Common Spellings mortgage forget ‘or’ potato carrot ‘o’ mate intimate ‘ate’ march particular ‘ar’ character attend ‘a’ Strong Form Weak form.. Common Spellings could callous ‘ou’ though[r]
(1)Lecture 4
Syllables
• Definition
• The nature of syllables
(2)Definition
• Phonetically, a syllable is a unit which consists of a vowel as the centre and/or consonant(s) before and after it
e.g Are /ồ/ No /n\ă/ At /æt/ Cat /kæt/
(3)The nature of syllables
• A minimum syllable is a single vowel in isolation e.g are /å…/ or /ø…/ err /±…/
• Some syllables have an onset That is they have more than just silence preceding the centre of the syllable e.g my /maˆ/
• Some syllables may have no onset but have a coda (termination)
e.g on /Ån/
(4)Syllable
Centre
Onset Coda
(Optional) (Optional)
(5)Syllable onset
• If the first syllable of the word begins with • A vowel → Zero Onset
e.g ease our
• One consonant → initial consonant
e.g send church
• Two or more consonants together → an initial consonant cluster
(6)Initial consonant clusters
1 Initial two-consonant clusters
• Pre-initial /s/ + initial consonant
e.g slight smoke
• Initial + post-initial /j, w, l, r/
e.g queue twin try
2 Initial three-consonant cluster
• Pre-initial /s/ + initial /p, k, t/ + post-initial /l, r, w, j/
e.g scream stew
(7)Syllable coda (termination)
• If a syllable ends with:
• A vowel → zero termination
e.g no car
• A consonant → final consonant
e.g meal late
• More than one consonant → final consonant cluster
e.g ask next
(8)Final consonant clusters
Final two Consonant
cluster
Final three Consonant
cluster
Final four Consonant
(9)Final two consonant clusters
1 Pre-final /m, n, N, l, s/ + final Examples:
bond pump
bank dealt
desk think
2 Final + post-final /s, z, t, d, †/ Examples:
cats bags
looked begged
(10)Final three consonant clusters
1 Pre-final + final + post-final Examples:
helped banks
bonds twelfth
2 Final + post-final + post-final 2 Examples:
(11)Final four consonant clusters
1 Pre-final + final + post-final + post-final 2
twelfths prompts
2 Final + post-final + post-final + post-final 3
(12)extra
• e.kstr@
• ek.str@
• eks.tr@
• ekst.r@
• ekstr.@
(13)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:
(14)Therefore:
extra
• e.kstr@
• ek.str@
• eks.tr@
• ekst.r@
(15)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
(16)The /@/ vowel (schwa)
In quality:
• Mid (half-way between close and open)
(17)(18)(19)Close front vowel
• Phonetic symbol: / i /
• Common spellings:
9 Final ‘-y’ or ‘-ey’ : happy
9 Prefix ‘re-’ ‘pre-’ ‘de-’ : react
9Suffix ‘-iate’ ‘-ious’ : appreciate
9 Unstressed words : he , she , we
(20)Close back vowel
• Phonetic symbol: /u/
• Common spellings:
9 Unstressed words: you , to , who
(21)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
(22)/l/
Common spellings
• Words ending with one or more consonant letters followed by ‘le’
9 with alveolar consonant preceding cattle , wrestle
9with non-alveolar consonant preceding couple , struggle
• Words ending with one or more consonant letters followed by ‘al’ or ‘el’
(23)/n/
Common spellings
• After alveolar plosives t, d
threaten , student
(24)/m/ /˜/
Only occur as a result of processes such as
assimilation and elision