The English Syllable

 

Language is in multiple dimensions structured to achieve one linguistic function or the other. Because language is structured, that is why it can be studied and explained. The understanding of the structures enables learners to understand the workings of linguistic properties and apply them in language learning or teaching. The syllable is one of such structured aspects of language that can be studied.

The structural sequence of sounds in utterances can vary according to the language. This is to say that syllabic unites don’t have to be structurally similar in English and other languages. This is why it necessary to state from the start that this discussion is about the English syllable specifically.

Why do we need to understand the syllable?

The syllable is an important part of language. A good knowledge of it will help in proper pronunciation of words. That is to say that a poor understanding of how the syllable works in utterances will make it difficult for a language user to express his or her ideas well.

Additionally, rhythm in speaking cannot be properly used or studied unless one has adequate understanding of the operation of the syllable.

Understanding the syllable helps a speaker to know which part of a word to emphasize by accentuating it; and proper accentuation of syllables can enhance meaning and make communication effective.

What is a syllable?

A syllable is a unit of an utterance. An utterance can be a word, a phrase or a complete sentence. Every utterance is a collection of small units (syllable). It contains one or more sounds; but the obligatory component is the vowel, except for the syllabic consonants. The syllabic unit is made up of either only a vowel sound or a vowel sound and one or more consonant sounds attached before or after the vowel. The breaking down of an utterance into syllabic units is called syllabification.

After the definition like the one given above, it does not seem a difficult task to identify the syllable in words of one or more syllables. We, chore, art, on, run, fine, drink etc. are words of one syllable. Father, wisdom, content, rather are words of two syllables. We can also have division, comforted, vibration, deposit and readiness as words of three syllables. However words like bottling and realistic can be controversial in terms of determining the number of syllables in them.

 

Structure of the English syllable

The syllable is divided into two constituents: the onset and the rhyme. The rhyme is further divided into the peak and coda. Onsets and codas are occupied by consonant sounds. In linear presentation the structure of a syllable will be C(V)C where the initial C and the final C both represent consonant sounds while the V represents vowel sounds. The V is enclosed in a bracket to show that it is an obligatory element of the syllable structure. The others are nonobligatory because they can be missing in the structure. In a diagrammatic presentation, the syllable structure is shown bellow.

The onset of the syllable

The onset is not always present in a syllable. Words such as it, art, and egg are words that do not have onset. They begin with the nucleus which is also called peak, so that the structure will be as shown below. The English syllable can be displayed in a tree diagram. This diagram enables the learner to see how the syllable is divided into phonemic units (unit of sounds). The same way syllables combine to form a word; that is how phonemes combine to form a syllable.

It is possible to have more than one consonant at the onset. Example of such words are cram, drum, sky, scream and spring. As such it can be seen as one consonant onset, two consonant onset or three consonant onset according to the number of consonants making up the onset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rhyme of the syllable

The rhyme is the right arm of the syllable structure. It consists of either only the peak or the peak and the coda. That is, it contains either only a vowel sound or a vowel and a consonant sound following it. Words such as tea, say, we are in this category of syllables. Compare the structural display of car and card below.

                                               

  Such syllables that do not have coda are called open syllable while the syllables with coda are called closed syllable.

The Coda of the syllable

The coda of the syllable refers to the consonant sound or sounds that follow the peak. It is in many aspects like the onset but in a further study that will have to do with sonority levels, their differences will not be ignorable. Similar to the onset, the coda can have more than one consonants: craft, films, act and dump. As such, we can talk about one consonant, two consonant or three consonant codas.

Syllable boundaries

How do we determine the start or end of a syllable? Much earlier in this discussion we stated that the English language has a syllable structure that is different from that of some other languages. Determining the boundary of the syllable is one of such areas that reveal such difference.  The English syllable does not have an easily divisible structure like that of French and Japanese.

Determining the number of syllables in an utterance is not a problem as it is only to locate the peaks, which are vowel sounds and sonorous. The peaks represent the centre of the syllable. It is problematic to set the boundaries in words such as funny, bitter, mattress. These words are disyllabic (having two syllables). How can we tell whether the word medial consonant should align with the left syllable as coda or with the right syllable as the onset.

 

Mono syllabic words have only one peak.

 Disyllabic words have two peaks

Trisylabic words have three peaks

Multisyllabic have more than three peaks.

 

The English Rhythm

Generally, the word rhythm refers to regular repeated pattern. This can come in form of sound, movement or writing. In language, rhythm is based on the movement of the sonority of the voice in the event of making an utterance divided by equal timing. There is a regular upward and downward movement of the voice as one speaks.

English is described as stress-timed as opposed to some other languages, especially African languages, which are syllable timed. To be stress-timed means that an utterance is made with an alternating stress levels of the syllables. It means some words are made to be more clearly heard than other words in an utterance.

Stress means the level of energy exerted; so stressed syllables are syllables are pronounced with more energy when compared to the level of energy applied in the production of neighboring syllables. Syllables are produced in terms of weak and strong stressing. The stressed syllables are said to be strong while the unstressed syllables are said to be weak.

In English language rhythm divides an utterance us as the time is near into two equally timed parts containing strong and weak syllables. The is weak , time is strong is is weak, near is strong; and the rhythm goes on and on to the end of the utterance no matter how long. Where W stands for weak, and S stands for strong, we will have SWSW as the rhythmic pattern for

W       S     W      S

The  time is near.

 

The combination of a weak and a strong syllable forms a foot. The above utterance has two feet.  A feet contains on strong syllable and one or more week syllables. Paul is to water the flowers has three feet according to the number of strong syllables.

S    W W  S    W   W   S   W

            Paul is to water the flowers

 

Which words should be stressed in English sentence?

Not every word in the sentence should be stressed. The words that should be stressed are content words. They are words belonging to the following parts of speech: noun, verb, adverb and adjective. Other words such as prepositions, auxiliary verbs, articles and pronouns are function words. They are generally not stressed in expressions.

W      S    W   W   S

The boy is my friend