Unit 6

UNIT 6
a. The syllable. The nature of the syllable. The structure of the English syllable.
b. Weak forms.
c. Semivowels /j/ and /w/.
THE SYLLABLE
 The syllable is a very important unit.
- How can we illustrate the importance of the syllable in the rhythm of speech?
A= When we count how many syllables are in a given word or a sentence, we
often tap our fingers as we count, this illustrates the syllable’s importance in the
rhythm of speech.
- Do English speakers always agree on the number of syllables in a given sentence?

A= The answer is no, there is often a considerable amount of disagreement.
THE NATURE OF THE SYLLABLE
 When we looked at the nature of vowels and consonants in ch. 1 it was shown that
one could decide whether a particular sound was a vowel or a consonant on
phonetic grounds (in relation to how much they obstructed the airflow) or on
phonological grounds (vowels and consonants having different distributions).
 We find a similar situation with the syllable; in that it may be defined both
phonetically and phonologically.
 Phonetically (in relation to the way we produce them and the way they sound)
syllables are usually described as consisting of a centre which has little or no
obstruction to the airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and after
this centre (at the beginning and end of the syllable), there will be greater
obstruction to airflow and or less sound.
 We will look some examples:
1. Minimum syllable: Is a single vowel in isolation (f.x. the words “are”, “or”,
“err”). These are preceded and followed by silence. Isolated sounds like ‘m’
which sometimes produce to indicate agreement, or ‘ʃ’ to ask for silence,
must also be regarded as syllables.
2. Onset: Instead of silence, they have one or more consonants preceding the
centre of the syllable. f.x. BAR /bɑ:/ - KEY /ki:/ - MORE /mɔ:/
3. Coda: They end with one or more consonants. f.x.

AM /æm/ – OUGHT /ɔ:t/– EASE /i:z/.
4. Some syllable have both onset and coda. f.x. RAN /ræn/ - SAT /sæt/ -
FILL /fɪl/.
 Looking at them from the phonological point of view is quite different. What
this involves is looking at the possible combinations of English phonemes; the
study of the possible combinations of a language is called phonotactics.
 No word begins with more than three consonants. And no current word ends
with more than four consonants.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH SYLLABLE
 Onset: Refers to the first part of a syllable.
1. ZERO ONSET: The syllable begins with a vowel.
2. ONSET WITH ONE CONSONANT: Consonants that begins are called

initial. Not every consonant can be initial. ŋ; ʒ is rare.
3. INITIAL TWO CONSONANT CLUSTER:
a) Pre-initial /s/ + initial consonant /p – t – k – f – m – n/.

f.x. spɪn - stɪk - skɪn - sfɪə - smel - snəʊ
b) Initial + post-initial /l – r – w – j/
f.x. play – try – quick – few.
/pleɪ/ /trɑɪ/ /kwɪk/ /fju:/
4. INITIAL THREE CONSONANT CLUSTER:
a) Pre-initial /s/ + initial consonant /p – t – k/ +

post-initial /l – r – w/.
POST INITIAL
l r w j
p ‘splay’ ‘spray’ ----- ‘spew’
s plus initial t -------- ‘string’ ----- ‘stew’
k ‘sclerosis’ ‘screen’ ‘squeak’ ‘skewer’
 CODA: It refers to the end of a syllable.
1. ZERO CODA: The syllable finishes with a vowel. Short vowels must
have a coda.
2. CODA WITH ONE CONSONANT: They are called final. Any
consonant can be a final consonant except for /h – w – j – r/.
3. FINAL TWO CONSONANT CLUSTERS:

a. Pre-final /m – n – ŋ – l – s/ + final consonant f.x.
BUMP – BENT – BANK – BELT – ASK.
/bʌmp/ - /bent/ - /bæŋk/ - /belt/ - /ɑ:sk/
b. Final + post-final /s – z – t – d – ɵ/. f.x.

BETS – BEDS – BACKED – BAGGED – EIGHTH.
/bets/ - /bedz/ - /bækt/ - /bægd/ - /eɪtɵ/
4. FINAL THREE CONSONANT CLUSTER

a. Pre-final /l – ŋ – n/ + final /p – k – d – f/ + post-final /t – s – z – ɵ/. f.x.
HELPED – BANKS – BONDS – TWELFTH.
/helpt/ - /bæŋks/ - /bɒndz/ - /twelfɵ/
b. Final /f – k – p/ + post-final 1 /ɵ – s/ + post-final 2 /s – z – t – d – ɵ/. f.x

FIFTHS – NEXT – LAPSED.
/fɪfɵs/ - /nekst/ - /læpst/
5. FINAL FOUR CONSONANT CLUSTER

a. Pre-final /l – m/ + final /f – p/ + post-final 1 /ɵ – t/ + post-final 2 /s/.
f.x. TWELFTHS – PROMPTS.
/twelfɵs/ - /prɒmpts/
b. Final /k/ + post-final 1 /s/ + post-final 2 /ɵ – t/ + post-final 3 /s/. f.x.

