syllable
structure can help us understand that words are nor a random selection of phonemes.
And, that there are some underlying principles that govern the combination of sounds.

The knowledge of this syllable structure constrains is relevant for a very understanding
of how sounds interact with each other, how words can be divided, and how this affects
pronunciation.

This turns to be particularly useful in L2 (second language) learning, as it helps us

understand how both the L1 and L2 work, how they interact, and how the L1 tends to be
transferred into the L2. For example: the “s” consonant clusters. In English they are
permitted or possible, while there are no S clusters in SK syllable in Spanish (“sky”).

3. DEFINING THE SYLLABLE

Syllables are hard to define. Although, there is no definition of the syllable that
phoneticians or phonologists currently agree on, here are some definitions of the
syllable:

- A syllable consists of a centre which has little or no obstruction to the airflow and
which sounds comparatively loud: before and after this centre there will be
greater obstruction to airflow and/ or less loud sound (vowel sound).
Articulatory and auditory terms.
- A fundamental but elusive phonological unit typically consisting of a short
sequence of segments, most typically a single vowel or diphthong possibly
preceded and/ or followed by one or more consonants. Phonological terms.
- In phonetics, a syllable is a group of sounds that are pronounced together.
 4. THEORIES

Trask (1996) claims that the term syllable offers some problems of definition to the point
that there is no complete comprehension of what a syllable is. He insists that, although
native speakers usually find it easy to decide how many syllables are present in a word
or utterance, there are problems still in syllable division even by native speakers.

For example, although most native speakers would surely distinguish three syllables in a
word such as “punishment”, and just one syllable in a word such as “book”, it is difficult
to stablish the reasons and pattern which can work out with other words and which can
help to delimit the frontiers of each syllable. Thus, every English word consists of at least
one syllable. But there are words with two or more syllables that may have a different
number of syllables depending on the pronunciation. We can find that the same word
can be pronounced in different ways, such as “every” or “necessary”. This is because rage
of speech alters the number of syllables.

Indeed, syllables are hard to define. Scientifically, no one knows what physical action of
the speaker creates a syllable. That is, there is not a good knowledge of what physical
action produces a syllable. However, there have been several attends to define the
syllable. The syllable has been defined in different ways according to different criteria.

Gimson (1989) distinguishes three main theories:

- The prominence theory→ in any utterance some sounds are set to be more
prominent or sonorous than others. That is, they are felt by listeners to stand out
from their neighbours. The number of syllables will be determined by the
number of peaks of prominence. Phonetically it is claimed that when identifying
the syllables listeners are responding to sonority. According to Carr (1999),
sonority is an acoustic effect. The most sonorous a sound, the most it resonates.
Vowels are characterized by an open articulation, so they resonate the most.
Since sonority has to do with open articulation, the most open sound is the more
sonorous and the loudest it resonates. Thus, sonority is the relative loudness of
a segment compare with others and each syllable will have a single sonority peak;
syllable boundaries or troughs occur at the point of relatively weak prominence
(valleys). So, the prominence theory argues that in a string of sound, some are
intrinsically more sonorous than others and that each peak of sonority
corresponds to the centre of a syllable. These peaks are best illustrated by vowels
which have greater carrying-power. The less sonorous sounds provide valleys of
prominence and are best illustrated by the closures and narrowing which
produce consonants. There is one of the weaknesses of this approach, is that this
approach gives a general guideline but it does not always indicate clearly where
the boundaries between an adjacent syllable’s fall.
- The pulse theory→ It is one of the approaches or main theories about the
syllable that pretends to define the syllable in articulatory terms. It is concerned
with the muscular activity that takes place during speech. According to this
 theory, in any utterance there are a number of chest pulses, accompanied by
increases in air pressure, which determine the number of syllables uttered. This
can often be felt particularly in emphatic speech, but it is often difficult to detect
such a pulse in adjacent syllables; for example, when to vowels can co-occur. For
example, the word going has two syllables but is usually said in a single muscular
effort. Hence, this theory claims that syllables correlate with bursts of muscular
activity at the intercostal muscles or chest pulses. But experimental work has
shown that there is no such a simple correlation. Whatever syllables are they are
not simplemotor units. This theory suggests that the syllable rather than the
sound is the basic unit of speech. Furthermore, vowels sounds are nuclear to the
syllable and the render the chest pulse audible, while consonant sounds typically
occur at the onset and closure of the syllable. Some scholars state that there is
no empirical evidence in relation to the pulse theory due to the lack of tools that
could provide quantifiable parameters and data for the syllable.
- The phonological theory or linguistic approach→ according to this theory, a unit
of greater magnitude than the phoneme or sound segment is more usefully
defined in linguistic terms, that is, with reference to the structure of one
particular language rather than in general phonetic terms with universal
application. The reason is that it may be found appropriate to divide a similar
sound sequence differently in different languages. For example, if we have this
sequence of phonemes /discuss/, in Spanish we cannot break the syllable like
/di’scuss/ because there is no syllable that starts with sk- (that would be the case
of English).

