Вздрогнуть, вскрикнуть, кстати

(Here we deal with the CCC syllable type with four initial consonants)

The complexity of the syllable as a phonetic phenomenon gave rise to many theories, different points of view on syllable formation:

1) The most ancient. There are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. This theory considered to be rather primitive and insufficient because it doesn’t take into consideration consonants which also can form syllables in some languages. Neither doesn’t it explain the boundary of syllable.

2) Expiratory theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are expiration pulses. According to it the border line between the syllables is the moment of the weakest expiration. But this theory seems to be inconsistent (непоследовательный), because it’s quite possible to pronounce several syllables in one articulatory effort.

3) The sonority theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are peaks of prominence or sonority. Otto Jasperson established the scale of sonority of sound – the scale of inherent prominence. According to it the most sonorous are back vowels, semi-vowels and sonorants, then go voiced and voiceless consonants. Normally the sounds are grouped around the most sonorous ones which form the peaks of sonority in the syllable.

Melt [melt] – the most sonorous, the only peak, so it’s a 1-syllable word

Metal [metl] – two peaks of sonority, because it’s a 2-syllable word

Sudden [sÃdn] – the most sonorous; nasal sonorant forms the second of prominence

[s], [d] – sounds of low sonority, so it cannot be considered as syllable forming sounds.

The sonority theory helps to establish the number of syllables, but it fails to explain the mechanism of syllable division because it doesn’t state to which syllable the weak sound at the boundary of two syllables belongs.

4) “The arc of loudness” theory is based on Sherba’s statement that the centre of the syllable is the syllable-forming sounds. Sounds which precede or follow it constitute a chain (or an arc) which is weak at the beginning and in the end and strong in the middle. If a syllable consists of a vowel its strength increases in the beginning then reaches the maximum of loudness and the gradually decreases (extraordinary). In terms of this theory there’re as many syllables in a word as there are arcs of loudness. And the point of syllable division corresponds to the moment when the arc of loudness begins or ends. According to it the syllable could be thought of as an arc of loudness which correlates with the arc of articulatory effort. None of the theories are reliable in the definition of the syllable boundary. It’s one thing to be able to count the number of syllables, but it’s another thing to decide where the boundaries between the syllables should go. English is full of cases when alternative analyses are possible.

extra – ['ekstr«] – 2 syllables

It is unlikely [e+ kstr«], [ekstr+«]

['ek+str«], ['eks+tr«], ['ekst+r«] are quite natural

standing – ['stQndiN] – 2 syllables

If we follow our phonetic instinct and go for two evenly balanced c-b-c variant we would prefer ['stQn+diN]. If we follow our grammatical instinct we would prefer ['stQnd+iN].

Some dictionaries can make a mark where a printed word may be hi-phonated if it appears at the end of the line, however it do not necessarily correspond to a semantic boundaries. It’s common knowledge that different languages are characterized by their syllabic structure in orthography and speech. In Russian syllables СГСГ type – boundaries after the vowel (мо-ло-ко).

Syllable division rules in English are:

1) In affixal words the syllabic boundary co-insides with the morphological boundary.

Dis-plays, un-able, count-less

2) In words with CV-CV structure the syllabic boundary is after the accented vowel

Far-mer, ci-ty

3) An intervocalic consonant tends to belong to the following syllabic structure

A-bout, wri-ting

4) English diphthongs are unisyllabic. They consist of one vowel phoneme. English triphthongs are disyllabic because they consist of two-vowel phonemes.

science – ['sai-«ns], flower – [flaU-«]

As to the number of syllables in the English word it can vary from 1 to 8 (unintelligibility – 8 syllables).

Come – 1 syllable, family – 3 syllables, unintelligibility – 8 syllables

Functional characteristics of a syllable

The syllable as a phonological unit performs 3 functions:

1) Con΄stitutive lies in its ability to be a part of a word or a word itself (yes/ no). Syllable forms morphemes, words and even utterances. A syllable is a specific minimal structure of both segmental and supersegmental features.

2) Distinctive. The syllable is characterized by its ability to differentiate words and word forms. There are lots of combinations in English distinguished by means of the difference in the place of the syllabic boundary.

A name – an aim

Ice-cream – I scream

We loan – will own

An ice house – a nice house

An ocean – a notion

My train – might rain

Sometimes the difference in syllabic division might be the basic ground for differentiating sentences.