Теоретическая фонетика английского языка (Теоретическая фонетика английского языка М.А. Соколова, И.С.Тихонова, Р.М.Тихонова, Е.Л.Фрейдина. - Дубна; Феникс+, 2010. - 192 с.), страница 13

In short, there exist two points of view:1. Some linguists consider the syllable to be a purely articulatory unitwhich lacks any functional value. This point of view is defended on thegrounds that the boundaries of the syllable do not always coincide withthose ofthe morphemes.2. However the majority of linguists treat the syllable as the smallestpronounceable unit which can reveal some linguistic function.We should note here that the articulatory level of analysis suggests theexistence of universals, that is categories applicable for all languages, whilethe functional level of analysis suggests treating each language separately,because as A.

Gimson points out a similar sound sequence can be defineddifferently in different languages.The definition of the syllable from the functional point ofview makes itpossible to single out the following features of the syllable:a) the syllable is a chain of phonemes of varying length;b) the syllable is constructed on the basis of contrast of its constituents(which is usually of vowel consonant type);c) the nucleus of the syllable is a vowel, the presence of consonants isoptional; there are no languages in which vowels are not used as syllablenuclei, however there are languages in which this function can be performedconsonants;d) the distribution of consonants in syllable structure follows the ruleswhich are specific for a particular language.ItDivision (Phonotactics)532.2.

Syllable FormationIn English syllable formation is based on the phonological oppositionvowel - consonant. Vowels are usually syllabic while consonants are notwith the exception of [1), [m], [n], which become syllabic if they occur in anIInstressed final position, proceeded by a noise consonant, for exampleIlllt!] -little, ['blusm] blossom, [,ga:dn] garden.The structure of the syllable is known to vary because of the number andHITangement of consonants.

In English four types of syllables are distin­guished:1) opennoCV2) closed[ud] odd VC3) coverednote CV(C)4) uncovered [30] oh, [30k] oakV(C)Here we should point out that due to its structure the English languagedeveloped the closed type of syllable as the fundamental one while inRussian it is the open type that forms the basis of syllable formation. TheII umber ofthe syllable structural varieties is 23.

The structure ofthe Englishsyllable reveals variations in the number of prevocalic consonants from Ito 3 and post vocalic consonants from I to 5.As to the number ofsyllables in the English word it can vary from one tooight, like in [kAm] come, ['SIb] city, [,fcem(a)li]jamily, fSlm'phsltI] simplicity,IAI1'ncetJ(a)r(a)li] unnaturally, fmkampceU'blhti] incompatibility, ['Amn'tehd3i­'1)JI<lti] unintelligibility.So far we have described some of the aspects of syllable structure ofEnglish. The other aspect is syllable division.2.3.

Syllable Division (Phonotactics)The linguistic importance ofsyllable division in different languages is in11 nding typology of syllables and syllable structure of meaningful units of aIlinguage, i. e. morphemes and words. It is the syllable division that deter­mines the syllable structure of the language, its syllable typology.Syllabic structure of a language is patterned like its phonemic structure,which means that the sounds ofa language can be grouped into syllables ac­cording to certain rules. The part of phonetics that deals with this aspect ofn language is called pbonotactics. Phonotactic possibilities of a languagedetermine the rules of syllable division.54Chapter II.

Syllabic Structure of English WordsAs the phoneticians point out in the English language the problem ofsyllable division exists only in the case of intervocalic consonants and con­sonant clusters like in the words ['sIb] city, [a'gri:] agree, ['ekstra] extra andothers. In such cases the point of syllable division is not easily found. Let usconsider the first case. Theoretically two variants are possible:a) the point of the syllable division is after the intervocalic consonant;b) the point of the syllable division is inside the consonant.In both cases the first syllable remains closed according to the phoneticrules ofthe English language because the short vowel should remain checked.

The results of instrumental analysis show that the point of syllable division in words like ['plh] pity, ['tupIk] topic, ['me3a] measure, [,bubI] Bobby is inside the intervocalic consonant. This conclusion is of great importance for Rus­sian learners of English. They should keep in mind that in the Russian lan­ guage the stressed syllable in the structure (C) VCV (C) is always open, like in y-xo, Mfl-ma, 0-6y6b, while in English this kind of syllable is always closed if the syllable vowel is short and checked. So it is necessary to make transition from a vowel to a consonant very close.Another type of intervocalic consonant clusters is the VCCV(C) typelike in words [a'gri:] agree, [a'brApt] abrupt and so on.

The syllabic boundar­ies in these words can be determined with the help ofphonological criteria.In the above mentioned examples the words should be divided into syllablesin the following way: [a-'gri:] [a-'brApt] because such combinations ofconso­nants as [gr] and [brl are permissible initial clusters for the English lan­guage. On the other hand there are clusters that can never occur in the wordinitial position and consequently should be broken by syllable boundary likein the following cases [~d-'malal admire, [ab-'hJ:] abhor.There are more complicated cases when the number of intervocalicconsonants is three or more like in the word ['ekstra] extra and we have tostate the possible points of syllable division.a) ['ek-str~] - back street b) ['eks-tr~] - six trees c) ['ekst-r~] - mixed ray In such cases it is the native speaker's intuition that could be relied on.The subconscious feeling of a new pronunciation effort makes him dividethe words ofsuch types into [,ek-stral.

This natural way ofdivision is fixed inthe pronunciation dictionary.In compounds word like ['t3ustrcek] toast-rack it is the morphologicalcriterion that counts because the boundaries of the syllable should corre­spond to morpheme boundaries.2.4. Functional Aspect ofthe552.4. Functional Aspect of the SyllableNow we shall consider two very important functions ofthe syllable.The first is the constitutive function. It lies in the ability ofthe syllable tobe part of a word or a word itself. Syllables form language units of greatermagnitude, that is words, morphemes and utterances.

In this respect twothings should be emphasized. First, the syllable is the unit within which therelations between the distinctive features of the phonemes and their acous­tic correlates are revealed. Second, within a syllable (or a sequence ofsyl­labIes) prosodic characteristics of speech are realized which form the stresspattern of a word and the rhythmic and intonation structure of an utter­ance. In sum, the syllable is a specific minimal structure of both segmentaland suprasegmental features.The other function of the syllable is its distinctive function. The syllable ischaracterized by its ability to differentiate words and word-forms. To illustratethis a set ofminimal pairs should be found so that qualitative and/or quantita­tive peculiarities of certain allophones should indicate the beginning or theend ofthe syllable.So far only one minimal pair has been found in English to illustrate theword distinctive function in the syllable, i.

e. [naI-'trelt] nitrate - [nalt-'relt]night-rate. The distinction here lies in:a) the degree of aspiration of [t] sound which is greater in the first mem­ber of opposition than in the second;b) allophonic difference of [r], in the first member of opposition it isslightly devoiced under the influence of initial [t];c) length of the diphthong [al], in the second member of the oppositionit is shorter because the syllable is closed by a voiceless plosiveSo the syllable division changes the allophonic contents of the word be­cause the realization ofthe phoneme in different syllable positions is different.The analogical distinction between word combinations can be illustrat­ed by many more cases:an aim - a namemice kill - my skillan ice house - a nice housepeace talks - pea stalksplate rack - play trackSometimes the difference in syllabic structure might differentiate thesemantic structure of an utterance:Chapter IIIChapter II.