SYLLABLES AND STRESS 2.0. Syllable structure and prominence.

Every language has phonemes and every language has its own common patterns in
which phonemes are arranged to form syllables and the syllables are arranged to form
langer units.

1. SYLLABLE STRUCTURE→Every syllable has structure: onset and rhyme, and the
latter include peak or nucleus and coda. We also want to describe what general
structures are possible for English syllables and what structures are impossible
(/ae/, /t/, /k/). The study of sequences of phonemes is called phonotactics, and
it seems that the phonotactic possibilities of a language are determined by the
syllabic structure. One of the reasons for studying phonotactics is the evidence it
may bring on syllable structure. According to Goldsmith (1990), most approaches
to the syllable have describe the syllable as a highly hierarchical structure, that
would be superimposed on a sequence of segments. This hierarchy would
contain various levels of segmental organization. The syllables’ major role would
be to govern the sequential distribution of segments. In order to account for the
sound structure of languages, it has been proposed that syllables are three-like
structures corresponding to various branching entities. That is, syllable structure
 may be represented graphically by means of a tree diagram. Linguists have
explored every possible configuration for the internal structure of syllables. For
CVC syllables, the main concern is whether the vowel is grout with the prior
consonant known as the onset with the posterior consonant or coda, or with
neither.

This figure in the presentation is illustrated by these tree diagrams:

- The first tree illustrates the theory of the flat syllable, where the vowel roots with
neither the onset nor the coda.
- The second tree illustrates the onset-rhyme theory where the vowel roots with
the coda to form a constituent called the rhyme (Goldsmith, 1990).
- The last tree illustrates the theory of body-coda organization where the vowel is
rooted with the onset to form a constituent called the body (McCarthy, 1979).
We will adopt the theory of the second tree.

The onset includes any consonants that precede the nuclear element and the rhyme
includes the nuclear element or peak as well as any marginal elements (usually
consonants) that may follow it. The rhyme in term further branches into peak or nucleus
and coda. The peak represents the nuclear element in a syllable while the coda includes
all the consonants that follow the peak in a syllable. Therefore, the rhyme associates the
nucleus with the coda, and the syllable head associates all these parts together.

The most cited piece of evidence for the special role of the onset rhyme distinction has
come from rhyming. In rhyming, it is the vowel in the syllable and any sounds that follow,
that determine if two words rhyme independently of the sounds in the onset. However,
not all these elements are required in every syllable. All languages require syllable nuclei.
In fact, the nucleus is the only universally obligatory component of a syllable.

The sound occupying the nucleus is normally a vowel. Occasionally syllables have a
syllabic consonant rather than a vowel. In English this is true for the lateral sound, nasals
and R in rhotic accents. And no syllable has more than one vowel. Depending upon the
language specific rules, syllables have certain numbers of consonants before and after
the vowel. In most languages, onsets are preferred yet optional, though they are
required in some languages in which every single syllable will have a consonant. No
language requires codas. In most languages codas are optional and they are restrictive
or even prohibited in others. Syllables that have no coda are open syllables. The most
common opened syllable is the consonant CV syllable (bee/boy). Syllables that have a
coda, are closed syllables. The most common closed syllable is CVC syllable. Thus, the
onset and coda are optional elements and each if felt will contain one or more
consonants.

The syllable is the unit in which phonotactic rules operate. Phonotactics may be defined
as the study of common syllabic patterns, that is, the part of phonology which studies
and describes the constrains on co-occurrence, the constrains on the combination of
sounds. Thus, phonotactics is a branch of phonology that studies the permissible strains
of phonemes in a particular language. These constrains are indeed very language
specific.

Examples of pseudowords: sad ped ren fop wub det tog lat zum vit bot bom cam gip mib
nim yob bup kag hig.

2. SYLLABLE PROMINENCE→ we will make a distinction between word stress and

sentence stress. The latter may be referred to accent. Some syllables will be
stressed and others unstressed. A syllable which is stressed may be accented or
unaccented. This means that stress is a potential for accent. Only stressed
syllables may be accented, and only stress syllables may carry the sentence
stress.