SIXTHS – TEXTS
/sɪksɵs/ - /teksts/
WEAK FORMS
 Certain well-known English words can be pronounced in two different ways;

these are called strong forms and weak forms. As an example, the word ‘that’
can be pronounced in strong form or in weak form. The sentence “I like that” is
pronounced in strong form; the sentence ‘I hope that she will’ is pronounced in
weak form. There are roughly forty such words in English. It is possible to use
only strong forms in speaking, and some foreigners do this. Usually, they can
still be understood by other speakers of English, so why is it important to learn
how weak forms are used?
 There are 2 main reasons
1. First, most native speakers of English find and “all-strong form”

pronunciation unnatural and foreign-sounding, something that most learners
would wish to avoid.
2. Second, and more importantly, speakers who are not familiar with the use
of weak forms are likely to have difficulty understanding speakers who do
use weak forms; since practically all native speakers of British English use
them, learners of the language need to learn about these weak forms to help
them to understand what they hear. We must distinguish between weak
forms and contracted forms.
 Almost all the words which have both a strong and weak form belong to a
category that may be called function words – words that do not have a
dictionary meaning in the way that we normally expect.
 These function words are words such as auxiliary verbs, prepositions,

conjunctions, etc., all of which are in certain circumstances pronounced in their
strong forms but which are more frequently pronounced in their weak forms.
 It is important to remember that there are certain contexts where only the strong
form is acceptable, and others where the weak form is the normal
pronunciation.
 There are some fairly simple rules; we can say that the strong form is used in
the following cases:
1. For many weak-form words, when they occur at the end of the
sentence; for example, the word ‘of’ has the weak form /əv/ in f.x.
“I’m fond of chips” /ɑɪm fɒnd əv ʧɪps/
However, when it comes at the end of the sentence, it has the strong
form /ɒv/. f.x. “Chips are what I’m fond of”
/ʧɪps ə wɒt ɑɪm fɒnd ɒv/.
2. When a weak-form word is being contrasted with another word; f.x.

“The letter’s from him, not to him” /ðə letəz frɒm hɪm nɑt tu: hɪm/
3. When a weak-form word is given stress for the purpose of emphasis;

f.x. “You must give me more money” /ju mʌst gɪv mi mɔ: mʌni/
4. When a weak-form word is being “cited” or “quoted”; f.x.
“You shouldn’t put “and” at the end of a sentence”

/ju ʃʊdnt pʊt ænd ət ði end əv ə sentəns/
SEMIVOWELS /j/ and /w/
 These semivowels are known as approximants. The most important thing to

remember about these phonemes is:
 Phonetically they are like vowels
 Phonologically like consonants.
 From the phonetic point of view the articulations of j is practically the same as
that of a front close vowel such as [i], but is very short. In the same way w is
closely similar to [u]. Making the sound of ‘yet’ or ‘wet’ you will notice it.
 But despite this vowel-like character, we use them like consonants. F.x., they
only occur before vowel phonemes; this is typically consonantal distribution.
 We can show that a word beginning with w or j is treated as beginning with a

consonant in the following way: the indefinite article is “a” before a consonant
(as in “a cat”, “a dog”), and “an” before a vowel (as in “an apple”, “an orange”).
 If a word beginning with w or j is preceded by the indefinite article, it is the ‘a’

form that is found (as in “a way”, “a year”).
 Another example is that of the definite article, here we will exemplify it with
“the”. “The” is pronounced as /ðə/ before consonants and as /ði/ before vowels.
This illustrates why it is said that j and w are phonologically consonants.
 They occur initially and medially, but never in final position.
 Only in special contexts do we hear friction noise in j or w; this is when they

are preceded by p. t, k at the beginning of a syllable, as in:
-PURE /pjʊə/ -TUNE /tju:n/ -QUEUE /kju:/

-No English word begins with pw - TWIN /twɪn/ -QUIT /kwɪt/

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UNIT 6

 The syllable is a very important unit.

- Do English speakers always agree on the number of syllables in a given sentence?

THE NATURE OF THE SYLLABLE

 We will look some examples:

3. Coda: They end with one or more consonants. f.x.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH SYLLABLE

 Onset: Refers to the first part of a syllable.

1. ZERO ONSET: The syllable begins with a vowel.

2. ONSET WITH ONE CONSONANT: Consonants that begins are called

3. INITIAL TWO CONSONANT CLUSTER:

a) Pre-initial /s/ + initial consonant /p – t – k – f – m – n/.

4. INITIAL THREE CONSONANT CLUSTER:

a) Pre-initial /s/ + initial consonant /p – t – k/ +

 CODA: It refers to the end of a syllable.

3. FINAL TWO CONSONANT CLUSTERS:

b. Final + post-final /s – z – t – d – ɵ/. f.x.

4. FINAL THREE CONSONANT CLUSTER

b. Final /f – k – p/ + post-final 1 /ɵ – s/ + post-final 2 /s – z – t – d – ɵ/. f.x

5. FINAL FOUR CONSONANT CLUSTER

b. Final /k/ + post-final 1 /s/ + post-final 2 /ɵ – t/ + post-final 3 /s/. f.x.

 Certain well-known English words can be pronounced in two different ways;

 There are 2 main reasons

1. First, most native speakers of English find and “all-strong form”

 These function words are words such as auxiliary verbs, prepositions,

2. When a weak-form word is being contrasted with another word; f.x.

3. When a weak-form word is given stress for the purpose of emphasis;

4. When a weak-form word is being “cited” or “quoted”; f.x.

“You shouldn’t put “and” at the end of a sentence”

SEMIVOWELS /j/ and /w/

 These semivowels are known as approximants. The most important thing to

 We can show that a word beginning with w or j is treated as beginning with a

 If a word beginning with w or j is preceded by the indefinite article, it is the ‘a’

 They occur initially and medially, but never in final position.

 Only in special contexts do we hear friction noise in j or w; this is when they

-PURE /pjʊə/ -TUNE /tju:n/ -QUEUE /kju:/

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