The structure of syllables in English.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 632.

The muscular tension theory

It was put forward by the French linguist Michaelle Grammont and supported and further developed by the Russian linguist Lev Volodymyrovych Scherba. Academician Lev Volodymyrovych Scherba explained syllable formation by muscular tension impulses and three types of consonants. In speaking, muscular tension impulses follow one another. Each impulse has its strongest point and its weakest prominence. The end of one syllable and the beginning of the next one can be ascertained by determining the type of consonants which take part in forming the syllables.

Consonants may be pronounced:

initially strong – the beginning of a consonant may be more energetic, while the end may be weaker; finally strong – the beginning of the consonant may be weak, and its end -more energetic;

geminate or double – both the beginning and the end are energetic with a weakening of muscular tension in the middle, acoustically, they give the impression of two consonants.

The more energetic part of a consonant is attached to a vowel, so that initially strong consonant occurs at the end of a close syllable, while finally strong consonant occurs at the beginning of a syllable.

The structure of English syllables can be summarized as follows:

Ø Many syllables have one or more consonants preceding the nucleus. These make up the syllable onset: me, so, plow.

Ø Many syllables have one or more consonants, following the nucleus. They make up the syllable coda. They are traditionally known as closed syllables: cat, jump.

Ø The combination of nucleus and coda has a special significance, making up the rhyming property of a syllable.

Structural types of syllables are:

· Fully open V – or, are

· Fully closed CVC – fat, CCVC – place,

· CVCC – fact, CCCVCC – street,

· CVCCC – facts, CVCCCC – sixths

· Covered at the beginning CV – too, CCV – spy, CCCV – straw

· Covered at the end VC – on, VCC – act, VCCC – acts

Syllables can be also designated by:

-the position in the word

-the position in relation to the stress

Any syllable that is not tonic is called atonic.