Syllable structure and relative prominence are interrelated. The structures of stress and
unstress syllables differ in certain small ways:

- Some elements can occur only as the peaks of unstressed syllables (shwa).
- Some phonemes have different pronunciations in stressed and unstressed
syllables.

THE LINGUISTIC THEORY

The syllable is more usefully defined in linguistic terms, i.e. with reference to the
structure of a particular language rather than in general phonetic terms with universal
application.

Every English syllable has a center or a peak, an element which is syllabic. All vowels are
syllabic by definition. In addition, liquids and nasals become syllabic in certain positions.
Every word, phrase or sentence has as many syllables as it has syllabic elements.

The peak may be preceded by one or more non-syllabic elements, which constitute the
onset of the syllable, and it may be followed by one or more non-syllabic elements which
constitute the coda.

The English template→ Template is like a basic pattern. English had utmost three
consonants for the beginning of the syllable or onset, and in that case necessarily begins
with S-. They have utmost three consonants at the end for coda of the syllable in
uninflected forms. These constrains define what is called a well-formed template. But
this only establishes the limits for each constituent of the syllable and says nothing about
non-permissible sequences in English and yet follow this pattern. There are permissible
and non-permissible combinations of sounds in English. Hence, there are phonotactic
constrains in English.
The similarities between English and Spanish focus on the role of the nucleus, and the
typology of the syllables. In both languages, the nucleus is essential, and the coda and
onset are optional. Despite these similarities, there are also differences.

1. The nucleus of the English syllable may fall on a consonant (syllabic consonants).
Whereas in Spanish this is not possible. The Spanish language only accepts
vowels as nucleus of syllables.
2. Final consonant clusters in Spanish are not so common as in English. Rafael
Guerra (1983) carried out a research study on the frequency of syllabic structures
in spoken Spanish. Results showed that the basic syllable structure CV scores the
highest with 55.81%.

Phonotactics.

All languages built their words from a finite set of phoneme units. And it is also true that
in all languages there are constrains on the way in which these phonemes can be
arranged to form syllables. These phonotactic constrains severally limit the number of
syllables that would be theoretically possible if phonemes could be combined in an
unconstrained way.

So phonotactics may be define as the study of common syllabic patterns that is the part
of phonology which studies and describes the constraints on co-occurrence. Languages
have phonotactic constraints due to:

1. The limits on the talker’s ability to pronounce sequences of sounds as one

syllable; and the listener’s perception of how many syllables he or she hears from
a given sequence of phonemes.
2. Another reason why languages have phonotactic constraints is because their
sequential arrangement is itself a cue to the number of syllables in a word. The
listener’s perception of how many syllables there are in a word depends to a
certain extent on the arrangement of phonemes in sequences.

PHONOLOGICAL THEORY

Phonotactic constraints are very language-specific. Some phonotactic constraints in

English:

1. Long vowels and diphthongs are never followed by /ŋ/. Examples: “long”, “king”,
“sung”, “bank”.
2. In onsets with three consonants, the first element is always /s/; the second
element must be a plosive, and the third element an approximant. Examples:
“scream”, “straight” or “splash”.
3. Short vowels are never the nucleus of an open syllable; a word like /næ/ is
impossible in English. Short vowels have to be followed by a coda (that is, in a
closed syllable), and for this reason they are called checked vowels. Vowels that
can occur both in open and closed syllables are free vowels.
 4. The consonant /Ʒ/ occurs as an onset in words of foreign origin like “genre”, or
“gigolo”. In coda position, this sound occurs only in words of recent French origin:
“beige”, “rouge”, “camouflage”.
5. /ð/ only occurs word-initially in function words (example: this, thus, though).

Every language has phonemes and every language has its own common patterns in
which these phonemes are arranged to form syllables and the syllables are arranged to
form larger units. We want to describe what general structures or patterns are possible
for English syllables and what structures or combinations are impossible. We can define
two types of non-word monosyllables. On one hand, there are accidental gaps. These
are phonotactically legal word-like sequences, but happen not to occur in the language
(English). On the other hand, there are illegal syllables. These violate a phonotactic
constraint in English. These kinds are also known as pseudowords.

Permissible combinations of sounds

English has a large number of monosyllabic words. By examining the legal or permissible
sequences of phonemes in English monosyllabic words, we can get a good idea of what
types of syllable structures are legal or permissible in English. It is clear that English has
a very flexible syllable structure (I, me, spray, ant, bond, etc.)

There are languages at the opposite extreme that only have CV syllables. However, there
are nevertheless, considerable constraints on which phoneme sequences are
permissible in English syllables.

- Consonants that can occur in initial position in English.

