Scale of Sonority

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 525.

Syllable Formation and Syllable Division.

There are different points of view on syllable formation, which are briefly the following:

a. The Egyptian theorystates that there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. This theory is primitive and insufficient since it does not take into consideration consonants which also can form syllables in some languages, neither does it explain the boundary of syllable.

b. The expiratory theorystates that there are as many syllables in a word as there are expiration pulses. The borderline between the syllables is, according to this theory, the moment of the weakest expiration. This theory is inconsistent because it is quite possible to pronounce several syllables in one articulatory effort or expiration, e.g. seeing.

c. The sonority theorystates that there are as many syllables in a word as there are peaks of prominence or sonority.

O.Jespersenestablished the scale of sonority of sounds, that is, the scale of their inherent prominence. According to this scale the most sonorous are back vowels (low, mid, high), then go semi-vowels and sonorants, then – voiced and voiceless consonants.

1. low vowels 5. sonorants
2. mid vowels 6. voiced constructive consonants
3. high vowels 7. voiced plosive consonants
4. semi-vowels 8. voiceless constructive consonants and affricates