Syllable as a phonetic and phonological unit
Literature recommended
SYLLABIC AND ACCENTUAL STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH WORDS
PLAN
1. Syllable as a phonetic and phonological unit.
2. Types of syllable. Strong and weak syllables.
3. Functions of syllable.
4. Theories of syllable formation and syllable division.
5. Phonotactics as a branch of phonology.
6. Phonotactic possibilities of English.
7. Phonological constraints on sound clusters in the onset and coda.
8. Word accent as a component of phonetic structure of a word and its functions.
9. Types of word accents. Linguistically relevant degrees of word stress.
10. Word accentuation tendencies and basic stress patterns. Two levels of word stress.
11. Sentence stress. Distribution of stress in an utterance. Functions of stress in discourse.
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2. Соколова М.А., Гинтовт К.П. и др. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. - М.: Высш. школа, 1991. - с. 94-100, 101-112.
3. Леонтьева С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. - М.: Высш. школа, 1980. - с. 162-172, 173-182.
4. Vassilyev V.A. English phonetics. A theoretical course. - M.: Higher School Publishing House, 1970. - p. 229-285.
5. Kalita A.A., Taranenko L.I. A concise dictionary of phonetic terms. Ternopil: Підручники і посібники, 2010.
Speech can be broken into minimal pronounceable units into which sounds show a tendency to cluster or group. These smallest phonetic groups are generally given the name of syllables. Being the smallest pronounceable units, syllables form morphemes, words and phrases. Each of these units is characterized by a certain syllabic structure. Thus, a meaningful language unit phonetically may be considered from the point of view of syllable formation and syllable division.
The syllable is
Any phonetic description, segmental or suprasegmental, is impossible without a clear view of the syllable and its role as a linguistic signifier. Syllable is
It is a speech macroelement in its relation to sounds, of which it is composed, being not just their sequence, but a complex. It is a well-known fact, that the syllable is not split into separate sounds, whether acoustically, perceptively or in articulation. They make up a whole formation; influence each other differently, as compared with the sounds of the neighbouring syllables. On the other hand, syllable is a speech microelement used to form larger speech units: rhythmic and intonation groups, utterances and texts. Prosodic structures of syllables are connected within the rhythmic group just the way sounds interplay within the syllable. The importance of syllable in phonetics
There even exist opinions, that the syllable, not the phoneme, is a distinctive unit, or that the syllable is another, a hierarchically higher distinctive unit. Then what are its interrelations with other units and to what language level does it belong? Phoneme – morpheme – lexeme? That is simple enough, but where do we place the syllable? Although important and indispensable does not necessarily mean functional. We all know that the way of speech presentation is significant. If we "spoke" with our hands, eyes or feet, there would undoubtedly exist certain quanta of such waving, blinking or stamping, otherwise we could not single out any relevant element in this "continuous clatter". What is the difference between human speech and factory whistle?
Functionally – it is clear. But structurally? Structural difference lies in the delimitation of human speech. It is a must, though the ways of its delimitation depend on the form. If speech is phonic, than the portions it is pushed out are determined by the way lungs, vocal tract operate, and how fast articulation movements can follow one another. So the vocal tract operates in such a way, that the syllable becomes a teaspoonful of speech so to say and a group of syllables, united under one stress, forms the minimal portion of speech proper (after Peter Roach 1988).
In a syllable,
The syllabic is a very important unit. Most people seem to believe that, even if they cannot define what a syllable is, they can count how many syllables there are in a given word or sentence. If they are asked to do this they often tap their finger as they count, which illustrates the syllable's importance in the rhythm of speech. As a matter of fact, if one tries the experiment of asking English speakers to count the syllables in, say, a tape-recorded sentence, there is often a considerable amount of disagreement.