1. V→ 0 “eye”
2. CV→ any consonant except for the velar nasal /ŋ/ and the voiced
palatoalveolar fricative /Ʒ/ very rarely: “boy”, “house”, etc.
3. CCV→ /s/ + C (/p, t, k, f, m, n, l, w, j/): “snow”; /p, t, k/ + /l, r, w, j/: “twin”; C
+ /l, r, w, j/ with certain constraints on co-occurrence: English does not allow
two labial consonants in initial groups: “three”, “slide”, “drip”, “blame”, etc.
4. CCCV→ /s/ + /p, t, k/ + /l, r, w, j/: “spray”, “split”, “squaw”, etc.
- Combinations of consonants that may occur in final position in English.
1. V→ 0 “boy”
2. VC→ any consonants except /h, w, j, r/. The latter in non-rhotic accents, such
as RP English.
3. VCC→ any consonants which can occur in final position followed by /s, z, t, d,
ɵ/. “beds”, “false”, “cast”; any consonants which can occur in final position in
the syllable preceded by any nasal consonant, /l/ or /s/: “lamp”, “sand”.
4. VCCC→ /m, n, ŋ, l, s/ + any of the final consonants /s, z, t, d, ɵ/: “banks”; any
of the final consonants + /s, z, t, d, ɵ/ + /s, z, t, d, ɵ/: “next”
5. VCCCC→ rare, inflected forms: liquid or nasal + 2 stops; liquid or nasal + stop
+ fricative; other: “twelfth”, “texts”, “sixth”.
Syllabification (syllable division rules)→ it has to do with the syllable’s division rules.

1. If two vowels occur in sequence, the syllable break is between the vowels (V.V)
→ chaos, neon. /keɪ.ɒs/
2. If one consonant occurs between two vowels and the second is strong (long
vowels, diphthongs, short vowels followed by 2 or more consonants) whether
stressed or not, the consonant is part of the second syllable→ arrive, repent.
/ə́.rɑɪv/ /rɪ́.pent/
3. If one consonant occurs between a strong vowel and a weak one, the consonant
is ambisyllabic (^) (in different pronunciations by the same person, it may end
one syllable or begin the next one)→ leaving /liːvɪ̂ŋ/
4. When a single consonant occurs between two weak vowels, the consonant may
be ambisyllabic (cinema) or it may go with the second vowel (preferiblemente
ambisyllabic)→ cinema, positive /sɪn̂əm̂ ə/ /pɒẑətɪ̂ v/ *^ se pone entre letras
5. If two vowels are separated by a consonant cluster, syllable division depends on
what consonants are in the cluster
5.1. If the consonant cluster is one which cannot occur in initial position, the
consonants are divided in such a way that the second syllable begins with a
single consonant or a cluster which can occur initially→ candy, atlas /kæn.di/
/æt.ləs/
5.2.a. If the cluster is of the type which can occur word-initially, and the following
vowel is strong, the whole cluster is part of the syllable with the strong vowel →
decline /dɪ.klaɪn/
5.2.b. If the second vowel is weak; the first consonant of the consonants is
ambisyllabic→ sacred /seɪk ̂rɪd/

Exercise
napkin /næp.kɪn/
striking /strɑɪk^ɪŋ/
hellinistic /hel^ɪ.nɪs^tɪk/
twilight /twaɪ.laɪt/
magnet /mæg.nɪt/
ambition /æm.bɪʃ^ən/
striated /straɪ.eɪt^ɪd/
actor /æk.tə/
phonetics /fən^e.tɪks/
liturgic /lɪ.tɜːdʒ^ɪk/
incredible /ɪn.kre.d^ɪb^əl/
nakedness /neɪ.kɪd.n^əs/
harmony /hɑːm^ən^ɪ/
celebrity /sɪ.leb^rət^ɪ/
alveolar /æl.vɪ.əʊl^ə/
cathedral /kə.θiːd^rəl/
exposure /ɪk.spəʊʒ^ə/
amalgamation /ə.mæl.gə.meɪʃ^ən/
synthesis /sɪn.θə^sɪs/
alphabet /æl.fəb^ɪt/
pronunciation /prə.nʌn.sɪ.eɪʃ^ən/
nostalgic /nə.stæl.dʒɪk/
merchandizeɪk /mɜː.tʃən.daɪz/
tutelage /tjuːt^ɪl^ɪdʒ/
oxygen /ɒk.sɪdʒ^ən/
accident /æk.sɪ.dənt/

