Syllables English Âm tiết trong tiếng anh

Lecture 4Syllables • Definition • The nature of syllables • The structure of English syllables • Strong and weak syllables... The nature of syllables• A minimum syllable is a single vowe

Lecture 4

Syllables

• Definition

• The nature of syllables

• The structure of English syllables

• Strong and weak syllables

• Phonetically, a syllable is a unit which consists of a

vowel as the centre and/or consonant(s) before and after it.

The nature of syllables

• A minimum syllable is a single vowel in isolation

e.g are  or  err 

• Some syllables have an onset That is they have more than just silence preceding the centre of the syllable e.g my 

• Some syllables may have no onset but have a coda (termination).

e.g on //

• Some syllabes have both an onset and a termination.

Syllable onset

• If the first syllable of the word begins with

• A vowel → Zero Onset

• One consonant → initial consonant

• Two or more consonants together → an initial

consonant cluster.

Initial consonant clusters

1 Initial two-consonant clusters

2 Initial three-consonant cluster

• Pre-initial /s/ + initial /p, k, t/ + post-initial /l, r, w, j/

Syllable coda (termination)

• If a syllable ends with:

• A vowel → zero termination

• A consonant → final consonant

• More than one consonant → final consonant cluster

Final consonant clusters

Final two

Consonant

cluster

Final three Consonant cluster

Final four Consonant cluster

Final two consonant clusters

1 Pre-final /m, n, N, l, s/ + final Examples:

Final three consonant clusters

1 Pre-final + final + post-final Examples:

Final four consonant clusters

1 Pre-final + final + post-final 1 + post-final 2

Syllable division

Maximum Onset Principle:

• Consonants are assigned to the right-hand

syllable as far as possible within the

restrictions governing syllable onsets and

codas

Restrictions:

• No word begins with more than 3 consonants.

• No word ends with more than 4 consonants.

Strong and weak syllables

1 Strong syllables: Strong syllables are stressed They

are syllables that have as their centres one of the

vowel phonemes or possibly a triphthong, but not

/ @/ Examples:

contain advise alter

2 Weak syllables: are unstressed They are syllables

that can have only four types of centre.

a The vowel / @/: worker banana

b A close front unrounded vowel in the general area

of /i:/ and / I /: / i /: money family

c A close back rounded vowel in the general area of

/u:/ and / U /: /u/: arduous do

The / @/ vowel (schwa)

In quality:

• Mid (half-way between close and open)

• Central (half-way between front and back)

Common Spellings

Weak form Strong Form

‘ar’ particular march

‘ate’ intimate mate

‘or’ forget mortgage

Common Spellings

Weak form Strong form

‘ough’ thorough though

Close front vowel

• Phonetic symbol: / i /

• Common spellings:

 Final ‘-y’ or ‘-ey’ : happy

 Prefix ‘re-’ ‘pre-’ ‘de-’ : react

Suffix ‘-iate’ ‘-ious’ : appreciate

 Unstressed words : he , she , we

‘the’ preceding a vowel

Close back vowel

• Phonetic symbol: /u/

• Common spellings:

 Unstressed words: you , to , who

 Before another vowel within a word: influenza

Syllabic Consonants

• Definition:

A syllabic consonant stands as the peak of the syllable instead of a vowel It is usual to indicate that a

consonant is syllabic by means of a small vertical mark ( < )

• Phonetic symbols: //, //, //, //

Common spellings

• Words ending with one or more consonant

letters followed by ‘le’

 with alveolar consonant preceding

with non-alveolar consonant preceding

couple , struggle

• Words ending with one or more consonant

letters followed by ‘al’ or ‘el’

panel , petal , parcel

/ m/ //

Only occur as a result of processes such as assimilation and elision

happen thicken