THE PROMINENCE THEORY

As the Pulse Theory, the Prominence Theory belongs to a phonetic general approach, so
that, this definition of the syllable, may have universal application. This theory, tries to
define the syllable in perceptual acoustic terms.
According to this theory, in any utterance some sounds are said to be more prominent
than others. That is, they are felt by listeners to stand out from the neighbours. The
number of syllables will be determined by the number of peaks of prominence. And
syllable boundaries or breaks will occur at the point of relatively weak prominence or
valleys. According to Carr (1999), sonority is an acoustic effect. The more sonorous a
sound, the more it resonates. So, sonority is an acoustic perceptual term closely late with
the extent to which the vocal tract is constricted. In general terms, open vowels like /a:/
have the highest sonority because the vocal tract is open and a large amount of acoustic
energy radiates from the mouth.
At the other extreme, voiceless oral stops have least sonority because there is no
acoustic energy during the closure in which the vocal tract is constricted.
According to prominence theory there is a syllable arrangement according to a sonority
scale or hierarchy. The sonority scale is a ranking of segment types in order of their
intrinsic sonority.
According to this sonority scale, vowels would be the most sonorous sounds and stops
consonants would be the least sonorous sounds. The opener the sound is, the more
prominent it would be. So, sonority has to do with open articulation.
SONORITY SEQUENCING PRINCIPLE
One of the main tenets of principles of the prominence theory is the sonority sequencing
principle. It is a widely accepted constraint on syllable structure that states that the
sonority profile of the syllable must slope outwards from the peak. Hence, a sonority
profile raises maximally towards the peak and falls minimally towards the end of the
syllable. Therefore, when two consonants occur in the onset of a syllable, they must
follow the sonority scale from less sonorous to more sonorous. And the same happens
in the coda; this time, from more sonorous to less sonorous. In addition, when a syllable
is made up of a complex onset, the two consonants must also fulfil the Obligatory
Contour Principle, which does not accept two consonants with similar places of
articulation placed together. Every syllable/sonority profile would have a single peak of
prominence.
Sonority Scale:
7. Vowels
6. Glides /w, j/
5. Liquids /l, r/
4. Nasals /m, n, ŋ/
3. Fricatives /f, v, ɵ, ð, s, z, ∫, Ʒ, h/
2. Africates /t∫, dƷ/
1. Stops /p, t, k, b, d, g/

*Ejercicio lamp y about en agenda (pasar foto). /S/ en inicio es como un appendix (se
ve más tarde) no es parte del onset (violacion del sonority principle).
STRUCTURE OF MONOSYLLABIC WORDS.
The onset.
According to the prominence theory, the maximum consonants in the onset is two, and
a three consonants cluster is considered here as a violation of the Sonority Sequencing
Principle and /s/ will be treated as an appendix. And we also have this Obligatory Contour
Principle, which does not accept two consonants with similar places of articulation to be
placed together (siempre se prefiere que las consonants vayan con el onset).
The Peak.
The peak of the syllable contains the “syllabic element”, the segment that is more
sonorous than both its neighbours. The rule that specifies the associations of vowels to
x-positions would be:
1. Associate a [- tense] vowel with 1 x-position
2. Associate each element of a diphthong with 1 x-position
3. Associate a [ + tense] vowel with 2 x-position
Giegerich is one of the main supporters of this theory and uses x-positions in syllable
tree-diagrams as a way to show the number of timing units in the syllable. That way,
differences in length between short and long vowels can be expressed in terms of x-
positions. In English, long vowels and diphthongs are tensed (tensas) while short vowels
are lax (laxas). The later are produced with less muscular effort.
The coda.
- There should be no violation of the rule (sonority sequencing principle).
- No 2 obstruents (oral stops, affricates and fricatives) in the coda.
- No 2 coronals (dentals, alveolar, palatals and palatoalveolars) in the coda.
Places of articulation:
1. Alveolar /t, d, n, l, s, z/
2. Dental /ɵ,ð/ Del 1 al 4 son coronals.
3. Palatal /j/
4. Palatoalveolar /t∫, dƷ, ∫, Ʒ/
5. Glottal /h/
6. Bilabial /p, b, m/
7. Labiovelar /w/
8. Postalveolar /r/
9. Labiodental /f, v/
10. Velar /k, g, ŋ/
The Rhyme.
The rhyme has to be analysed and recognized as a single phonological unit, since both
the coda and the peak function together and not in separate ways.
- A well-formed syllable contains no more then 3 x-position in the rhyme.
- A well-formed syllable contains minimally 2 x-positions in the rhyme, since lax
monophthongs (short vowels) occur only in closed syllables.
- Three cannot be two obstruents in the coda.
Appendices.
The elements which violate the sonority degree proposed by the sonority scale or occupy
a fourth position in the rhyme will be treated as appendices. They will depart from the
syllables.
SYLLABIFICATION OF POLYSYLLABIC WORDS
1. Nucleus formation: scan the word for the most sonorous segment in the word
and identify it as the nucleus/peak.
2. Onset maximization principle: assign consonants to the left of the peak to the
onset. Any consonants placed between two vowels tend to be placed in the onset
of the following syllable, instead of the coda of the previous syllable.
3. Coda formation: assign consonants to the right of the peak to the coda.
Appendices will always depart from the syllable.
4. Phonotactic constraints and rules for the analysis:
4.1. A maximum of 2 consonant positions are permitted in the coda (following
and not violating the sonority degradation).
4.2. Any number of coronals appearing after another consonant in a word-
final coda are treated as appendices. (we cannot have 2 coronals in the coda).
4.3. The coda cannot contain 2 obstruents.
4.4. We consider the distinction between tense (long)/ lax (short) vowels:
stressed lax vowel can only occur in closed syllables.

UNIT 2. THE GENERATION OF SOUNDS. Acoustic analysis

 1. SPEECH PRODUCTION

Speech is produced through the coordinated actions of the respiratory, resonatory, and
articulatory subsystems. In fact, impairments in one or more of these subsystems can
compromise speech intelligibility.

2. SOUNDS. The generation of speech sounds.

No sound can be produced without a supply of force or energy. For speech it is the
breathing mechanism that constitute the energy supply with the expiratory phase. In
order that sound will be generated the steady flow of energy in one direction has to be
converted into oscillations.

For speech, the larynx performs this function with the vocal cords/folds. The alternate
opening and closing of the vocal folds results in the ignition of successive puffs of air into
the space above the larynx. This stream of pulses constitutes the bases of the sound
generated by the larynx.

3. SOURCE-FILTER THEORY OF SPEECH PRODUCTION

According to the Source-filter Theory of speech production there is a sound source, the
larynx, and a filtering of the sound source in the airway above the glottis by the actions
of resonators (oral cavity, nasal cavity and pharynx).

The source of speech is the glottis. The air passing through the vibrating vocal folds is
stimulated by the opening and closing movements. Before air can exit the mouth, it must
pass through the vocal tract, which acts as a filter by the action of resonators. This filter
damps (atenuar, sin suprimir del todo) some frequencies while intensifying others.
Which frequencies get down and which intensify depends on the shape of the vocal tract
at a given point in tongue. The frequencies that are intensified are the formants
(formantes) that we see on a spectrogram, and represent the sounds that resonate the
loudest in the particular filter formed by the vocal tract.

4. WAVES. The generation of waves.

A wave is an energy transport. They transport energy, not matter. They can be described
as disturbances that travel through a medium, transporting energy from one location to
another location. Sound waves can be:

- Aire pressure wave→ They consist of a repeating pattern of high-pressure and

low-pressure regions moving through a medium. And because of the longitudinal
motion of the air particles there are regions in the air where the air particles are
compressed together and others where the air particles are spread apart. These
regions are known as compressions and rarefactions respectably. The
compressions are regions of high-air pressure while the rarefactions are regions
of low-air pressure.
 - Mechanical waves→ They are also mechanical waves. These ones, require a
medium in order to transport their energy from one location to another location.
They are not capable of transmitting its energy through vacuum. They need a
medium. So, for a mechanical way there is a medium that carried the disturbance
from one location to another. Typically, this medium is air, though it could be any
material such as water, steel or wood. In addition, there is an original source of
the wave, some vibrating objects, capable of disturbing the first particle of the
medium. The disturbance could be created by the vibrating vocal folds of a
person, or the stream of a guitar or violin. And the disturbance or sound wave is
transported from one location to another by means of particle-to-particle
interruption. This particle interruption continues through the entire medium
with each particle interrupting and causing a disturbance of its nearest
neighbours. Since a sound wave is a disturbance that is transported through a
medium via the mechanism of particle-to-particle interruption, a sound wave is
characterized as a mechanical wave.
- Longitudinal waves→ Sound is a wave in which particles of the medium move in
a direction parallel to the direction in which the wave moves. Therefore, sound
waves in air and any fluent medium are longitudinal waves because particles of
that medium through which the sound is transported vibrate parallel to the
direction that the sound wave moves.

5. WHAT IS SOUND

Sound is a longitudinal compression wave which distorts a medium by creating moving

fronts of high and low particle compression. They can occur in any medium (solid, liquid
and gas). And they cannot occur in a vacuum as there is no medium to compress.

6. PROPERTIES OF WAVES

Sound is a three-dimensional event and is going to be described in terms of amplitude,

frequency of vibration and time.

- Amplitude (and loudness)→ may be defined as the amount of maximum

displacement of a particle in a cycle of movement on the medium from its rest
position. It may be considered as a measure force. The amount of energy carried
by a wave is related to the amplitude while low energy wave is characterised by
a low energy. In addition, amplitude is linked with intensity and the sensation of
loudness. The greater the amplitude of vibrations of the particles on the medium
the greater the rate at which energy is transported through it and the more
intense the sound wave is. Thus, intensity may be defined as the amount of
energy which being transported past a given area of the medium per unit of time
(a wave is an energy of transport). The scale for major intensity is the decibel
scale. While intensity of a sound is a very objective quantity which can be
measured with sensitive instrumentation. The loudness of a sound is more of a
subjective response which can vary with a number of factors. But if it is safe to
 say that the more intense sound will be perceived to be the loudest sounds. In
general, subjective sudatory impressions of loudness differences in general do
not match sound pressure differences. For instance, for most people, a typical
conversation would not be subjectively 10 times louder than a quite office., even
though the magnitude of their sound pressure fluctuations/ or differences are.
(el ruido será mayor pero nuestro oido no lo percibe como tal). This is because
the relationship between the sound pressure differences and loudness is not
linear. There is no direction of direct proportionality. For soft sounds large
changes in perceived loudness result from relatively small groups changes in
sound pressure. While for low sound, relatively large pressure changes produce
only small changes in perceived loudness. The human auditory system can
perceive sounds between 0 and 140 decibels.
- Frequency of vibration (and harmonics)→ In mathematical terms, the frequency
is the number of complete vibrational cycles of a particle when a wave passes
through a medium per a given amount of time. (DEFINITION TO KEEP IN MIND).
When analysing speech sounds, frequency refers to rate of vibration of the vocal
folds. The time taken by one cycle of opening and closing of the cords depends
upon the balance between the subglottal pressure and the resistance offered by
the vocal folds. The physical factors which regulate the frequency of vibration are
the mass, length and tension of the vibrating structures. It is clear that increasing
the mass and increasing the length leads to a lower frequency of vibration and
the resulting sound is a flat or deep sound. On the contrary, increasing the
tension raises the frequency of vibration and the resulting sound is a sharp
sound. The vocal folds consist of two bands of muscles lying opposite to each
other at the top of the trachea. They are typically longer and heavier in the adult
male than in the female and child. Adult male speakers tend to phonate at
fundamental frequencies that range between 80 and 200 hertz (Hz). Adult female
speakers tend to phonate at fundamental frequencies that range between 150
and 300 hertz while children can phonate at fundamental frequencies that range
up to 500 hertz.
→Adult males: 80-200Hz
→Adult female: 150-300Hz
→Children: 200-500Hz
As we will see, frequency relates to pitch in much the same way as amplitude
relates to loudness. As with loudness, the auditory system is more sensitive to
frequency changes at the low end of the audible frequency range than that at
the high end. Humans can detect sounds in a frequency range from about 20
hertz to 20.000 hertz. As we get older, or are exposed to loud sources which
damage our ears, the upper limit decreases. Humans are more sensitive to
frequencies between 2000 and 5000 hertz. Any sound with a frequency below
the audible range of hearing, that is, less then 20 hertz, is known as an
infrasound. And a sound with a frequency above the audible range of hearing,
that is, more than 20.000 hertz, is known as an ultrasound.
*Fundamental frequencies and modes of vibration.
 The vocal folds, which may be compared to guitar strings, are elastic bands of
muscles that have many modes of vibration in addition to the fundamental
mode. When a string is set vibrating, many different standing waves occur in the
course of its motion. That is, the string is vibrating simultaneously in a number of
different modes, that is over its whole length in halves, in thirds, etc. The mode
of vibration involving the whole length of a string, is called the fundamental
mode of vibration. And the frequency to which it gives rise (a la que da lugar) is
the fundamental frequency. The frequency produced by the other modes of
vibrations are the harmonics. Thus, harmonics are vibrations at whole number
multiples of the fundamental frequency. Therefore, the wave generated by the
larynx mechanism is one of the streams/extreme complexity.
- Time: duration→ it has to do with duration, and we have to distinguish between
long and short sounds.

7. PHONATION. THE GLOTTAL WAVES IS PERIODIC

Phonation

The glottal wave is periodic, that is it consists of repeated cycles of motion, and therefore
it must be made up of a fundamental frequency plus a range of harmonic. The
fundamental frequency has the greatest amplitude, and the amplitude of each
succeeding harmonic would be falling off progressively as the frequency increases.
Periodic vibration of the vocal folds is known as phonation.

When an event occurs repeatedly, then we say that the event is periodic, and we refer
to the time for the event to repeat itself as the period. So, the period of a wave is the
time for a particle on a medium to make one complete vibrational cycle. Mathematically,
the period is the reciprocal of the frequency and vice versa.

Frequency and period are different yet delated quantities. Frequency is the cycles per
second, and period is the seconds per cycle. The larynx is the sound source for all the
periodic sounds that occur in the course of speech.

- Periodic sounds. Periodic sounds are characterised by periodicity, that is a

regular patterned character of the air particle movement. Sounds which belong
to the general class of periodic sounds are called tones. Vowels have one feature
in common. They are set to be periodic.
- Aperiodic sounds. The term aperiodic is generally applied to sounds which show
a random nature of the air particle movement. Aperiodic sounds are those which
the ear and brain class as noises (plosive, fricatives, and affricates). Whereas the
source of periodic sound in speech is always at the larynx, the noise source for
consonants may be sited at many different places in the tract, the location
corresponding to what is referred to phonetically as the point of articulation of
the sound.
 8. THE SOURCE-FILTER THEORY OF SPEECH PRODUCTION

The source-filter theory describes speech production as a two-stage process involving

the generation of a sound source, with its own spectral structure (refers to the
harmonics), which is then shaped or filtered by the resonant properties of the vocal tract
(by the resonators, oral cavity and nasal cavity).

Most of the filtering of sound spectrum is carried out by that part of the vocal tract
anterior to the sound source. In the case of a glottal source, the filter is the entire
supraglottal vocal tract.

Sound sources can be periodic or aperiodic.

In voiced speech the fundamental frequency (perceived as vocal pitch) is a characteristic

of the glottal source acoustic, whilst features such as vowel formants are characteristics
of the vocal tract filter (resonances).

8.1. THE SOURCE-FILTER MODEL

The most important thing to know is that the source and filter are independent. The
larynx which is the glottal source gives raise to the fundamental frequency; while
resonators give raise to formant structure, which is the result of differences in
articulation which affects the shape and dimensions of the vocal tract.

9. VOWEL FORMANTS

In speech the fundamental frequency is changing all the time, but the spectrum of the
resulting sound always has the same general outline or envelope. This means a certain
sameness of quality is heard in a range of sound with different fundamentals. If this
were not the case, speech sound could not fulfil the linguistic function, they in fact have
or form differences in vowel quality, result from different vocal tract shapes.

The term used for a resonance of the system in this context is a formant or peak of
resonance. The perceived quality of a vowel can be described by the relative location of
the peaks in the lower part of the spectrum termed (called) formants.

9.1. FORMANT STRUCTURE

Differences in formant structure are the results of differences in articulation which affect
the shape and dimensions of the vocal tract. The most important modifications are due
to alterations in the configuration of the tongue. A significant part of the information
listeners uses in distinguishing the sounds is carried by the disposition of the first
formant (F1) and the second formant (F2).

Formants
There is a relationship between F1 and F2 to either part of the tongue raised and degree
of elevation of the tongue.

Part of the tongue raised:

- Front: /i:, i, e, ae/
- Central: /3:, shwa, A/
- Back: /a:, o, ɔ:, ʊ, u:/

Degree of elevation of the tongue:

- High: /i:, I, ʊ, u:/
- Mid: /e, 3:, shwa, ɔ:/
- Low: /ae, A, a:, o/

F1 is related with the degree of elevation of the tongue. It is negatively correlated with
vowel height (high vowels will show a low F1, while lower ones will show a higher F1).

F2 is related to part of the tongue raised. It is positively correlated with vowel frontness.

10. THE ACOUSTIC SIGNAL AND THE LISTENER

One of the challenges of speech research is to determine what aspects of the acoustic
signal are relevant to the listener for perceiving the sounds of speech. It seems that not
all items of acoustic information are equally important from the point of view of speech
perception. However, there is no doubt that the perception of speech is necessarily
structured by the inherent constraints of the auditory system.

Creating a vowel chart

Cuando grabemos le damos a show formants, y temenos la linea de puntos rojos.

Despues le damos a get first formant y obtendremos un valor (se copia el número entero
que se muestre). Copiamos lo snumeros y los pegamos en una table. Despues lo mismo
con F2, y en el punto en que coincidan ambos valores de un solo sonido se pondrá un
puento en el cuadrante que ha dado en clase.

Formants Heed Hid Head Had Hard Hod Hawed Hood Who’d Heard Hud

F1 277 304

F2 2478 2511